The time has arrived for all the European club teams qualified to play this 2nd season of the IKF Korfball Champions League.  After some changes and improvements, this competition is ready to kick off with two first rounds to be played in Lisbon (R1A) and Cardiff (R1B).

Latest News (events finished): 25/9 – IKF KCL Round 1 Recap

Fourteen teams will participate in this preliminary round, competing in either Round 1-A or Round 1-B. In the refined set-up of the IKF KCL 2023-24 that was introduced in May (see this post), the winners of the IKF Korfball Champions League Round 1 will proceed to the IKF Korfball Champions League Round 2. From there they can qualify for the IKF Korfball Champions League Final to the Challenger Final. The numbers 2 and 3 of both Rounds 1 qualify for the IKF Korfball Champions League Satellite Final.

WHERE TO FOLLOW AND WATCH

All fans around the world will be able to follow this tournaments live on youtube.com/ikfchannel and on www.worldkorfball.sport (with live results and streams, statistics, scorers, play-by-play …), as well as on social media on the hashtags #KCL and #korfball, to find the best images, clips and highlights.

You can find all this content and much more visiting the official @IKFKCL profiles (click on the icons bellow), as well as the best recaps and summaries on the main IKF profiles (see below):

📺 Streams  & results ▼	On social media ▼

► facebook.com/korfball.org ► twitter.com/korfball ► instagram.com/korfball_org ► tiktok.com/@korfball.sport 

*Click on the top-right icon ≣ to view all games scheduled ▼

THE ROAD TO THE FINALS | Competition set-up

📄 More info: https://korfball.sport/?p=32004 

Quick access to each event info (click) ▼

LIVE DRAW

The late withdrawal of Kékvölgy SE from Hungary led to a change in the original tournament set-up for the IKF KCL R1A. The teams will play each other in a round-robin format, but the qualification criteria for the successive KCL events remain unchanged.

The live draw for the IKF Korfball Champions League Round 1 took place on July 6. Through this draw, the teams were divided into the two Round 1s, in Cardiff and Lisbon.

Teams were allocated to the events by drawing in pairs. These pairs were based on the IKF Korfball Champions League ranking, which is based on the previous season. Two teams were already placed; Welsh champion Cardiff City Korfball Club and the runner-up Newport Centurions. The Welsh Korfball Association is hosting the event in collaboration with Cardiff City Korfball Club, which was therefore placed in the IKF KCL Round 1-B. To get to 8 teams, Newport Centurions were invited as extra participant and was therefore also placed in the IKF KCL R1B. The two qualified Portuguese teams are both not hosting the event, and are therefore included in the draw instead of having a fixed place in Lisbon.

The IKF has launched the refined set-up of the IKF Korfball Champions League. After the inaugural season the IKF EXCO has evaluated the event(s), taking into consideration the feedback of the participating clubs, the national federations, the IKF Officials and the IKF Committees.

The new set-up honours the main goals of the IKF KCL, while adjusting the set-up in such a way that the main feedback point are incorporated. The main goals that form the fundament for the IKF KCL are:

• Have more competitive matches between clubs of similar level from different countries across the entire European club competitions;
• Improve quality at all levels;
• Have a feasible path to winning a title across multiple levels;
• Have competitive finals (KCL, Challenger, Satellite);
• Gradually increase the number of club teams from a country that can get European competition at their level.

The main points of feedback from the teams, national federations, officials and IKF Committees were:

• Lower the costs for teams;
• Reduce travel for participants – fewer events for individual clubs;
• Desire to have more certainty around location and timing of events – longer preparation time;
• Play one match per day and full games;
• Have fewer events and longer, if necessary;
• Have fewer matches against the same opponents from previous rounds;
• Have a ‘more international’ feel in the KCL Final;
• Have more international experience and enhance social contacts.

These findings led to the following set-up of the IKF Korfball Champions League:

National federations receive the invitation letter and registration form for their qualified teams as soon as possible. The locations of the IKF KCL R1A will be in Lisbon, Portugal, and the R1B in Cardiff, Wales. The location for the IKF KCL R2 is Marki, Poland, and the location for the IKF KCL Satellite Final is Antalya, Türkiye.

Update 17/6/2023: Qualified teams & host cities confirmed so far

Update 6/7/2023 – Live draw (to decide which teams will play the KCL R1-A and R1-B):

Update 6/7/2023 – 21:00 (CEST) – The groups are known: