An installation meeting for a new IKF Europe Executive Committee was held in Taipei prior to the General Assembly of the International Korfball Federation (IKF). The formation of this committee is a significant milestone for European korfball, as there has been no European voice in the IKF council for some time.
Previous attempts to create a European confederation ultimately proved unsustainable. Now, a different approach has been followed with the composition of an IKF European task force that has been working on the preparation of a new ExCO for the past 2 years. Members of Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, England and Poland formed this task force.
The working group laid the foundation for a mission statement and determined the objectives for IKF Europe and the associated critical success factors. The mission statement is to bring together all European federations with a focus on further development of the sport in all respects and cooperation across national borders through the exchange of knowledge and expertise.
Yves Daelmans (Belgium) was elected president of IKF Europe and said, “We have been able to put together a driven ExCo team for this purpose, with representation from A to D countries and with the necessary geographical spread. As A countries, the Netherlands and Belgium take their responsibility in this new ExCo.
“It soon became apparent that there was a need for a body to connect the European countries and take a position within IKF, because the number of topics that were presented so far is already considerable.” Yves Daelmans will combine this extra role with his position of director of international relations within the Belgian federation.
The IKF Europe ExCo consists of the following people:
President: Yves Daelmans (Belgium). Members: Carles Albà (Catalonia), Clive Dobbin (England), Anne Harrow (Scotland), Henry van Meerten (Netherlands) and Iwona Zak (Poland)
https://korfball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/IKF_WKC_2023_KritSuttipithu.jpg10731907Dean Woodshttps://korfball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/LogoIKF.pngDean Woods2023-10-27 03:09:002023-12-11 08:58:23IKF Europe milestone achieved with the formation of a new Executive Committee
The global korfball community is shocked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the International Korfball Federation strongly condemns this breaking of the Olympic Truce. IKF President Jan Fransoo sent a message of empathy to Oleg Byllik, President of the Ukranian Korfball Federation, to enquire about the status of the korfball community in Ukraine, which has been growing rapidly over the past few years.
While the korfball community is strongest in the Western Region of Ukraine around the city of Lviv, only recently an extensive expansion project has started with activities in Ukraine’s Central Region which includes the capital of Kyiv. We hope that everyone in Ukraine’s korfball community is safe in these horrific events.
https://korfball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/ukraine.jpg497999Jan Fransoohttps://korfball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/LogoIKF.pngJan Fransoo2022-02-25 15:27:452022-02-25 16:31:49IKF sends message of support to Ukranian Korfball Community
The Executive Committee of the IKF has decided to launch a new competition format for the club competitions in Europe. The format entails a series of events eventually culminating in a Final 4 event for the four strongest European clubs, and Challenger and Satellite Finals for lower-ranked clubs.
In the initial setup, two clubs can take part from the strongest 7 national leagues in Europe (Belgium, Catalonia, Czech Republic, England, Germany, Netherlands, and Portugal), and 1 club from the other national leagues in Europe. Eventual quota for participation are determined based on a coefficient system that the IKF will present later this Spring.
The new competition will be branded as the IKF Europe Korfball Champions League (KCL). It is the joint successor of the IKF Europa Cup and the IKF Europa Shield. The IKF Europa Cup has existed for almost 60 years and was open to the champions of all European leagues. The IKF Europa Shield, that has existed for about 20 years was open to the vice-champions of a selected set of European leagues.
The new format will allow for more matches between clubs of similar strength, doing justice to the growing club competitions in Europe. The KCL will consist of three successive qualification rounds, with stronger clubs entering in later phases of the competition, and three Final4 competitions: The Korfball Champions League Finals, The KCL Challenger Finals, and the KCL Satellite Finals.
The Exco believes this will offer more playing opportunities for club teams across Europe at similar levels of strength. Another feature of the concept is that all rounds of the competition will be played in a weekend format. Events with 8 teams will play shorter matches similar to the current Europa Shield format, while the events with four teams will play two full length matches per team (semifinal and final) in a weekend.
The various IKF Committees and Working Groups are currently working out details for the setup, and the event will launch in the Fall of 2022, with the first KCL Round 1 competitions being played. The first KCL finals will be played in the Spring of 2023.
https://korfball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/header_ikf_europe_kcl_korfball.jpg3801000Dani Ezpeletahttps://korfball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/LogoIKF.pngDani Ezpeleta2022-01-25 18:07:472022-01-25 18:07:47IKF launches Korfball Champions League in Europe
The IKF is happy and proud to announce that the European Union has granted the IKF an Erasmus + Sport grant for 2020. Together with 5 partners, the IKF will use this grant to develop and standardise the IKF Level I and II coach courses, as well as developing korfball activities within the partner countries. The partners are SWISS Korfball (Switzerland), Koninklijk Nederlands Korfbal Verbond (Netherlands), All-Ukrainian Korfball Federation (Ukraine), Polski Zwiazek Korfballu (Poland), and Marmara University (Turkey).
The project will focus on the development of a professional coach module to promote grassroots participation in korfball. The International Korfball Federation currently offers four IKF Coach Courses on four levels. With this project, it wants to focus on the content of the IKF Level I and Level II coach courses.
The aim of the project is to develop a module that addresses the needs and wishes of the countries, in which motivated coaches are situated, in such a way that the knowledge available in leading korfball countries is easily transferred and adjusted to the local context. The standardised module will become the legacy of the collaboration, which can be used by IKF instructors to educate new coaches. The module will not only focus on the development of the skills of the coaches and the players but also on the promotion of gender equality and team feeling. It is expected that the partner countries will be able to develop their national coach courses, using the feedback and ideas collected during the project. Furthermore, the grants will allow countries to organise local korfball activities, which can be used to a) promote korfball, and b) to investigate what the needs and wishes for the IKF coach courses are.
During the project, the partners will have three physical group meetings to discuss the design and content of the module, as well as discussing the progress being made in all partner countries.
https://korfball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/erasmusplus2020_korfball.png361767Geke Maathttps://korfball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/LogoIKF.pngGeke Maat2019-10-03 14:08:482021-02-04 12:06:26Erasmus+ Grant awarded to IKF and partners
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
https://korfball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/SPEL0092.jpg8531280Jan Fransoohttps://korfball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/LogoIKF.pngJan Fransoo2019-08-11 10:58:462019-08-15 07:22:34IKF awards 2023 WKC to Taipei and 2027 WKC to the Netherlands; EKC 2022 to the Czech Republic
The next IKF Korfball World Congress will take place on August 7 and August 8 in the Garden Court Marine Parade Hotel, Durban, South Africa, during the IKF World Korfball Championship 2019.
This year’s edition of the congress aims to promote the sharing of experiences and ideas among members focusing on two main themes: Global Korfball Development and Strengthening Our National Organisations.
The registration for the IKF Korfball World Congress is still open until July, 8th 2019 and it must be done by email to office@ikf.org
You can consult the detailed program of the IKF Korfball World Congress here.
https://korfball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/logo-small.png260544Joana Fariahttps://korfball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/LogoIKF.pngJoana Faria2019-06-20 19:13:432019-06-21 08:28:39IKF Korfball World Congress 2019
The IKF regrets to announce the passing of Mr Max van Leeuwen, bearer of the IKF Badge of Honor, at age 87 on 19 March 2019. Mr Van Leeuwen has spent a part of his life supporting the development of korfball, with in particular in the 20th century the emphasis as member of the IKF Promotion Committee, development in the United States of America and as president of the Swan Fund.
He was awarded the IKF Badge of Honor in 2000.
Mr Van Leeuwen is survived by his wife and two children. A mourning ceremony was held on 23 March 2019 in Capelle aan de IJssel, The Netherlands.
https://korfball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Max_van_Leeuwen_korfball2.png321682Frans Walvishttps://korfball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/LogoIKF.pngFrans Walvis2019-03-25 10:25:452019-03-27 14:45:00Max van Leeuwen, dies at 87
This is the match schedule for Day 2 at the IKF Europa Cup 2019. During this 3-day event, national champions from eight European countries are competing for the “Alfons Janssens” trophy. The last two editions were won by the Dutch national champion TOP/SolarCompleet. Who will be the 2019 champion? Follow it here!
We should be able to plan the key games for the evening session. Obviously this match was decisive for places 3 and 4. This means struggle, passion and effort between two teams equally strong.
None of the competitors could create a margin and there was never a decrease of tension. All what is needed for a top game was there, close defence, attacks interrupted by the sound of the shot clock, blocked shots and beautiful tactical plays. The smallest of margins with 5′ to go in favour of Trojans forced the Portugese to take risks and the English were not prepared to suffer from the same mistakes as before against Boeckenberg. (12-13)
With 11″ to go Benfica managed to equal the score with a golden goal scenario as a result. The first English attack being unsuccessful, the second one was the good one. After what they showed in the previous matches, maybe a well earned victory.
So typical for korfball that losers and winners embraced each other despite joy and disappointment!
Also now one could expect a close game. And although the tempo was much slower with less scoring, it remained an interesting confrontation. One could feel that this match would only start after the break.
After some tactical instructions of the coaches we noticed more speed but mixed with rougher actions and infringements but also more goals. This is exactly what was needed to please spectators. The Germans , due to a better rebound in attack, took the lead in Q3. Too many easy shots from a close range were missed by Brno attackers with time unavoidably running out.
The fact that after the first quarter the Belgian champion had the lead (2-1) against a qualifier from the first round forces to say that Belgian korfball is going through a crisis.
Luckily there was a bunch of sheering school children to encourage the Belgians where the present korfball community was astonished by the performance of the Turkish team that was able to score 13 goals!
It was an opportunity for the Hungarians to show the strong progress they made the last years against a B team of Top.
As indicated earlier Szac did not play their best tournament, leaving the best players on te bench. The reserves still have a long way to go. Defence maybe was all right but just two scores score after 16′ is not very inspiring.
Top, on the other hand, amused the public with unconventional attacks with one handed running in shots.
The second half was the better one fro Szac. Was it not for the playing level, shots went in more easily to stroll to an acceptable final result
The match that would decide who was going to play for places 7-8 or 5-6 seemed to be in favour for Brno at least in the first half.
And even later it remained unpredictable what be the outcome. Two teams eager to avoid first rounds played too carefully and therefore too slow. This made it easy for defenders to prevent opponents from shooting and on top we marked many attacks without shots.
At the end it was the inspiration of the best Portugese player that sentenced Brno to a trip to Saint Etienne.
Marmara completely missed their start and was condemned to a pursuit all the way through the match.
It was very unfortunate that Marmara was unable to repeat a previous performance which would have given a hard time to the Hungarians. At the end it became a walk over.
One may hope that Marmara will seize a chance during a first round tournament to qualify for 2020.
What can you say in favour of a team that scores only 2 goals in the first and three in the second half time? That it was overpowered by a Dutch champion that is ready for the final!
Trojans played a good tournament so far but it was swiped from the floor by a quick, athletic and powerful Top with an outstanding female scoring machine.
Trojans, with their minds set on the match of the day after, did what they could but that was not enough to prevent the opponent to enjoy the public with dynamic korfball. An opportunity for the English to bring in reserve players to savour high level play.
Much attention for this match. Interesting to find out whether the Germans, like in the Europeans, were able to upset the Belgians. When this was maybe the case in the beginning, too many bad decisions and passes, gave Boeckenberg the occasion to create a gap (6-3)
When shot clocks were replaced due to technical failure Boeckenberg immediately scored two perfectly countered by the Germans keeping the game on the highest level of tension.
Boeckenberg, at the start of Q3, now played the better korfball, whereas Germans were trying with individual actions. With an unstoppable Nick Janssens, after a sabbatical period, the match was decided minutes before the final signal.
Don’t miss this great tournament and follow it daily on www.worldkorfball.org (live streaming games, live statistics, play-by-play, rankings, top scorers,…), and 24/7 on IKF social media profiles and via the hashtags #ECUP2019 and #korfball:
https://korfball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/day2_ecup2019_web.png321682Dani Ezpeletahttps://korfball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/LogoIKF.pngDani Ezpeleta2019-01-10 22:23:142019-02-14 15:34:47IKF ECUP 2019 Day 2: Live reviews, results & games
IKF President Fransoo yesterday and today was in Budapest (Hungary) at the invitation of Mr Daniel Tegzes and Mrs Krisztina Pogany, respectively President and Secretary General of the Hungarian Korfball Association.
While in Budapest, President Fransoo had a extensive series of meetings. He met with Mr Krisztian Kulcsar, President of the Hungarian Olympic Committee, and Mr Zoltan Bone, Secretary General of the Hungarian Competitive Sports Federation. Mr Fransoo and Mr Tegzes explained the positive developments of Hungarian korfball, with outstanding youth projects and a strong national team, that recently entered into the Top 10 of the IKF World Ranking.
Hungarian NOC President Kulcsar, IKF President Fransoo, HKA Secretary General Pogany and HKA President Tegzes at the meeting in Budapest
Subsequent meetings took place at the Sports Secretariat of the Ministry of Human Resources and at the Department of Sport Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. All meetings served to create further support of the development of korfball in Hungary. Also, informal discussions were held about the hosting of future major events in Hungary, after this year’s successful hosting of the IKF U21 World Korfball Championship.
https://korfball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/korfball5.jpg540960Tilbert La Hayehttps://korfball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/LogoIKF.pngTilbert La Haye2018-12-07 12:18:132018-12-08 06:54:28IKF President Fransoo meets with NOC and government in Hungary
The IKF had awarded Dutch player Suzanne Struik with the IKF Pin of Merit. The Pin of Merit was presented to her by IKF President Jan Fransoo during Suzanne’s last international tournament, the IKF European Korfball Championship.
Suzanne Struik is record international of The Netherlands, with a total of 69 caps. She is the chairman of the IKF Athletes Committee and within this role, she represents the international athletes. The IKF praises her enthusiasm and passion for korfball, as well as her continuous will and effort to think along with the organisation about processes, plans and their execution.
Image (c): Anne van Vegchel
https://korfball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/struik.jpg725615Geke Maathttps://korfball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/LogoIKF.pngGeke Maat2018-10-30 11:09:552018-10-30 12:07:59Suzanne Struik (NED) awarded with the IKF Pin of Merit
