2025 Kabaddi World Cup (World Kabaddi)

Not to be confused with 2025 Kabaddi World Cup (International Kabaddi Federation).

2025 Kabaddi World Cup

Official logo of the 2025 Kabbadi World Cup
Tournament information
Dates	17–23 March 2025
Administrator	Host: England Kabaddi Scottish Kabaddi British Kabaddi League Sanctioned by: World Kabaddi
Format	Standard style
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin and Knockout
Host(s)	England
Venue	Wolverhampton Coventry Birmingham Walsall
Participants	9 teams (Men's) 6 teams (Women's)
Website	https://kabaddiworldcup2025.com/
Final positions
Champions	India (Men's)   India (Women's)
1st runners-up	England (Men's)   England (Women's)
2nd runners-up	Scotland (Men's)   Hong Kong China (Women's)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	34 (M: 24, W: 10)
←  2019

The 2025 Kabaddi World Cup was the second edition of the Kabaddi World Cup held under the authority of World Kabaddi. ^{[1] [2]} It was hosted in the West Midlands, England, during 17–23 March 2025. ^{[3] [1] [4]} There were both men's and women's competitions in the tournament. ^{[5] [6]}

As the event was being held, the International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) issued a statement clarifying that the event was not authorised by the IKF and the outcome would not be recognised by the Olympic Council of Asia, the Asian Kabaddi Federation (AKF), or the Asian Games. ^[7]

The India team won both the men's and women's World Kabaddi championship events, with England as the runner-up in both cases.

History

The previous World Cup organised by World Kabaddi was held in Melaka, Malaysia in 2019. ^{[2] [8]} A 2020 edition of the tournament was scheduled, but then was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The decision to award the 2025 World Cup to the West Midlands of England was in part due to its hosting of the British Kabaddi League and the 2022 Commonwealth Games, ^[9] as well as its significant South Asian community. ^[10] The event was supported by the West Midlands Combined Authority. ^[1] The drawing of groups was held on 7 December 2024. ^[1]

The tournament was initially planned to feature 16 teams in the men's competition and 8 teams in the women's competition. ^[1] However, due to visa and other challenges, the tournament was later scaled down to 10 teams in the men's and 6 teams in the women's competition. ^[11]

Venues

Source: ^{[12] [11]}

Venue	City	Dates
WV Active Aldersley [13]	Wolverhampton	17 March 2025 18 March 2025 22 March 2025 23 March 2025
CBS Arena [14]	Coventry	19 March 2025
Nechells Wellbeing Centre [15]	Birmingham	20 March 2025
Walsall Campus Sports Centre [16]	Walsall	21 March 2025

Men's group stage

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	P	SF	SA	SD
England	3	3	0	0	6	249	81	168
Poland	3	2	0	1	4	174	126	48
United States	3	1	0	2	2	145	173	-28
Hungary	3	0	0	3	0	87	275	-188

•   advanced to the knockout stage

Source: ^{[11] [17]}

17 March 2025 11:00 England   101–25   Hungary WV Active Aldersley, Wolverhampton

17 March 2025 18:00 United States   87–35   Hungary WV Active Aldersley, Wolverhampton

18 March 2025 16:00 Poland   87–27   Hungary WV Active Aldersley, Wolverhampton

19 March 2025 13:00 England   87–20   United States CBS Arena, Coventry

20 March 2025 11:00 United States   38–51   Poland Nechells Wellbeing Centre, Birmingham

20 March 2025 16:00 England   61–36   Poland Nechells Wellbeing Centre, Birmingham

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	P	SF	SA	SD
India	4	3	1	0	7	303	154	149
Scotland	4	3	1	0	7	286	168	118
Wales	4	2	0	2	4	229	246	-17
Hong Kong China	4	1	0	3	2	151	261	-110
Italy	4	0	0	4	0	137	277	-140

