Staff writer and Sports Editor Abyan Memon sits down with speedcuber Glib Vedmid on the UK Cubing League
Glib Vedmid is a Ukrainian speedcuber based in the United Kingdom, a Senior Member of the World Cube Association (WCA)’s Integrity Committee and one of the founders of the UK Cubing League (UKCL).
The UK Cubing League is an expanding nationwide speedcubing league for university clubs, founded three years ago at UCL. UKCL is currently run by a recently elected executive board of 5 members, and is made up of 23 university clubs and 345 competitors, including universities in Norway and Malaysia.
Roar sat down with Glib on 29 March 2026 to discuss his speedcubing story and find out what it is like to run a nationwide league.
An Idea Come Alive
The idea of having some association where speedcubers from different universities could compete against one another was one that was born parallel to the founding of the UCL Cubing Society in early 2023. Glib states, “We started with having a society at UCL, which we launched back in 2023, and one of our immediate matters was, ‘Well, we want to compete.’”
The team acknowledged the existence of WCA competitions, but wanted a university-centred experience. “We were like, ‘It would be cool to compete against other universities.’ But of course, the question then was, ‘How many of these other universities are there?’, because cubing is ultimately a pretty niche activity.”
The team at UCL Cubing took to Instagram to search for cubing clubs at universities besides theirs. Whilst they did find a few, the idea of an inter-university competition was suspended until the start of the following academic year, 2023-2024, when they first reached out to the Imperial College London society.
In its early days, the league was an intra-London collaboration between cubing societies at UCL and Imperial. Glib reflects, “They had some great people over there, a society led by Ziang Yan. So we linked up and started doing some shared events. Just, you know, we visit them, they visit us. And we started keeping the results in a database that was really just a very crappy Google Sheet at the time.”
The UK Cubing League was officially established following the 2023 UK Championships, where the UCL team were able to get in contact with delegates from universities across the UK and receive a positive response to the idea of joining the league.
“The real founding of UKCL happened in October 2023, at the WCA UK Championships, because there we were actually able to track down and talk people into it. There were representatives from quite a lot of universities, and it was actually very surprising that we were finding people, getting them on board, and they would tell us, ‘Oh yeah, there are also people from Durham,’ or some other university. I think we ended up with 10 universities or so, just from that competition alone. We presented the idea, got everyone on board, and that’s how it’s been rolling since then.” – Glib Vedmid
Self-Sustaining Growth
Three years since its founding, the UKCL continues to grow in large numbers, with six clubs having made their UKCL University Cup debut this academic year and a couple more having joined the league in the midst of the season.
Glib identified motivated individuals as the necessary driver behind the creation of university-level cubing clubs. “I don’t want to take full credit and say, ‘Oh yeah, new societies are emerging because of UKCL.’ Ultimately, growth is driven by specific individuals who have the motivation to start these societies and sustain them. You can have a great community that wants to cube, but you need someone, at least one person, who really wants to invest their time and effort into making it happen.”
However, UKCL participation is now widely seen as a fundamental element of any university-level cubing society, with new clubs reaching out to the league almost as part of their inception, as was the case with KCL Cubing. Glib expresses, “I do feel like UKCL has been helpful in motivating this growth in the UK, at least because in the past we were the ones who had to reach out to societies and get them on board, now it’s a different situation, where once these societies emerge, one of the first things they do is contact us, and then we obviously onboard and work with them from that point on.”
When asked about whether the league was planning on making any changes to sustain growth, Glib touched on his point about the need for motivated individuals to run a society at university, and explained how this inherent fluidity of university cubing clubs created a self-sustaining environment for the UKCL.
“This year we had 164 competitors in the University Cup, which is not that crazy. I don’t think there’s any measures that we need to take to sustain this, it’s kind of a self-propelling thing. Some societies will close down because some motivated individual leaves. New societies will emerge because there’s a freshman at uni who wants to do cubing. It’s just a natural process of evolution.
One of the unfortunate things is that oftentimes societies are unable to sustain themselves, because, again, they are largely driven by specific individuals. Next year, I expect that we will lose quite a few societies just because people are graduating. That’s something that I would like to help with, but, unfortunately, there aren’t really any measures that can be taken from outside. It’s just a bit of a revolving door: some societies will leave, but new ones will join, and we just have to accept it.” – Glib Vedmid
Running a Nationwide League
Supporting an activity that can become quite costly, especially when it comes to starting a new club or running competitions, UKCL is in search of funding. However, as an organisation run entirely by volunteers and hosting a variety of clubs, there are challenges that make securing sponsorship difficult. Glib comments, “There are many factors at play when you consider sponsorships.”
