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The Quadathlon Cup

Regional Round

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Registration is open for Doha Regional Round I, 8 and 12 January 2027. Every round’s dates are on Calendar and registration.

The Quadathlon Cup

The road to a Global Final at the University of Cambridge

A high-challenge talent-development championship built to recognise, stretch and celebrate excellence across every mind.

Explore the competition
Select a slide

Explore the competition

The next rounds, the six events, and the theme for this season.

Upcoming rounds

Schools register for a Regional Round. The strongest teams go on to a Championship Round and the Global Final.

Upcoming Rounds

Doha Regional Round I seal
Doha Regional Round I
United School International, The Pearl · Ministry of Education campus
Doha, Qatar
8 and 12 January 2027
All Dates & Registration »
Full dates, registration details, and round information are available on the calendar page.
All dates and registration

The six events

Four individual papers and two team events. Every event tests reasoning rather than recall.

Individual events

  • Spatial ChallengeA written paper: reading plans and layouts, and choosing the design that meets the brief.
  • Maths ChallengeData-rich quantitative reasoning, analysis, and justified conclusions.
  • Logic ChallengePattern recognition, classification, matrices, and abstract rule application.
  • Linguistics ChallengeLanguage reasoning: patterns, rules and meaning worked out from unfamiliar languages, alongside the season theme.

Team events

  • STEM PitchTeams create and present a practical, reasoned solution to a real-world problem.
  • Team OrienteeringA trail of station puzzles around the host campus, solved as a team and gone through together on stage.
Full event descriptions, formats, and expectations are available on the dedicated Events page.
The events in full

Season theme: Life on Land

Each season has one theme. In 2026/27 it is Life on Land (UN Sustainable Development Goal 15).

  • One shared annual themeAll divisions study the same broad theme, creating a coherent season across the competition.
  • Three divisionsExplorers, Junior, and Senior engage with the same core subject areas at different depths.
  • Scaled challengeDepth, complexity, independence, and performance expectations increase appropriately by age and stage.
  • Broad academic coverageStudents work through shared subject strands and communication tasks under the season theme.
Each division studies the same broad subject areas under the shared annual theme, with depth, complexity, and independence scaled appropriately by age and stage.
This season’s theme

Welcome to the Quadathlon Cup

A talent-development championship where teams of four compete across six events — growth, teamwork, and academic excellence at the centre.

View dates & apply Explore the competition
2026/27 season

Expand the sections below if you want more detail.

Start here: schools and students Click to open
For schools (teachers and coordinators)
Low admin, clear schedule, structured preparation. Follow the calendar, explore the event structure, and review the season theme.
For students
Understand the format, explore the events, and learn how teams of four succeed together.
Talent development framework: breadth of reasoning Click to open

The Quadathlon Cup is designed to develop well-rounded academic thinkers. Students strengthen many kinds of reasoning through purposeful challenge and teamwork — not just the one they find easiest. Teams work best when different strengths contribute.

Core reasoning skills: Spatial, Verbal, Quantitative, and Non-Verbal.

Spatial

Design thinking, 3D visualisation, transformation, and intelligent modelling.

Verbal

Clarity of communication, argument precision, reading interpretation, and structured writing.

Quantitative

Reasoning with numbers, patterns, logic, data interpretation, and problem-solving under constraints.

Non-Verbal

Abstract reasoning, pattern recognition, classification, and flexible thinking with minimal language demand.

Competition progression: School Registration & Team Entry → Regional Round → Championship Round → Global Final (United Kingdom).

Competition structure

The Quadathlon Cup Competition Pathway

The Quadathlon Cup is designed as a clear, progressive journey. Schools begin by registering and entering teams, then progress through regional competition, advance to the championship round, and the strongest performers move on to the Global Final in the United Kingdom.

Select a stage below to view more detail.

Stage 1

School Registration & Team Entry

Schools begin the Quadathlon Cup journey by registering and entering student teams. This first stage confirms participation, establishes each school’s team entry, and provides the formal starting point for progression into the competition pathway.

Progression pathway: School Registration & Team Entry → Regional Round → Championship Round → Global Final (United Kingdom)
Age divisions

Three divisions

Years 3 to 13, in three divisions by school year. All three sit the same six events, with harder papers in each division.

Primary

Explorers

Years 3–6

Grades 2–5 · typically ages 7–11

Papers written for primary pupils. The season theme supplies the contexts; every event tests reasoning rather than recall.

Lower secondary

Junior

Years 7–9

Grades 6–8 · typically ages 11–14

Harder problems in every event, with more left for students to work out on their own.

Upper secondary

Senior

Years 10–13

Grades 9–12 · typically ages 14–18

The hardest papers in each event, for upper secondary students who can work with little guidance.

  • Teams of four, with every member entered in the same division.
  • One division all season, from the regional round to the Global Final.
  • Younger students may play up a division. No student plays down.
Read the full divisions guide

Not every round runs every division. See Calendar and registration for the divisions offered at each round.

2026/27 season

How divisions are decided

Year group decides

A student’s division is set by their school year group at the start of the 2026/27 school year.

One division for the whole season

A student keeps the same division at every stage of the season, including the Global Final, which takes place after the 2026/27 school year has ended. A student in their final year of school who qualifies remains eligible for the Global Final after leaving school.

Schools outside the British system

Find your school’s system in the table below. If your year groups do not line up with the table, including schools whose year begins in January, the student’s date of birth decides.

DivisionBritishGrade or ClassIBBorn between
ExplorersYears 3–6Grades 2–5Upper PYP1 Sep 2015 – 31 Aug 2019
JuniorYears 7–9Grades 6–8MYP 1–31 Sep 2012 – 31 Aug 2015
SeniorYears 10–13Grades 9–12MYP 4–5, DP1 Sep 2008 – 31 Aug 2012

“Grade or Class” covers American, Indian, Gulf ministry and similar systems, in which Grade 1 or Class 1 is the first year of school at about age six.

Playing up

A younger student may compete in a higher division, for example a Year 6 student joining a Junior team. A team competes in the division of its most senior member, and a student who plays up takes that division’s papers and events in full. No student may compete in a division below their own.

Not sure?

Ask us before registering and we will confirm the right division for each student. The full divisions guide has worked examples, or you can send us a question.

Plan your season

Dates and registration for every round, and this season’s theme.

Calendar and registration Season theme

Why schools participate

A competition designed to strengthen how students think, collaborate, and grow

The Quadathlon Cup is more than a competition experience. It gives schools a structured way to challenge learners, celebrate varied strengths, and connect academic performance to meaningful real-world contexts.

Click each benefit to explore how the competition supports schools, students, and wider academic development.

The Quadathlon Cup

Rounds around the world

The 2026/27 season brings students to Regional Rounds across Asia, Europe and Africa, then to the Championship Rounds and the Global Final at the University of Cambridge.