•   advanced to the knockout stage

Source: ^{[11] [17]}

17 March 2025 12:00 India   64–22   Italy WV Active Aldersley, Wolverhampton

17 March 2025 17:00 Scotland   63–43   Wales WV Active Aldersley, Wolverhampton

18 March 2025 10:00 Italy   32–71   Wales WV Active Aldersley, Wolverhampton

18 March 2025 17:00 India   64–64   Scotland WV Active Aldersley, Wolverhampton

18 March 2025 18:00 Hong Kong China   49–68   Wales WV Active Aldersley, Wolverhampton

19 March 2025 14:00 Scotland   89–33   Italy CBS Arena, Coventry

19 March 2025 15:00 India   73–21   Hong Kong China CBS Arena, Coventry

20 March 2025 12:00 Hong Kong China   28–70   Scotland Nechells Wellbeing Centre, Birmingham

20 March 2025 15:00 India   102–47   Wales Nechells Wellbeing Centre, Birmingham

20 March 2025 17:00 Hong Kong China   53–50   Italy Nechells Wellbeing Centre, Birmingham

Men's knockout stage

Source: ^[11]

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

A1

England

89

B4

Hong Kong China

23

QF1W

England

84

QF2W

Scotland

36

A3

United States

30

B2

Scotland

89

SF1W

England

41

SF2W

India

44

A2

Poland

38

B3

Wales

52

QF3W

Wales

37

Third place

QF4W

India

93

A4

Hungary

24

SF1L

Scotland

67

B1

India

69

SF2L

Wales

56

Quarter-finals

Quarter-final 1 21 March 2025 12:30 England   89–23   Hong Kong China Walsall Campus Sports Centre, Walsall

Quarter-final 2 21 March 2025 14:15 United States   30–89   Scotland Walsall Campus Sports Centre, Walsall

Quarter-final 3 21 March 2025 15:30 Poland   38–52   Wales Walsall Campus Sports Centre, Walsall

Quarter-final 4 21 March 2025 16:45 Hungary   24–69   India Walsall Campus Sports Centre, Walsall

Semi-finals

Semi-final 1 22 March 2025 13:15 England   84–36   Scotland WV Active Aldersley, Wolverhampton

Semi-final 2 22 March 2025 14:30 Wales   37–93   India WV Active Aldersley, Wolverhampton

• 
  Team India after victory
• 
  Team England after victory
• 
  India vs Wales
• 
  Scotland vs England

3rd place match

23 March 2025 12:00 Scotland   67–56   Wales WV Active Aldersley, Wolverhampton

Final

23 March 2025 15:30 England   41–44 [18]   India WV Active Aldersley, Wolverhampton

Women's group stage

Group D

Team	Pld	W	D	L	P	SF	SA	SD
India	2	2	0	0	4	193	33	160
Wales	2	1	0	1	2	76	133	-57
Poland	2	0	0	2	0	59	162	-103

•   advanced to the knockout stage

Source: ^{[11] [17]}

17 March 2025 13:00 Poland   44–58   Wales WV Active Aldersley, Wolverhampton

18 March 2025 12:00 India   89–18   Wales WV Active Aldersley, Wolverhampton

19 March 2025 09:00 India   104–15   Poland CBS Arena, Coventry

Group E

Team	Pld	W	D	L	P	SF	SA	SD
England	2	2	0	0	4	130	54	76
Hong Kong China	2	1	0	1	2	112	65	47
Hungary	2	0	0	2	0	35	158	-123

•   advanced to the knockout stage

Source: ^{[11] [17]}

17 March 2025 15:00 Hong Kong China   73–20   Hungary WV Active Aldersley, Wolverhampton

18 March 2025 15:00 England   85–15   Hungary WV Active Aldersley, Wolverhampton

19 March 2025 11:00 England   45–39   Hong Kong China CBS Arena, Coventry

Women's knockout stage

Source: ^[11]

	Semifinals					Finals
	A1	India	53
	B2	Hong Kong China	15
						SF1W	India	57
						SF2W	England	34
	A2	Wales	25
	B1	England	72			Third place
						SF1L	Hong Kong China	75
						SF2L	Wales	14

Semi-finals

Semi-final 1 21 March 2025 09:30 India   53–15   Hong Kong China Walsall Campus Sports Centre, Walsall

