The International Korfball Federation (IKF) is the governing body of korfball. IKF is responsible for the organisation of korfball's major international tournaments, notably the IKF World Korfball Championship.

The IKF was founded on 11 June 1933 in Antwerp, Belgium as a continuation of the International Korfball Bureau established in 1924 by the Dutch and Belgian Associations. The headquarters is in Utrecht, Netherlands, since December 2020, moving from Zeist.

The IKF is officially recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1993 and is affiliated to SportAccord, the Association of the IOC Recognized International Sports Federations (ARISF) and the International World Games Association (IWGA).

The IKF aims to spread korfball around the globe and increase the level of play in the affiliated countries. The IKF has 69 member countries. It provides the affiliated countries via five Continental Confederations (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania) with financial, material and structural support to achieve the goals. It has established a network of contacts in many countries and is constantly expanding this network. IKF actively promotes the game by transferring knowledge internationally by exchange programs and inviting selected korfball players, coaches and administrators to its training courses in order to assist in the creation of a stable local organization and structure in all the affiliated countries.

In response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, on 1 March 2022, the International Korfball Federation announced that the Russian Korfball Federation would not be invited until further notice to any international korfball competition. This implied effectively that no Russian athletes shall take part in any international korfball event. Furthermore, the Russian Korfball Federation shall not be eligible to bid for the hosting of any IKF event until further notice, and no IKF events were planned in Russia.

History

https://korfball.sport/about-the-ikf-v2/#toggle-id-1

https://korfball.sport/documents/

First international event was held in 1963.

1903-1973

Since 1903 to 1973 not held world championship because of shortage teams. In 70 years korfball nations increase from 1 to 5.

1903 - 1963: Only some friendly matches between BEL and NED.

NED, BEL, GBR - First IKF match series in 1963. In 1974 the 10th (last) Triangular Trophy Tournament was held in London.

First European Cup tournament in 1967.

GER in 1964 and ESP in 1973 was added to korfball nations.

1973-1990

Teams increased from 5 to 12 European nations and 14 other non euro teams added to korfball.

1990-1994

31 nations.

Results History

  1. World Games:
  2. World Championship:
  3. Euro Clubs:
  4. Euro Championship:
  5. Asia - Pacific:
  6. U23, U21, U19 World and Euro Championship:
  7. U17 World Cup:

Source:

Structure

  1. Asian Korfball Federation
  2. African Korfball Federation
  3. Pan American Korfball Federation
  4. European Korfball Federation

The IKF has 72 members at the moment. They are divided over five continental confederations for Europe, Asia, Americas, Africa and Oceanian.

First Members

  1. 1933
  2. 1933
  3. 1946
  4. 1964
  5. 1976
  6. 1978
  7. 1978
  8. 1980
  9. 1982
  10. 1982

Members by Regions

75 Members:

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! Number !! Region !! Countries

|-

| align=center|1

| Africa || align=center|15

|-

| align=center|2

| Asia || align=center|15

|-

| align=center|3

| Oceania || align=center|2

|-

| align=center|4

| Europe || align=center|30

|-

| align=center|5

| Americas || align=center|13

|- style="background:silver;"

| align=center|Total

| World || align=center|75

|}

Presidents

The IKF has had seven presidents until now. All seven have been from the Netherlands.

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|-

!width=60 | Start

!width=60 | End

!width=140 | Name

!width=140 | Nationality

|-

| 1933

| 1946

| Nico Broekhuijsen

| Netherlands

|-

| 1946

| 1954

| S.A. Wilson

| Netherlands

|-

| 1954

| 1964

| H.J. Venema

| Netherlands

|-

| 1964

| 1981

| Herman Duns

| Netherlands

|-

| 1981

| 1988

| Jo Roosenschoon

| Netherlands

|-

| 1988

| 2003

| Bob de Die

| Netherlands

|-

| 2003

| 2023

| Jan Fransoo

| Netherlands

|-

| 2023

|

| Gabi Kool

| Netherlands

|}

Council

The Council of the IKF consists of a President, a Secretary General, a Senior Vice-president, three other members of the executive committee and up to five Continental Vice-presidents.

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|-

!width=200 | Council Member

!width=300 | Position

!width=200 | Country

|-

| Gabi Kool

| President

| Netherlands

|-

| Joana Faria

| Secretary General

| Portugal

|-

| Jorge Alves

| Senior Vice-president

| Portugal

|-

| Bjorn Elewaut

| Executive Committee Member

| Belgium

|-

| Dean Woods

| Special Delegate for Competitions

| England

|-

| Anita Derks

| Executive Committee Member

| Netherlands

|-

| Björn Elewaut

| Executive Committee Member

| Belgium

|-

| Vacancy

| Continental Vice-president, Africa

| Africa

|-

| Ying-Che Huang

| Continental Vice-president, Asia

| Chinese Taipei

|-

| Tim Miller

| Continental Vice-president, Oceania

| Australia

|-

| Yves Daelmans

| Continental Vice-president, Europe

| Belgium

|}

IKF structured tournaments

Gap

IKF was founded in 1933 but first events was held in 1978. 45 years gap because of shortage teams in world (1 to 5 teams).

Olympics

  • Korfball at the 1920 Summer Olympics
  • Korfball at the 1928 Summer Olympics

Types

  1. Senior
  2. U23
  3. U21
  4. U19
  5. U17
  6. University
  7. Beach

Sex

Only Mixed and no events for men and women.

National team tournaments

  • IKF World Korfball Championship
  • IKF European Korfball Championship
  • IKF Europa Korfball Bowl
  • IKF Pan American Korfball Championship
  • IKF Asian Oceanian Korfball Championship
  • IKF African Korfball Championship
  • Korfball at the World Games

Club tournaments

  • Korfball Champions League (KCL)
  • IKF Europa Korfball Cup (replaced by KCL)
  • IKF Europa Korfball Shield (replaced by KCL)

National youth team tournaments

  • IKF U23 World Korfball Championship
  • IKF U23 Pan American Korfball Championship
  • IKF U23 Asian Oceanian Korfball Championship
  • IKF U21 World Korfball Championship
  • IKF U21 European Korfball Championship
  • IKF U19 Korfball World Cup
  • IKF U17 Korfball World Cup

University tournaments

  • IKF University World Korfball Cup https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_World_Cup_(korfbal)
  • IKF University Asian Korfball Championship
  • IKF University European Korfball Championship European University Championship Korfball (EUCK) https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_University_Championship_Korfball

Beach Korfball tournaments

  • IKF World Beach Korfball Championship https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wereldkampioenschap_beachkorfbal

See also

  • List of national korfball associations
  • IKF World Korfball Ranking
  • Netball
  • Ringball

References