Related Research Articles
The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the Isle of Man also competing. The system has a hierarchical format with promotion and relegation between leagues at different levels, allowing even the smallest club the theoretical possibility of ultimately rising to the very top of the system, the Premier League. Below that are levels 2–4 organised by the English Football League, then the National League System from levels 5–10 administered by the FA, and thereafter Regional feeder leagues run by relevant county FAs on an ad hoc basis. It also often happens that the Premier Division of a Regional Feeder League has its constitution given to it by the FA. They have to accept it or appeal but cannot reject it at an annual general meeting.
In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams can move up and down between multiple divisions arranged in a hierarchical structure, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. In a system of promotion and relegation, the best-ranked team(s) in a lower division are promoted to a higher division for the next season, and the worst-ranked team(s) in the higher division are relegated to the lower division for the next season. During the season, teams that are high enough in the league table that they would qualify for promotion are sometimes said to be in the promotion zone, and those at the bottom are in the relegation zone.
European Korfball Championship or European Korfball A-Championship is a korfball competition for European national teams organized by the International Korfball Federation. It was played every four years from 1998 until 2014 and then moved to a tournament every two years, starting from 2016. The number of participated teams has varied between 8 and 16. The Netherlands national korfball team has won each edition.
The European Bowl was the Korfball European Championship "B", played by the countries that have not qualified for the European Korfball Championship. The best teams of these tournaments often won the right to participate in the next European Korfball Championship and/or Korfball World Championship.
Men's Rugby union in England consists of 106 leagues, which includes professional leagues at the highest level, down to amateur regional leagues. Promotion and relegation are in place throughout the system.
The Wales National Korfball Team often referred to as the Welsh Korfball Squad (WKS) is managed by the Welsh Korfball Association/Cymdeithas Pêl-Côrff Cymru, and represents Wales in international korfball competition. The Welsh Korfball Squad entered its first IKF ranking competition in 2007, after the Great Britain national korfball team was disbanded to produce three teams: England, Wales and Scotland. Wales is a fully recognised member of the International Korfball Federation and is currently ranked 18th in the world.
The Korfball European Cup was the main annual korfball competition for clubs in Europe. The first Europa Cup took place in 1967 in London (England), with two teams from the Netherlands, Belgium and the host nation England. Ons Eibernest from The Hague won the first tournament. The tournament was won exclusively by clubs from the Netherlands and Belgium, and Mitcham (England) and Adler Rauxel (Germany) were the only clubs outside Netherlands and Belgium to reach the final. In January 2022, the IKF announced that the IKF Europa Cup and IKF Europa Shield would be replaced by the IKF Europe Korfball Champions League for the 2022-23 Season.
Highbury Korfball Club (HKC) is a korfball club based in North London, England and is a member of the England Korfball Association. Highbury Korfball Club succeeded Arsenal Korfball Club, which was established by Hugh Barker in 1998. Rebranding occurred to avoid confusion with the football team of the same name.
The IKF World Korfball Championship is an international korfball competition contested by the national teams of the members of International Korfball Federation (IKF), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded roughly every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1978. The current champions are the Netherlands, who won the 2023 IKF World Korfball Championship.
The 10th IKF World Korfball Championship were held in the Belgian cities of Ghent, Tielen and Antwerp in 2015. Ghent and Tielen hosted the first and second round matches, whilst the placing matches and finals were all held in the Lotto Arena in Antwerp.
Korfball in Wales has been played since 1991 and is managed by the Welsh Korfball Association/Cymdeithas Pêl-Côrff Cymru. The association was established in 2002 and the Welsh Korfball Squad was formed in 2005. In 2007, the International Korfball Federation admitted Wales as an associate member.
The 11th IKF World Korfball Championship was held in August 2019 in Durban, South Africa and won by the Netherlands. The International Korfball Federation awarded the hosting rights for the tournament to South Africa on 7 November 2015, ahead of the bid by New Zealand.
The Korfbal League is the highest echelon of korfball in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 2005 as the new highest level in Dutch korfball. Before that the top level was split in two divisions. Since the start of the competition the format has been the same. The winner of the Korfbal League qualifies for the IKF Europa Korfball Cup while the number 10 relegated to the Hoofdklasse (korfball). The number 9 will compete with the loser of the Hoofdklasse final in a play-off for a position in the Korfbal League.
The 2015–16 England Korfball League season is played with 8 teams. Trojans KC are the defending champions.
The Korfball League & Promotion Division promotion/relegation play-off is played between the number 9 of the England Korfball League and the top 2 teams of the Promotion Division North & West and South & East. The English Korfball Association is the administrator of the play-off.
The 2015–16 Korfball League & Promotion Division promotion/relegation play-off is played between the number 9 of the England Korfball League and the top two teams of the Promotion Division North & West and South & East. In North & West Bristol Thunder and Birmingham City qualified. In South & East Bearsted and Cambridge Tigers qualified. KV (1st) and Bearsted (2nd) both were promoted to the England Korfball League 2016-17 Season starting in November 2016.
The 2018 European Korfball A-Championship will be held in the Netherlands from 13 to 21 October 2018. Matches will be played in Drachten, Gorredijk, Heerenveen and Leeuwarden. It will be the first edition where the European Korfball Championship is split into an A-Championship and a B-Championship, with the idea that a certain number of teams will relegate from the A-Championship to the B-Championship after each edition, and a certain number of teams from the B-Championship will be promoted. Whether this will be a direct promotion or relegation, or whether play-offs will need to be played, is yet to be determined.
The 2018 European Korfball B-Championship was held in the Netherlands from 13 to 21 October 2018. Matches were played in Drachten, Gorredijk, Heerenveen and Leeuwarden. It was the first edition where the European Korfball Championship was split into an A-Championship and a B-Championship, with the idea that a certain number of teams will relegate from the A-Championship to the B-Championship after each edition, and a certain number of teams from the B-Championship will be promoted. Whether this will be a direct promotion or relegation, or whether play-offs will need to be played, is yet to be determined. The tournament was originally scheduled to be played by eight teams, but following a late withdrawal by Turkey, only seven teams took part.
The 2016–17 England Korfball League season is played with 8 teams. Trojans KC are the defending champions. As there will be an extension of the league from 8 to 10 teams for the 2017–18 season, the last placed team will not be automatically relegated, instead they will go into the Promotion play-offs to fight for another season in the league.
The 2016–17 Korfball League & Promotion Division promotion/relegation play-off is played between the number 8 of the England Korfball league and the top two teams of the Promotion Division North & West and South & East. In North & West Bristol Thunder and Birmingham City qualified. In South & East Croydon and Cambridge Tigers qualified.
References
- ↑ "Leagues – England Korfball" . Retrieved 2021-04-12.
- ↑ "Croydon Korfball Club - History".