The IKF KCL R3 is over: PKC and Borgerhout qualify for the Korfball Champions League Final

The Belgian city of Herentals hosted on 6 and 7 January 2023 the decisive 3rd Round of this brand new European IKF Korfball Champions League, the last qualification event for the IKF Korfball Champions League Final. [Press kit booklet here]

After 3 previous qualifying events (the R1A & R1B played on September 2022 in Portugal and Poland, and the R2 on November in the Czech Republic) now it was time for the current Belgian and Dutch national finalists to join this competition.

TuS Schildgen from Germany and Trojans KC from England qualified for the IKF Korfball Champions League R3 after becoming the finalists of the R2, and they were ready to face the Dutch PKC/Vertom and the Belgian K. Borgerhout/Groen-Wit K.C. Sadly, a late withdrawal of the English team on December 30th due to unfortunate family circumstances forced an urgent adjustment to the tournament schedule.

The event continued therefore with the three remaining competitors based on the planned semi-final and final format with the original ranking of the teams for the KCL Round 3 as:

1- PKC/Vertom, NED
2- K. Borgerhout/Groen-Wit K.C., BEL
3- TuS Schildgen 1932 e.V., GER
4- Trojans KC, ENG

The withdrawal of Trojans KC means that PKC/Vertom earned a bye for the planned semi-final against Trojans KC and thereby automatically advances to the final of Round 3 on Saturday. The semi-final on Friday between K. Borgerhout/Groen-Wit K.C. and TuS Schildgen 1932 e.V. continud as planned and after an intense match, the Belgian club became the winner of this match by 20-7, and faced PKC/Vertom on Saturday, with a final score 14-25 in favour od the Dutch.

These results means that the last two remaining places at stake for the grand final of IKF’s inaugural KCL season will be ocupied by the Dutch PKC/Vertom and the Belgian K. Borgerhout/Groen-Wit K.C.

FINAL RESULTS

The winner of KCL Round 3 will play against the current champion of the Belgian Topkorfbal national league, Floriant Merelbeke, number two ranked team of the IKF KCL Final. On the other hand, number two of Round 3 will face the champions of the last season’s Korfbal League, Fortuna/Delta Logistiek, reigning Dutch champion and the highest ranked team in the KCL Final.

The IKF Korfball Champions League Final is programmed for the weekend of 10-11 February 2023 in the city of Delft in the Netherlands. The number three of KCL Round 3 will continue their European journey in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, for the IKF Korfball Champions League Challenger Final. This event is scheduled for 4 and 5 February 2023.

The Royal Belgian Korfball Federation in collaboration with the IKF and local clubs are the organisers of this exciting IKF KCL R3.

SEMI-FINAL (6/1/2023): Borgerhout/Groen-Wit (BEL) 20-7 TuS Schildgen (GER)

Image gallery (by Marco Spelten)

FOR 3RD PLACE* (7/1/2023 – 14:00) TuS Schildgen (GER) 15-21 PKC/Vertom 2 (NED)

KCL R3 FINAL (7/1/2023 – 16:00) Borgerhout/Groen-Wit (BEL) 14-25 PKC/Vertom (NED)

Image gallery (by Marco Spelten)

LIVE STREAMS, RESULTS & SOCIAL MEDIA

All fans around the world will be able to follow this tournament live on youtube.com/ikfchannel and on www.worldkorfball.sport (with live results and streams, statistics, scorers, play-by-play …).

On social media you will be able to find the best images, clips and highlights, visiting the following official @IKFKCL profiles, as well as the regular and well-known IKF profiles (see below) and via the hashtags #KCL and #korfball:

IKF KCL Profiles | @IKFKCL: