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.International Korfball Federation moves headquarters to Utrecht
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 The first international event was held in 1963.
1903-1973 From 1903 to 1973 no world championship was held because of shortage of teams. In 70 years, the number of korfball nations increased from 1 to 5.
From 1903 to 1963, only some friendly matches took place between Belgium and the Netherlands.
The Netherlands, Belgium, and the United Kingdom had their first IKF match series in 1963. In 1974 the 10th (last) Triangular Trophy Tournament was held in London.
The first European Cup tournament took place in 1967.
Germany in 1964 and Spain in 1973 were added to the korfball nations.
1973-1990 Teams increased from 5 to 12 European nations and 14 other non european teams joined the federation.
1990-1994 31 nations.
Results History World Games: World Championship: Euro Clubs: Euro Championship: Asia - Pacific: U23, U21, U19 World and Euro Championship: U17 World Cup:
Source:
Structure
Asian Korfball Federation African Korfball Federation Pan American Korfball Federation 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 1933 1933 1946 1964 1976 1978 1978 1980 1982 1982
Members by Regions
75 Members:
Number Region Countries1 Africa 152 Asia 153 Oceania 24 Europe 305 Americas 13Total World 75
Presidents
The IKF has had seven presidents until now. All seven have been from the Netherlands.
Start End Name 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.
Council Member Position 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 Senior U23 U21 U19 U17 University 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
External links