Road to Chengdu begins! IKF World Beach Korfball Championship 2024: Groups Draw completed!
The group stage is set for the IKF World Beach Korfball Championship 2024 following the Group Draw that took place this evening (Monday, April 15, 2024) broadcasted on YouTube.com/ikfchannel.
Eighteen teams were drawn into three groups, with some interesting matchups emerging based on the latest beach world rankings.
The Korfball Association of Thailand will host the World Korfball Beach Championships from 26 to 28 April 2024 in Pattaya City, which is also a qualifier event for The World Games 2025 in Chengdu, China.
Group A features the current world number one ranked team, Poland, who will face off against Portugal (ranked 6th), India (7th), Australia (10th), Scotland (19th) and Czechia (23rd).
Group B is headlined by second-ranked Belgium, who will take on Hungary (ranked 5th), Hong Kong China (8th), Japan (18th), Singapore (20th) and China (23rd).
Finally, Group C includes USA (ranked 3rd), the Netherlands (4th), Chinese Taipei (9th), Thailand (12th), Malaysia (21st) and Macau China (ranked 23rd).
Pattaya was a very successful host of a Beach World Cup in 2022, and this allows the local federation to build on this success as a benchmark for international beach korfball competitions.
Exciting times ahead for Beach Korfball
Further, following the inclusion of korfball in the program of the next edition of The World Games in Chengdu (CHN), the IKF announced that the international beach korfball calendar will be expanded substantially. In 2024, in addition to the World Beach Korfball Championships, two World Cups will be scheduled, one in Europe, likely in August, and a second one in Asia, likely in December. This aligns with the vision of the IKF Council to create a year-round global calendar for beach korfball events.
Further, the IKF announced the qualification regulations for the beach korfball tournament at TWG 2025. The champion of the WBKC will directly qualify for TWG, and TWG host China will have the opportunity to directly qualify at the WBKC, provided they finish in the top-10 of the event. The further 6 or 7 spots (a total of 8 countries/teams can take part in TWG Beach Korfball tournament) will be determined on the newly launched IKF World Beach Korfball Ranking, ensuring both global representation across at least four continents and sufficient competitiveness by ensuring all participants are within the top-12 of the World Ranking as per 31 December 2023.
IKF Beach Korfball World Ranking
IKF Beach Korfball Ranking Criterita, click here.
TWG 2025 Qualification Criteria Beach Korfball, click here.
Where to follow
All fans around the world will be able to watch and follow this tournament live on youtube.com/ikfchannel and on www.worldkorfball.sport (with live results and live streams, statistics, scorers, play-by-play …), as well as on social media on @IKFAsia and @BeachKorfball profiles and the hashtag #WBKC2024, #beachkorfball and #korfball, with the best image galleries, clips and highlights.
IKF Beach Korfbal profiles:
► instagram.com/beachkorfball
► facebook.com/beachkorfball
► twitter.com/beachkorfball
► tiktok.com/@beachkorfball
IKF Asia profiles:
► facebook.com/IKFasia
► instagram.com/IKFasia
► twitter.com/AsiaIKF
You can find all this content and much more visiting the following official IKF profiles (see below):
► instagram.com/korfball_org
► facebook.com/korfball.org
► twitter.com/korfball
► tiktok.com/@korfball.sport
About the IKF World Beach Korfball Championships
The IKF World Beach Korfball Championships is the pinnacle event for the sport of beach korfball. The event is held every two years and features the best national beach korfball teams from around the world. The 2024 edition of the championships will be held in Pattaya, Thailand, from April 26-28.
About the International Korfball Federation (IKF)
The IKF is the governing body for the sport of korfball. The IKF is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the sport, including international competitions, development, and governance. The IKF was founded in Antwerp (Belgium) on 11 June 1933 as a continuation of the International Korfball Bureau established in 1924 by the Dutch and Belgian Associations. The IKF was officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1993 and is affiliated to the Association of the IOC Recognized International Sports Federations (ARISF), the International World Games Association (IWGA) and the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF).