IKF Playing Rules Experiments

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The Rules of Korfball are defined by the International Korfball Federation and must be followed by all IKF members. However, countries may be interested in making experiments with the rules of the game, either by experimenting with changes to existing rules or by experimenting with new rules. The IKF encourages IKF members to do so in light of game development.

Following the IKF Playing Rules Experiments Procedure, the IKF informs the IKF members about this possibility every year, after which the National Federations can request an experiment at least 6 weeks before the start of the proposed experiment.

For more information, see Playing Rules Experiments Procedure 2021.

 

Image: Marco Spelten

Updates IKF Events 2021

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The developments of the corona pandemic continue to influence the IKF Competition Calendar. All updates about the IKF events of 2021 can be found on this page, which will be updated regularly.

IKF U21 Korfball World Cup (24-26 September, Czech Republic)

The IKF has decided, in coordination with the participants, to relocate the IKF U21 Korfball World Cup 2022. The strict corona regulations and the related high organisational costs in France make it impossible for this event to continue in France as planned. The participants indicated that they would very much appreciate the IKF U21 KWC 2021 to take place, and the Czech Korfball Association has offered to organise the event from 24 – 26 September in Zruč nad Sázavou. The IKF is grateful for this offer and has full confidence that the Czech Korfball Association is capable of organising a great event in the short time left. The IKF is preparing the final versions of the IKF COVID-19 protocol and IKF COVID-19 Event Rules, of which a provisional edition has been discussed with the participants.

The IKF would like to thank Fédération Korfbal France for all their efforts to host this event.

IKF World Beach Korfball Championship 2021 (10-11 September, Morocco)

The current situation in Morocco makes it impossible to allow progress with tournament preparations, and time effectively ran out before a firm decision needed to be made. Therefore, the LOC and IKF have taken the joint decision to postpone the event until 2022. The main issue in Morocco at this time is that the country is still in a state of emergency, and it is not known when this will be released and borders will (fully) open up. It is also unclear if Morocco will allow flights from all continents and to what extent such tickets would be affordable for all subscribed teams. Taken together, this brings too much risk for both the participants and the Local Organisers and therefore the difficult decision to postpone the WBKC has been made. More information about the rescheduling of this event for next year will follow later this year.

IKF European Korfball Championship B-Division (4-9 October, Poland) &

IKF European Korfball Championship A-Division (25-30 October, Belgium)

The outlook for the two European Korfball Championships is currently positive. The situation in Poland and Belgium is getting better and better, and with more and more people vaccinated in Europe, the IKF and the two Local Organisers are confident that the events can take place as planned. The IKF is in contact with the IKF Medical Committee and Local Organisers of the EKCs to prepare a Covid-19 protocol. New update meeting with the participants of both events are planned in August, to make a final decision about the continuation of the event.

The IKF would like to express its gratitude to the different host countries for their collaboration and efforts in the preparation of the cancelled or postponed events.

IKF Friendly International Matches

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On 26 June the national senior teams of Belgium and The Netherlands will play a friendly international match in light of the 100-year anniversary of the Royal Belgium Korfball Association. The Royal Belgium Korfball Association, in alignment with the Royal Dutch Korfball Association, requested the IKF to recognise their match as an official friendly international match. All fans around the world can watch and enjoy this game live for free here below or visiting IKF’s Youtube channel (click here).

Like the two mentioned National Federations, all IKF members can request the IKF to recognise a friendly international match against another IKF member country. Organising an official friendly match adds to the status of the match and furthermore can add a limited number of ranking points to the IKF World Ranking. It is therefore that the IKF very much encourage National Federations to officialise their friendly matches and like this increase the visibility and status of the matches that are being played outside of official IKF competition.

To be able to achieve an official status and be registered, friendly matches should be organised and played according to the requirements defined in the Friendly International Match Guidelines. Furthermore, they need to be compliant with the IKF Competition Regulations and the Rules of Korfball.

An official friendly international match can be requested by using the request form, which should be supported by both national federations. All players must be eligible to play according to the IKF Competition Regulations and the referees will be appointed in alignment with the IKF Referee Committee.

IKF and MIKASA renew sponsor partnership

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The International Korfball Federation (IKF) and Mikasa Corporation are delighted to announce the renewal of their long-lasting partnership. A relationship that already exceeds two decades.

IKF and MIKASA have collaborated in the development of korfball, in particular with a continued development by MIKASA in match balls of the highest quality, and a distribution structure that provides increasing global access.

An important part of the agreement is that the MIKASA K5 shall remain the IKF’s official ball. This means that the MIKASA K5 will continue to retain its exclusive status at all IKF events and IKF development activities. The extensive positive experiences of athletes worldwide with the MIKASA K5, both at elite and at grassroots levels, has played an important role for the IKF in extending the partnership.

Mr Jan Fransoo, IKF president is extremely happy with the new agreement: “We value the long-term relationship with a quality brand like MIKASA. The excellent characteristics of the K5 ball and the support of many years provided by MIKASA to the IKF events and development activities provide us with confidence of further growth in the years to come. We would like to thank Mr Saeki for the confidence placed in the IKF with the extension of our partnership.”

Mr Yuji Saeki, President and CEO of Mikasa Corporation comments: “Mikasa Corporation is extremely honoured with the extension of our partnership with IKF and with the opportunity to contribute to their korfball events as well as the long-term growth of korfball in the world.”

The IKF is looking forward to further collaboration with MIKASA for many more years to come!

* Mikasa Corporation is a Japanese sports equipment and athletic goods company that is specialised in equipment for ball games. The balls manufactured by MIKASA for sports football, korfball, basketball, volleyball, waterpolo and handball are often used for official matches, games and competitions. https://mikasasports.co.jp/e/company/

IKF U21 Korfball World Cup 2021

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The IKF is happy to announce the IKF U21 Korfball World Cup (KWC) 2021, which will be hosted by the Fédération Korfbal France in Saint-Étienne. The event will be held from 24 September till 26 September, with a possibility to start on the evening of 23 September in case the number of subscribed teams is very high. Subscription is open for all IKF members.

The IKF U21 KWC 2021 is being organised as alternative for the IKF U21 World Korfball Championship 2021, that had to be cancelled due to the corona situation. The IKF KWC is a standalone event with no direct relationship to the regular IKF U21 Competition Calendar. Participation is not connected to the IKF World Ranking. The main aim of this event is to give as many countries as possible the opportunity to offer their U21 age group the possibility to compete in an international event in the year of 2021.

The exact tournament set up will depend on the number of subscribed teams but it is anticipated to be in line with the tournament set up of the IKF U19 World Korfball Championship, having multiple games during one day.

Although the outlook for September regarding the corona virus situation in Europe currently looks positive, it may be clear that the health of everyone involved will always have the highest priority. Therefore the IKF will closely monitor the developments of the corona situation in the coming months together with the host country. In the middle of June formal evaluation is planned to decide up on the continuation of the event.

UPDATE (11-August-2021): The IKF has decided, in coordination with the participants, to relocate the IKF U21 Korfball World Cup 2022. The strict corona regulations and the related high organisational costs in France make it impossible for this event to continue in France as planned. The participants indicated that they would very much appreciate the IKF U21 KWC 2021 to take place, and the Czech Korfball Association has offered to organise the event from 24 – 26 September in Zruč nad Sázavou. The IKF is grateful for this offer and has full confidence that the Czech Korfball Association is capable of organising a great event in the short time left. The IKF is preparing the final versions of the IKF COVID-19 protocol and IKF COVID-19 Event Rules, of which a provisional edition has been discussed with the participants.

The IKF would like to thank Fédération Korfbal France for all their efforts to host this event.

Event info ► https://korfball.sport/?p=25048

Former IKF Secetary General Ton Marteijn passes away at age 93

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The International Korfball Federation is sad to announce the passing of its Honorary Member Ton Marteijn, at age 93 at his home in the Netherlands. Marteijn served the korfball community for about half a century, starting in the late 1940s as chairman of his local korfball club, and retiring in 1997 as Secretary General of the International Korfball Federation.
Over many years, Marteijn was a referee at the elite level in the Netherlands and internationally, following which he started as a referee teacher. He conducted courses all over the globe, with an emphasis on the United States and in Asia, including the very first referee course in India in 1985 and in Chinese Taipei in 1986. Over many years, together with korfball’s coaching education icon Adrie ”Swan” Zwaanswijk, he led the international korfball Summer course at Papendal in the Netherlands.

Ton Marteijn
In parallel, Ton Marteijn started a career as a sports administrator, including Chairman of the Zeeland Korfball Association, Chairman of the KNKV South-West District, President of the Zeeland Sports Council, Exco Member of the Royal Dutch Korfball Association KNKV, and Exco Member of the Netherlands Sports Federation (predecessor of the current NOC*NSF). From 1984 until 1997, Ton Marteijn was Secretary General of the International Korfball Federation. Together with then-President Bob de Die, Ton Marteijn was instrumental in getting korfball included in the program of The World Games in 1984 and in obtaining recognition by the International Olympic Committee in 1993. He was awarded the honorary membership of the IKF in 1997.
The international korfball community will remember Ton Marteijn as an extremely committed developer of the sport of korfball across the globe, with a very clear and often uncompromising view on the direction the development of our sport would need to take. Korfball globally would be different if it were not for the many contributions that Ton Marteijn has made.
The IKF wishes his relatives strength in dealing with this loss.

IKF AKC 2021 cancelled

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The IKF EXCO has decided to cancel the IKF Asia Korfball Championship 2021. Recently, the Korea Korfball Federation informed the IKF that it is not possible to organise the event due to the current severe COVID -19 situation in the country.

Because of the severity of the COVID-19 epidemic and the national conditions, most Asian countries have relatively strict immigration control policies. Due to the difficulties of the imposed (travel) restrictions, it has been impossible to find a replacement host for the IKF AKC 2021. Therefore, the IKF Asia Competition Working Group and the IKF EXCO have decided to cancel the event.

The IKF AKC 2021 was a qualification event for the IKF AOKC 2022. Due to the cancellation, the IKF AOKC 2022 will be open for participation for all Asian and Oceanian countries. All these countries will be informed as soon as more details are known.

The IKF would like to express its gratitude to the Korea Korfball Federation for their collaboration and efforts.

IKF Korfball Instruction Videos

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The IKF and its Erasmus+ 2020 partners are proud to announce that the handbooks of the IKF Level I and Level II Coach Courses have been finalised. The IKF Korfball Instruction Videos are an important part of these handbooks, and they are now free to watch, share and use for all korfball coaches and players around the world.

The videos highlight key korfball actions and strategies and provide information about the related focus points. The videos have been produced with the help of korfball club PKC, Team NL, commentator Tom Brady and Grinta Media.

The Erasmus+ project was a collaboration between IKF, KNKV, SWISS Korfball, Marmara University, All-Ukrainian Korfball Federation and Polish Korfball Association. The IKF is grateful for the continuous efforts put in by all partners throughout the year. Despite the cancellation of many planned activities and meetings due to the pandemic, all partners fulfilled their task with great energy and dedication. This has resulted in handbooks and video material that can be used by the global korfball community in the years to come.

The IKF Korfball Instruction Videos (click on title to go to YouTube):
*Subtitles available in English, French and Polish. 

– Running in shot 

– Long Distance Shot 

– Short Distance Shot

– One Handed Pass 

– Two-Handed Pass 

– Assist 

– Penalty 

– Free Pass 

– Rebound 

– 1-1 Defence

– Front Defence

– Front Defence in matches

– Rebound Defence 

– Rebound Defence in matches 

– Pressuring the pass 

– Attack Pattern 2-2

– Attack Pattern 2-2 in matches 

– Attack Pattern 2-2 mixes in matches

– Attack Pattern 3-1  

– Attack Pattern 3-1 in matches 

– Attack Pattern 4-0

IKF U19 World Korfball Championship 2021 postponed

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Unfortunately, the IKF EXCO has decided to postpone the IKF U19 World Korfball Championship, scheduled for 2 – 4 April 2021, with one year. The current situation regarding the corona pandemic makes impossible to organise this event on the mentioned dates.

The event now is scheduled to take place during Easter next year, 15 – 17 April 2022, in Kutná Hora, Czech Republic.

The IKF would like to express its gratitude towards the CKA for their collaboration and efforts over the last difficult months. The IKF Is fully confident that next years’ edition will be a big success.

 

Looking forward to 2021

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Only 12 months ago, we could not have imagined that the Europa Cup and Europa Shield in January would be the only two international korfball events in the whole of 2020. Many korfball organisations were also banned from organising any leagues or championships at national level. For sure, this has been the most difficult year for the development of our sport since many decades, with multiple national organisations fighting for survival. Our sport thrives because it is based around social relationships: competition and training are a means to bring people together.

At the same time, we see many signs of hope that demonstrate the resilience of our global community. Many national organisations have taken initiatives for online courses. Within the IKF, we have struggled a bit to get this started, but some excellent initiatives in particular by Jorge Alves of the Playing Rules and Referees Committee have demonstrated the need. We are happy to have Jorge on board in our Executive Committee now as we need to further expand such online activities, also beyond the current pandemic. Others have developed alternative formats of play and training within the limitations of social distancing.

The true sign of hope, however, is the arrival of the first vaccines. At the end of 2020 many countries have started the inoculation of their population. In the end, the medical and logistics efforts that make vaccines available on a wide scale will enable global sports to recover. It will however require quite a bit patience on the side of many: inoculating billions of people around the globe will take time. Sadly, the pace will be different in different countries, with many of the poorer countries being supplied late in the process.

The IKF is confident that in 2021 international competitions will resume. The continental championships in Europe (Belgium and Poland) will provide a first big opportunity for many countries to meet. We are also hopeful for Oceania to host a meet between Australia and New Zealand some time soon, and are currently seeking hosts for the Panamerican and African Championships to be held in late 2021 or early 2022.

For the earlier events in 2021, notably the U19 World Korfball Championship in the Czech Republic (April), the U21 World Korfball Championship in Chinese Taipei (July), the U21 European Korfball Championship Round 1 in France (July) and the World Beach Korfball Championship in Morocco (July), and the Asian Korfball Championship in Korea (August) we are in close contact with the hosts to define the conditions under which these can take place. These may include testing and/or vaccination requirements, albeit that we do need to recognise that for events that are scheduled earlier in the year we still need to take into account the option of cancellation or postponement. There will only be a gradual way out of the pandemic, and this gradual way will take some years.

I am confident, however, that we are able to have our World Korfball Congress in Belgium in October 2021. It is an excellent occasion to congratulate the Royal Belgian Korfball Federation with their 100th anniversary. We will definitely look at hybrid online/in-person options of presenting the Congress, but our expectation is that this Congress should allow for many of us to meet in-person in Antwerp. In the end, if there is one learning from the pandemic, it is that our community thrives because of personal contacts. A 3D meeting – ideally with touch and feel – build the relationships that are the foundation for our global community, and online meetings in 2D can only partially supplement this.

The IKF Council wishes all of you a good recovery from the pandemic, both individually with your families and for your national korfball organisations, korfball clubs, and korfball schools. We wish you all the best for the year to come, and hope to be in touch with many of you, ideally in-person, but definitely online.

 

Jan Fransoo

President