Introducing the London Lions and the Northern Angels Continental Europe won't be the only region seeing new Quidditch Premier League teams in 2019, as the London Lions and the Northern Angels make their debuts! The Lions are named for the animal closely associated with royalty - and we're sure they'll give the reigning champions, the London Monarchs, a serious threat to their crown! Meanwhile, the Angels have, of course, been named after the Angel of the North, a sculpture that has become an icon of the region.
This marks the first time that two teams have shared catchment areas (Lions/Monarchs in London, and Angels/Watch in the North), and so some tweaking to the standard selection process has been necessary. If eligible for the London or North region, you simply apply for that region, as before. In-person tryouts will be jointly run by the managers of the two teams, and both managers will receive all the video applications for that region. The two managers will then participate in a snake draft to fill their teams from the selection pool available to them.
'Both London and the North have seen more than double the amount of applicants for capacity in 2017 and 2018,' said Jack Lennard, Director of the Quidditch Premier League. 'By introducing the Lions and the Angels, we are offering more people the chance to represent their regions, and getting more talented players into the spotlight. I can't wait to see our two new teams take to the pitch in what's set to be a massive year for us!'
UK Divisional Shakeup
Since launch, the one-day one-pitch format of the Quidditch Premier League's fixtures have been one of the most consistently positive elements in feedback. With two new UK teams, offering six teams in each division, it is no longer feasible to run this format.
In light of this, we have created a new division, UK Central, that stretches across Wales, the Midlands, and Eastern England. Not only does this allow us to offer on focused events of higher quality in the format that our players prefer, but it minimises travel distance between teams (a regular source of frustration amongst fans and players). Each division will have three round-robin divisional fixtures, in locations across the division, as in previous years. The European division, with five teams, will remain as previously announced.