One major consideration for UKCL is the potential for clashes between league-level and society-level sponsors. “We need to be aware of the fact that some of our societies are already sponsored by different UK stores. I don’t want us to end up in a situation where any societies refuse to participate or are not allowed to participate because of conflicting sponsorship agreements. So if we were to get a sponsor, our first condition would obviously be that there are no restrictions on participation from our side.”
The other major factor is the legal considerations that come with sponsorships. Glib highlights, “UKCL is not a legally-registered entity, but just a platform run entirely by volunteers, without some legal backbone that can be relied upon. So we could enter a sponsorship agreement of some kind, but then the management of resulting funds is a new level to our work, one that I don’t know whether we have the means to deal with right now.”
The UKCL team looks to model WCA’s non-profit structure and use of revenue to support organisational needs. However, unlike the WCA, the UKCL does not intend to fund itself through competitor registrations, holding a firm belief that participation should be free of charge. Despite this, the league remains committed to finding a viable path to fund its work.
Currently, the UKCL has a partnership with the UK Cube Association (UKCA), WCA’s regional organisation for the UK. UKCA have previously supplied the UKCL with timers, which the UKCL distributes amongst new participating and emerging clubs. Talks have also been held by UKCL members with Rubik’s, the biggest business in the industry.
Impact on Wider Cubing Community
Relative to the wider cubing community, UKCL has established itself as a “known feature of the UK cubing scene.” This has been done particularly through hosting unofficial events at official WCA competitions through the UKCA partnership, which the league looks to continue. Glib comments, “We will also be doing it this August, at the UK Championships in Birmingham, so we’ll continue to have our presence in this way. It would be cool to also do this at the European Championships, but this is more of just a floating idea at the moment.”
Furthermore, the UKCL has also acted as a bridge for introducing top speedcubers to the WCA. Glib shared one recent case. Glib claims, “Last year, at the University of Glasgow, we had Branson Lau, who had never attended a WCA competition before coming to the UK, and he turned out to be absolutely cracked at one-handed solving. He is close to top-100 globally. But before WCA he was part of UKCL, so I guess we can claim him in that way. And there are a few other cases like that, where people are discovered through UKCL and then go on to do better things. Of course, we are not taking credit for their achievements, but it is certainly a cool feeling to know that we found them.”
Feliks Zemdegs & ‘Cubing Prestige’
Whilst there are cases of top speedcubers establishing their cubing profiles at UKCL before participating in the WCA, the reverse is also true. Recent examples include Nicholas Archer, who is a two-time world record-holder in one-handed solving and started university last year, and Aidan Grainger, who holds the national record for 3×3 single and is starting university this year.
Glib was presented with a parallel to how colleges in the US recruit student athletes and asked if he thought a university’s ‘cubing prestige’ could influence where speedcubers choose to study. “I wish. It would be very funny for sure. I certainly would never base my decision on where to study based on how good a cubing society is. I don’t know whether anyone ever looked into that as they were applying to universities. It would be great if somebody did, I would love to speak to that person.”
Though he found the idea amusing, he did not encourage it, “I think people should probably prioritise other things when choosing where to apply. And you know, if there isn’t a prestigious cubing society already in place, then there’s nothing stopping you from starting one and writing your own story.” Glib also took the opportunity to invite to UCL any prospective students who may be considering cubing when deciding on their place of study, “We certainly welcome people at UCL for cubing purposes, so if I am to make a pitch, then there it is.”
During an event UCL hosted in 2024, well-known speedcuber Feliks Zemdegs had visited the campus for a Q&A. Glib was asked if Feliks had been introduced to the UKCL and what his reaction had been.
“To be entirely honest, I don’t remember whether we did, perhaps it was mentioned in passing. Our priority was to deliver an event oriented for the general public, so our focus was on Feliks himself. He was a great guest, we are very much thankful for his attendance. It was two years back now, so Feliks, please come back!
Feliks definitely competed in UKCL-hosted unofficial events at UK Open 2024, so he was definitely aware of our existence. And seeing that he took part, I will go ahead and claim that his reaction was incredibly positive.” – Glib Vedmid
A league that began as a shared spreadsheet between two London societies is now at the centre of a university cubing scene growing across the nation. As the community expands, the league itself continues to evolve.
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