The next IKF World Korfball Championship in 2023 will be held in Taipei (TPE), following a decision of the IKF Council announced here in Durban, South Africa. In a parallel decision, the IKF awarded the 2027 IKF World Korfball Championship to the Netherlands, who had prepared a bid with Rotterdam as the main location. The Netherlands had prepared their bid for 2023, but had confirmed that it would upheld its bid for 2027 after the initial secret vote by the 9 members of the IKF Council.

IKF President Fransoo announces the hosts of the 2023 and 2027 WKC

IKF President Fransoo: “With awarding this series of Championships we reward the outstanding bids received, and also lay out a clear path for the next decade for our global competitions: The World Games in the United States in 2021, the WKC 2023 in Taipei (TPE), TWG 2025 in Chengdu (CHN), and the IKF WKC 2027 in the Netherlands. The next step is to now align this roadmap with the CTKA, ChKA, and KNKV with our strategic roadmap for the next decade. We are very confident this will be great for all athletes and for the sport at large”

Taipei 2023

The bid developed by the Chinese Taipei Korfball Association offers an extensive four year program for further marketing of korfball across Chinese Taipei, and providing extensive hosting support to the participating nations. The competition will be played in Taipei, and has received extensive support from the Taipei City government, with a personal effort by Mayor Wen-Je Ko, and from the Sport Administration on the island. With Chinese Taipei currently ranked 2nd in the world, and missing the final of this year’s World Korfball Championship in South Africa by a mere golden goal loss in the semifinal, the IKF WKC will be held in Chinese Taipei for the very first time. The previous WKCs were held twice in Asia (China and India), once in Oceania (Australia), once in Africa (South Africa). The remaining edition have been held in Europe.

Netherlands 2027

Similar to Chinese Taipei, the Royal Netherlands Korfball Association KNKV had prepared an extensive and professional bid, with support of the Mayor of Rotterdam, The Netherlands Olympic Committee, the Ministry of Sport, among many. The bid excelled in a vision of focusing on sports excellence, with a first-ever athlete village to be created with temporary housing in the Rotterdam Ahoy’s Sports and Convention complex that would be converted to a World Korfball Village, and extensive multi-year partnerships between the strongest clubs in the Netherlands and the envisioned 24 countries that would take part, under the banner “Twinning is Winning”. The IKF and KNKV have agreed to jointly investigate to what extent the partnership program could already start within the next few years. The vision is fully embeded in global korfball’s Olympic ambition, for which the IKF Congress had laid out a first roadmap earlier in the week.

Czech Republic

The Czech bid for the 2023 IKF WKC did not make it. However, the Czech Korfball Association had in parallel submitted a bid for the IKF European Korfball Championship 2022, and the IKF Council awarded the CzKA the elit competition, only second in size and impact after the WKC. The championship is strongly related towards multi-year school development with which the Czechs plan to double their membership in the next 3 years.

Images: Marco Spelten