Important message. The IKF Europa Cup 2014 final day Saturday 18 January 2014 is sold out.
At the moment there are still tickets available for Wednesday 15, Thursday 16 and Friday 17 January at the entrance of the PKC/Hagero venue in Papendrecht (NED).
The matches in the 48th IKF Europa Cup are available thru LIVE webcasting. As of Wednesday 15 January till Saturday 18 January all matches are recorded and made available via worldkorfball.org and via ikfchannel on YouTube.
The IKF published the match schedule of the first IKF All American Korfball Championship; click here
The first All American title is competed between: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. The playing city is Americana in Brazil. The event days are 31 January, 1 and 2 February 2014.
At the beginning of 2014, I would like to wish all korfballers worldwide a very happy, joyful, healthy, and successful new year.
At this new year, I was requested by the Dutch sports opinion and news website SportKnowHowXL to express my wishes and resolutions for 2014, along with about 20 other sports leaders. As I think this may be of interest to the international korfball community, I have translated my text in English and have pasted it below for your enjoyment. As always, I appreciate your responses at jan.fransoo@ikf.org.
Sochi will be at the center of attention in 2014. Rio will be the focus in 2016. Sport at its best in a unique environment: the Olympic Games add something special to the traditional values and magical atmosphere surrounding the Games. This magic in combination with the best performances of the best athletes from around the world give a very special mix which is worthy of our modern Olympic Games. But the question has to be asked; are these 28 disciplines the only sports which we can describe as the best? Is a sport only an elite sport if it is a part of the Olympic Games? And are these disciplines which some consider as elite the same in each and every country?
Wish.
For 2013 I wish that more support for different sports will develop, starting with the Netherlands Olympic Committee. More support for athletes who are specialized in sports which are not necessarily competed in at the Olympic Games.[…]
My New Year’s resolution:
Obviously I will try and give every sport my best tribute. And I will especially focus on korfball; in 2014 we will try and launch a new discipline called Korfball4. Korfball4 consists off a smaller pitch, fewer players, unlimited substitutions and no center line to divide two zones. We move the game from an invisible sports hall to the center square in the city!
It will be a unique concept which offers cities the chance to develop themselves and obtain visibility. Furthermore, korfball4 will connect elite korfball with korfball-for-all. In this year, I will try and accomplish a successful launch of this concept, and hopefully contribute to a further development of korfball.
The Dutch korfball team is one of ten nominated for the Team of the Year award 2013 by the International World Games Association (IWGA).
From January 6 to January 31, 2014, supporters and friends will be able to cast an online vote for The World Games 2013 top team. One vote per person per day is allowed.
We invite you to provide active support for the Dutch korfball team. The IKF is proud on this nomination for the World Games winners. Encourage people all over the world in all 60 korfball countries to support them with your votes. Use social media channels as well. To participate in the team vote, please visit the IWGA and vote; click here
The IWGA press officer has stated: “Everybody will be allowed to participate in the voting on the IWGA website. Each participant will have available one vote per day best team. The voting will be closed on January 31. Afterwards the IWGA will announce the winners and ranking on their website and launch a press release. The winners will be awarded a trophy.
The support for your athletes / team does not only honor their performance during The World Games 2013. The vote will also increase the popularity of your sport and will make it once more visible.”
Tomorrow, Tuesday 7 January 2014, 1100 AM Central European Time the new event website will be live. Just follow the link: worldkorfball.org
Following detailed discussions, the International Korfball Federation (IKF) and the Mikasa Corporation have agreed a new four-year sponsorship agreement for the provision of international match balls.
Under the agreement, for four years from 1 January 2014 all major IKF events will be played with the Mikasa K5-IKF as the international standard match ball. This agreement replaces the previous four-year agreement between the two, which expired on 31 December 2013.
IKF Senior Vice-President Frans Walvis said both parties are happy to continue their long-standing association. “Both Mikasa and IKF strive to achieve the maximum quality in what we do. Korfball benefits from the high quality product that Mikasa delivers. For the past four years, the Mikasa K5-IKF, which was a bold step forward from previous ball designs, has helped project korfball as a unique, dynamic and innovative sport. Our players appreciate and enjoy the handling characteristics and aesthetics of the ball, which quickly became an integral part of our sport’s image. “We are delighted that Mikasa has agreed to continue the relationship, and we look forward to working together to further enhance korfball as a sporting and spectator experience,” he said.
“Mikasa Corporation is exceedingly honoured in being able to renew the contract and its partnership with IKF, supporting their international korfball events and promoting the growth of the sport of korfball all over the world by providing all the people the right products for the sport”, Mikasa announced.
Tuesday 7 or Wednesday 8 January 2014 the IKF will launch the completely redesigned version of worldkorfball.org
This on line software system serves the IKF jury in major IKF Events. The jury keeps control of the matches with the support of the software and the connected database. They register players, referees, coaches, scorers, substitutions, reversible substitutions, yellow and red cards; all match related actions. Second goal of the on line system is to give korfball spectators from all over the world the opportunity to follow the game as well behind their Pc, laptop, tablet and/or smartphone. There is an Android app as well.
The redesigned system follows the changed IKF rules – including the reversible substitutions, integrates with news form the IKF website and integrates with the ikfchannel on YouTube.
The 48th IKF Europa Cup in Papendrecht (NED) will be the first IKF event with the redesigned jurysoftware.
The first version of the software was released just before the IKF World Korfball Championship in 2007 in Brno (CZE).
As of 1 January 2015 the revised IKF Competition Regulations 2015 are in place. The revised Regulations are available if you follow the link: Competition Regulations 2015
The next IKF U21 European Korfball Championship (IKF U21 EKC) will be played in Olomouc, Czech Republic, in the period 6 – 12 July 2014. Twelve teams will participate in this U21 korfball championship. The Netherlands is the reigning champion since the last event in 2011 in Hungary. The original host in Turkey did withdraw.