Semi-final 2 21 March 2025 11:15 Wales   25–72   England Walsall Campus Sports Centre, Walsall

3rd place match

22 March 2025 12:00 Hong Kong China   75–14   Wales WV Active Aldersley, Wolverhampton

• 
  Wales vs Hong Kong China
• 
  Team Wales

Final

23 March 2025 13:45 India   57–34 [18]   England WV Active Aldersley, Wolverhampton

Broadcasting

Source: ^[19]

Country	Broadcaster
Rights distribution partner	Dice sports
Worldwide	talkSPORTKabaddi on YouTube Olympic Channel (semi-final onwards) [20]
Fiji	Fijian Broadcasting Corporation
India	DD Sports Waves India
Indonesia	TVRI
Mauritius	Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation
Sri Lanka	Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation ThePapare 1 (SD & HD)
Tanzania	Azam TV
United Kingdom	BBC iPlayer
United Kingdom and Europe	Zee Punjabi
USA and Canada	Willow TV

References

1. Murray, Keir (7 December 2024). "Kabaddi World Cup 2025: West Midlands gearing up to host tournament". BBC Sport. Retrieved 11 December 2024.
2. "2025 Kabaddi World Cup To Be Hosted By West Midlands". Outlook . PTI.
3. Sankar, Vimal (12 November 2022). "West Midlands region named host of 2025 Kabaddi World Cup". Inside the Games . Retrieved 22 August 2023.
4. "UK's West Midlands Region to Host 2025 Kabaddi World Cup". News18 . IANS. 11 November 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
5. Traub, Matt (16 November 2022). "2025 Kabaddi World Cup Heading to West Midlands". SportsTravel. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
6. "West Midlands to host Kabaddi World Cup in 2025". The Times of India . PTI. 11 November 2022. ISSN   0971-8257 . Retrieved 22 August 2023.
7. "Kabaddi World Cup disapproved by global body". Rediff.com . 21 March 2025. The ongoing so-called Kabaddi World Cup 2025 in the UK conducted under the aegis of the so-called World Kabaddi Federation has not been authorised by the International Kabaddi Federation, that is the international governing body for the sport of Kabaddi as recognized by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). The OCA, the IKF, and the Asian Kabaddi Federation (AKF) also oversee and supervise the conduct of the medal competition of kabaddi for men and women at the Asian Games since 1990, and other international kabaddi tournaments.
8. "West Midlands to host Kabaddi World Cup in 2025". ThePrint. ANI. 12 November 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
9. Vukmirovic, James (12 November 2022). "Best of Kabaddi world set to come to West Midlands". Express & Star . Retrieved 22 August 2023.
10. "Will the Kabaddi World Cup 2025 boost the sport's popularity?". The Phoenix Newspaper. 17 December 2024. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
11. "Competition - Kabaddi World Cup 2025". kabaddiworldcup2025.com. 28 November 2024. Retrieved 17 March 2025.
12. Case, Charlie (20 December 2024). "The 'World's Craziest Sport' Is Holding Its World Cup In The West Midlands In March". Secret Birmingham. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
13. "Wolverhampton - Kabaddi World Cup 2025". kabaddiworldcup2025.com. Retrieved 24 February 2025.
14. "Coventry - Kabaddi World Cup 2025". kabaddiworldcup2025.com. Retrieved 24 February 2025.
15. "Birmingham - Kabaddi World Cup 2025". kabaddiworldcup2025.com. Retrieved 24 February 2025.
16. "Walsall - Kabaddi World Cup 2025". kabaddiworldcup2025.com. Retrieved 24 February 2025.
17. "Standings - Kabaddi World Cup 2025". kabaddiworldcup2025.com. Retrieved 17 March 2025.
18. https://kabaddiworldcup2025.com/news-releases/day-seven-recap-23rd-march/
19. "Watch KWC25 - Kabaddi World Cup 2025". kabaddiworldcup2025.com. 28 November 2024. Retrieved 17 March 2025.
20. Nag, Utathya (16 March 2025). "Kabaddi World Cup 2025: Indian teams look to defend titles in England - schedule, where to watch live". olympics.com. Retrieved 17 March 2025.