The group draw for the IKF World Korfball Championships 2023 took place on Monday, 10 July 2023 in Taipei City and was broadcast live on the IKF YouTube channel. 

The IKF World Korfball Championships 2023 will host more teams than ever before, with 24 teams competing later this year in Taipei City, Chinese Taipei for the title. 

IKF President Jan Fransoo and IKF Secretary General Joana Faria were present for the press briefing and group draw along with Vice-Mayor Yi-Hua, Lin from Taipei City Government, Director Hong-Xiang, Wang from Taipei City Sports Department, and Mrs. Shu-Wei, Huang. 

From the Chinese Taipei Korfball Association President Wei-Chiang, Huang, Vice President Guo-Jin, Han, Secretary-General Yu-Tang, Wen, former Director Wu-Hsiung, Huang were also present along with Coach Mr. Feng and players from team Chinese Taipei. 

The Draw 

To set the groups and pots, the IKF World Rankings from 1 January 2023 was used. The 24 participant teams were split across eight groups, A-H, with the highest ranking top 8 teams placed automatically one into each group, the remaining teams were selected from the pots. 

Who was in each pot? 

Pot 1: Catalonia, England, Hungary, Poland  

Pot 2: New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong China, Slovakia  

Pot 3: Ireland, Japan, Brazil, Türkiye  

Pot 4: India, South Africa, Thailand, Malaysia 

The full draw 

Group A: Netherlands, Slovakia, Brazil

Group B: Belgium, Hong Kong China, Türkiye

Group C: Chinese Taipei, New Zealand, Ireland

Group D: Germany, Australia, Japan 

Group E: China, England, India

Group F: Portugal, Poland, South Africa 

Group G: Suriname, Hungary, Malaysia 

Group H: Czech Republic, Catalonia, Thailand

The 12th edition of the World Championships will take place between 20 and 29 October 2023 in Tapiei City, Chinese Taipei, with the group stage matches being played over the first 5 days of the tournament. 

Missed the draw? Watch it here 

Previous news:

27/11/2022 ► IKF Council decides to host 24 teams / Qualified teams from Europe for the WKC 2023 after the IKF EU WKC Qualifiers A & B 2022
16/11/2022 ► Qualified teams from Africa for the WKC 2023 after the IKF AAKC North-West 2022
13/11/2022 ► Qualified teams from Africa for the WKC 2023 after the IKF AAKC South 2022
7/12/2022 ► Qualified teams from Asia & Oceania for the WKC 2023 after the IKF AOKC 2022
22/12/2022 ► Qualified teams from South-America for the WKC 2023 after the IKF PAKC 2022

Qualifying event for The World Games 2025 in Chengdu.

Update 1 December 2022: The dates of the IKF WKC 2023 have been announced. Chinese Taipei Korfball Association and IKF are looking forward to welcome the korfball community from 20-29 October 2023.

Original post 27 November 2022:

The Council of the International Korfball Federation, in consultation with the Local Organizing Committee of the 12^th IKF World Korfball Championship, has decided that the WKC 2023 will have 24 participating teams. It is the first time the World Championship will have 24 countries and regions taking part, following the 20 teams that took part in the 11^th World Korfball Championship in Durban, South Africa, in 2019.

The decision to expand the size of the event follows the large number of countries and regions that have or will take part in the qualifying events. This is a testimony to the versatility of the IKF member countries following the Covid-19 Pandemic. Growth has been particular in Africa – with a record 6 countries taking part in last month’s All Africa Korfball Championships, held in an innovative format in Abidjan (CIV) and Lusaka (ZAM) – and Asia – with a record 12 countries taking part in this week’s Asia Oceania Korfball Championship in Pattaya (THA). The Americas have seen a decline in participation as countries are struggling with the economic crisis aftermath of the pandemic.

The following countries have qualified until now:

Host: Chinese Taipei

Europe: Belgium, Catalonia, Czech Republic, England, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Turkey. Further either Ireland or Switzerland has qualified directly*.

Africa: Morocco, Zimbabwe

First reserves Europe: 1) Switzerland or Ireland*, 2) France

First reserves Africa: South Africa (IKF AAKC South), Ivory Coast (IKF AAKC North/West)

From Asia and Oceania, 7 countries will qualify (in addition to the host country), among which at least one Oceanian country.

From the Americas, 2 countries will qualify. The IKF Pan American Korfball Championship will be played next month in Buenos Aires (ARG).

* Ireland and Switzerland played in parallel European qualifiers, while only one of the two countries will qualify directly. The IKF Council has decided that out of these two countries, the country that will have the highest position in the new IKF World Ranking per 1/1/2023 will qualify directly. The other country will be first reserve from Europe.

_{Header image: Marco Spelten}