Best wishes for a very busy korfball year ahead!

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As 2018 has just commenced, we are all realising that we are facing an exciting year ahead, with many competitions around the globe.

On all continents, continental championships will be held. Americas is first, with the IKF Pan-American Korfball Championship to be held in Cali, Colombia. Six teams teams will compete for the title, with for the first time ever two spots available for the IKF World Korfball Championship in 2019. Merely a month later, Harare (Zimbabwe) will be the host of the All African Korfball Championship. Also there, for the first time ever, and due to the IKF World Korfball Championship 2019 being held on the African continent for the first time (Durban, South Africa), two spots will be available. So, apart from host South Africa, a second African country will be able to qualify for the World Championship. Later in the year, the Asians and Oceanians will have their quadrennial joint championship in Tokyo-Saitama (Japan) and the Europeans will see their long qualification series (which already started last year) completed in the Netherlands, where sixteen European teams will compete for their continental title.

For many countries, taking part in the continental championship is their main target, and a great way to focus development efforts. Especially for those countries ranked between 30 and 50 on our world ranking, taking part in the continental championship is the pinnacle of their performance. I am happy to see so many countries taking part in this quadrennial cycle, where we are likely to break again the record of the number of participating countries. This is important for us as worldwide korfball community to demonstrate our growth by hard numbers. It is however also important to help grow the performance culture in all of our member organisations. While grassroots participation is always and should remain the primary objective of any national organisation, it is critical for each national organisation to also develop a strong performance pillar, which includes a national league and championship at different age groups levels, and includes international participation.

To further stimulate this international participation, this year we see the first-ever official IKF U19 Championship. While World Cups have been held for two decades in this age group, I am very excited to now see an official biannual U19 World Championship emerge. Before too long, we hope to be able to also convert the U17 World Cups every two years to a World Championship.

With all this ahead, I realise that many of our volunteers are devoting a lot of effort and creativity to making this happen, both financially and organisationally. It is to them that I wish to dedicate my New Year’s Message this year: lots of success with all or your endeavours, which I hope you will complete in good health and with great joy.

 

Dr Jan C. Fransoo

President

International Korfball Federation

Healthy, happy and sportive 2018

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The IKF Council and the IKF staff wish all of you a healthy, happy and sportive 2018.

We will continue to support our members to spread korfball over the world and increase the level of play.

IKF New Year 2018

Belgium (Blankenberge) host of the IKF Beach Korfball World Cup (Europe) 2018

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The IKF is happy to announce that the Royal Belgian Korfball Federation (KBKB) will host the IKF Beach Korfball World Cup (Europe) 2018. The event will take place on the weekend of the 11th and 12th August 2018 and will be held in Blankenberge, Belgium. The best ranked European team will become European Beach Korfball Champion 2018.

With the introduction of World Cups, the IKF invests in the global development of beach korfball. Every continental organisation has the opportunity to organise a World Cup in 2018 and every country from all over the world is able to participate in each of the events. This can lead to at most 5 World Cups:

  • IKF Beach Korfball World Cup (Europe)
  • IKF Beach Korfball World Cup (Asia)
  • IKF Beach Korfball World Cup (Oceania)
  • IKF Beach Korfball World Cup (Africa)
  • IKF Beach Korfball World Cup (Americas)

The bid of Belgium to organise the IKF Beach Korfball World Cup (Europe) 2018 surpassed the competitive bid of the Turkish Korfball Federation (TDSF). Decisive in this process was the overall picture by the KBKB, presenting the event in a wider “Korfball Experience” approach to promote (beach) korfball in Flanders. This includes a side event for youth teams and recreational teams during the Championship weekend and a tournament for schools at the end of June. In Blankenberge, there is two kilometres of beach available, so having enough playing space for all beach korfball activities is not an issue!

Next summer it will be 15 years since two small clubs outside Antwerp started playing beach korfball. Since then beach korfball has grown significantly. In 2010, the Belgian Federation started a taskforce to organise a beach korfball tour across Flanders, which has been converted into an official committee within the Federation. To date, the highlight is the year of 2015 with more than 1200 participants in the korfball tour. This has left no doubt that the 2018 event will create a special 15th anniversary!

IKF President in Taipei

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IKF President Fransoo is in Taipei this week for various meetings with the leadership of the Chinese Taipei Korfball Association and the President of IKF Asia. The President commended the CTKA with winning the silver medal at The World Games in Wroclaw this Summer. Also, he thanked the CTKA Exco and IKF Asia President Huang for their extensive support developing korfball in Asia. Thanks to the efforts of the CTKA, now three Asian countries rank in the world’s top 10 and a file requesting recognition has been submitted to the Olympic Council of Asia.

Today, President Fransoo and President Huang met with the Chinese Taipei Sports Minister and the director of the International Affairs department to discuss future opportunities for major IKF events in Taiwan and further collaboration in the development of korfball in Asia.

IKF Europa Cup History – November 2017

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Today we published the updated IKF Europa Cup History Booklet.

This Booklet tells the full history of 51 IKF Europa Cup Events since 1967. The IKF Europa Cup is the korfball event with the longest history.

The 52nd IKF Europa Cup will be played from 11 – 13 January 2018, in Platje d’ Aro, Catalonia.

You can find the booklet under Click here for IKF Europa Cup History November 2017.

IKF Europa Cup 2018 match schedule

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From Thursday 11 January till Saturday 13 January 2018 the 52nd IKF Europa Cup final round korfball will be played in Platja d’Aro, Catalonia.

Thursday 11 January 2018 9.00 AM the first match will start; KCC Sokol České Budějovice versus SG Pegasus Rommerscheid 1991 e. V.

Today the IKF published the IKF Europa Cup 2018 pools, match schedule (all times in GMT + 1)+ the event rules:

Click here for match schedule, pools and event rules

IKF Ranking 2017 updated (from 1 November 2017)

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Only one change in the top 20 of the new IKF ranking is seen after the last official IKF Championships. Only Hungary and Turkey have swapped position on the ranking. Suriname and Kenya enter the list.

* Points for the ranking are mainly earned through participation in IKF events with a weighting for each event given according the importance of the event. Countries who take part in qualifications for a final round are awarded points for that event also, being ranked for example, 17th, 18thetc. Points earned are weighted less each year until the next edition of the event. The previous edition of the event drops out of the calculations. With the change in some continental championships to a bi-annual rather than a four yearly cycles weighting reductions are revised to reflect this.

IKF Ranking 2017 as of 1 November 2017; CLICK HERE

Hungary & Serbia classify for the IKF EKC 2018 Final Round

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Day 2 at the 1st round of the IKF European Korfball Championship 2018 in Budapest (HUN) ended with the following results:

ekcr12018_day2_results

Hungary won the final of this IKF EKC 2018 First Round by beating Serbia 24-11. Both teams are qualified for the EKC Final Round next year in The Netherlands (13-21 October 2018). First reserve squad for the Final Round is Ireland, which ended third in this event.

IKF EKC 2018 1st ROUND FINAL RANKING:

  1. Hungary
  2. Serbia
  3. Ireland
  4. Greece
  5. Sweden
  6. Switzerland
  7. Armenia
  8. Ukraine

In the following link you can find some images of Day 2 games, by www.akciokepek.hu (Marco Spelten – Actiefotografie): Day 2 image gallery

ekcr12018_day2_images

Highlights: During this tournament, Switzerland achieved its first ever international win.

swiss

 

During Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 October 2017, eight national teams competed to achieve a place for the EKC 2018 final round (Event’s info). Only the numbers 1 and 2 in this first round will qualify for the IKF EKC in 2018 in The Netherlands (13-21 October 2018).

The participant teams were ARMENIA, GREECE, HUNGARY, IRELAND, SERBIA, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND and UKRAINE. These last two countries had their first international appearance.

All games could be followed live on IKF’s data website: www.worldkorfball.org. Live results, matches schedule, game statistics, play-by-play, scorers and ranking pools were available live from Gabányi László Sportshall.

IKF EKC 2018 R1: Day 1 Results & Day 2 Schedule

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The first day at the 1st round of the IKF European Korfball Championship 2018  in Budapest (HUN) showed us some nice games, a lot of exciting moments and the first golden goal of the tournament. These are today’s results and tomorrow’s match schedule, updated ranking pools and top scorers so far:

ekcr12018_day1_results

ekcr12018_day2_schedule

In the following link you can find some images of Day 1 games, by www.akciokepek.hu (Marco Spelten – Actiefotografie): Day 1 image gallery

ekcr12018_day1_images

 

During Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 October 2017, eight national teams will compete to achieve a place for the EKC 2018 final round (Event’s info). Only the numbers 1 and 2 in this first round will qualify for the IKF EKC in 2018 in The Netherlands (13-21 October 2018).

The participant teams are ARMENIA, GREECE, HUNGARY, IRELAND, SERBIA, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND and UKRAINE. These last two countries have their first international appearance.

All games can be followed live on IKF’s data website: www.worldkorfball.org. Live results, matches schedule, game statistics, play-by-play, scorers and ranking pools will be available live from Gabányi László Sportshall.

Moreover, updated images and videos will be published on the following Facebook’s event page during the whole weekend: Facebook link

As usual, IKF’s social media profiles will also provide images and information about the tournament on facebook.com/korfball.org and twitter.com/korfball.

IKF EKC 2018 1st Round is ready to start in Budapest

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The first round of the IKF European Korfball Championship 2018 (IKF EKC 1st Round) is ready to start in Budapest, Hungary.

During Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 October 2017, eight national teams will compete to achieve a place for the EKC 2018 final round (Event’s info). Only the numbers 1 and 2 in this first round will qualify for the IKF EKC in 2018 in The Netherlands (13-21 October 2018).

The participant teams are ARMENIA, GREECE, HUNGARY, IRELAND, SERBIA, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND and UKRAINE. These last two countries have their first international appearance.

All games can be followed live on IKF’s data website: www.worldkorfball.org. Live results, matches schedule, game statistics, play-by-play, scorers and ranking pools will be available live from Gabányi László Sportshall.

Moreover, updated images and videos will be published on the following Facebook’s event page during the whole weekend: Facebook link

As usual, IKF’s social media profiles will also provide images and information about the tournament on facebook.com/korfball.org and twitter.com/korfball.

*UPDATE 27/10/2017: Information about the possibility of live webcasting of the games will be announced as soon as it’s confirmed by the LOC.