Founded | 1998 |
---|---|
Region | International (IKF) |
Number of teams | 8 (finals) |
Current champions | Netherlands (8th title) |
Most successful team(s) | Netherlands (8 titles) |
Website | International Korfball Federation |
2024 IKF European Korfball A-Championship |
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.
From 2005 until 2013, the IKF organized the Korfball European Bowl for nations which had failed to qualify for the European Korfball Championship. In these tournaments it was possible to win places for the next European Korfball Championships and sometimes also IKF World Korfball Championships. The tournament was abolished in 2013 as the number of teams in the European Korfball Championship had risen to 16, however the IKF decided to bring this number down again to 8 by 2018 and to create a European Korfball B-Championship similar to the European Bowl but with a promotion/relegation system to be put into place between both championships. These B-Championships will first be held in 2018.
European Korfball Championship | |||||||||
Year | Host | Final | Third place match | #Number of teams | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Champion | Score | Second place | Third place | Score | Fourth place | ||||
I | 1998 | Portugal | Netherlands | 26–13 | Belgium | Portugal | 16–13 | Czech Republic | 8 |
II | 2002 | Catalonia | Netherlands | 15–9 | Czech Republic | Belgium | 29–9 | Germany | 10 |
III | 2006 | Hungary | Netherlands | 25–14 | Belgium | Czech Republic | 16–15 | Germany | 8 |
IV | 2010 | Netherlands | Netherlands | 25–21 | Belgium | Czech Republic | 18–11 | Germany | 16 |
V | 2014 | Portugal | Netherlands | 32–20 | Belgium | Portugal | 22–14 | England | 16 |
VI | 2016 | Netherlands | Netherlands | 27–14 | Belgium | Catalonia | 16–12 | Portugal | 10 |
VII | 2018 | Netherlands | Netherlands | 21–8 | Germany | Portugal | 20–19 | Belgium | 8 (+2) [A] |
VIII | 2021 | Belgium | Netherlands | 21–17 | Belgium | Germany | 13–11 | England | 8 |
IX | 2024 | Catalonia | Belgium vs Netherlands | Catalonia vs Germany | 8 |
Year | Debutants | Total |
---|---|---|
1998 | Belgium Czech Republic Germany Great Britain Netherlands Slovakia Poland Portugal | 8 |
2002 | Catalonia Hungary | 2 |
2006 | Russia | 1 |
2010 | England Ireland Scotland Serbia Turkey Wales | 6 |
2014 | 0 | |
2016 | 0 | |
2018 | 0 [B] | |
2021 | 0 | |
2024 | 0 | |
Total | 17 |
Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Netherlands | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
2 | Belgium | 0 | 6 | 1 | 7 |
3 | Czech Republic | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
4 | Germany | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
5 | Portugal | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
6 | Catalonia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Totals (6 entries) | 8 | 8 | 8 | 24 |
Legend
The number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown for each tournament.
Team (17) | 1998 (8) | 2002 (10) | 2006 (8) | 2010 (16) | 2014 (16) | 2016 (10) | 2018 (8+2) | 2021 (8) | 2024 (8) | Times qualified |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Belgium | 2nd | 3rd | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd | 4th | 2nd | Q | 9 |
Catalonia | • | 7th | 6th | 5th | 9th | 3rd | 6th | 8th | Q | 8 |
Czech Republic | 4th | 2nd | 3rd | 3rd | 5th | 7th | 5th | 7th | Q | 9 |
England [lower-alpha 1] | 5th | 5th | 5th | 6th | 4th | 6th | 7th | 4th | Q | 9 |
Germany | 6th | 4th | 4th | 4th | 10th | 5th | 2nd | 3rd | Q | 9 |
Hungary | • | 8th | 8th | 10th | 7th | • | 8th | 6th | Q | 7 |
Netherlands | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | Q | 9 |
Poland | 7th | 10th | • | 9th | 8th | 9th | • | • | • | 5 |
Portugal | 3rd | 6th | • | 7th | 3rd | 4th | 3rd | 5th | Q | 8 |
Ireland | • | • | • | 12th | 12th | • | • | • | • | 2 |
Russia | • | • | 7th | 8th | 6th | 8th | • | • | • | 4 |
Scotland | Part of Great Britain | 15th | 11th | • | • | • | • | 2 | ||
Serbia | • | • | • | 14th | 13th | • | • | • | • | 2 |
Slovakia | 8th | 9th | • | 13th | 14th | • | • | • | • | 4 |
Turkey | • | • | • | 16th | 15th | 10th | • | • | • | 3 |
Wales | Part of Great Britain | 11th | 16th | • | • | • | • | 2 | ||
Team (17) | 1998 (8) | 2002 (10) | 2006 (8) | 2010 (16) | 2014 (16) | 2016 (10) | 2018 (8+2) | 2021 (8) | 2024 (8) | Times qualified |
Notes
Korfball is a ball sport, with similarities to netball and basketball. It is played by two teams of eight players with four female players and four male players in each team. The objective is to throw a ball into a netless basket that is mounted on a 3.5 m high pole.
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.
2007 Korfball European Bowl is the European Championship "B" of korfball played by the countries that have not qualified for the World Championships. It was split into two divisions, Western and Eastern.
The India national korfball team is managed by the Korfball Federation of India (KFI), representing India in korfball international competitions.
The Serbia national korfball team is managed by the Korfbol savez Srbije, representing Serbia in korfball international competitions. It has been a member of IKF since 2005.
The Greece national korfball team is managed by the Hellenic Korfball & Ball-Sports Federation (HKBSF), representing Greece in korfball international competitions.
Sport has an important incidence in Catalan life since the beginning of the 20th century. The main sports in Catalonia are football, basketball, handball, rink hockey, tennis, and motorsport.
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.
All-Africa Korfball Championship (AAKC) is a korfball competition for African national teams organized by the International Korfball Federation. It has been held every four years since 2006 with the winner qualifying through to the IKF World Korfball Championship in the following year.
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 2018 European Korfball Championship was held in the Netherlands from October 22 to October 30, with 10 national teams in competition. As the European Korfball Championship was split into an A-Championship and a B-Championship as of 2018, this tournament was used to decide which teams would participate at which level, with the top 8 teams qualifying for the A-Championship, while the teams in positions 9 and 10 relegated to the B-Championship. Netherlands won the tournament for a sixth consecutive time, maintaining its 100% win record.
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.
European Korfball B-Championship is a second level korfball competition for European national teams organized by the International Korfball Federation and is placed below the European Korfball A-Championship.
The 2018 IKF European Korfball Championship First Round was held in Budapest, Hungary on 28 and 29 October 2017. The tournament served as the first round of the 2018 IKF European Korfball Championships to be held in the Netherlands in 2018, with both the winner and runner-up qualifying for the 2018 IKF European Korfball B-Championship. Hungary and Serbia qualified on 29 October 2017 as they won their semi-final matches against Ireland and Greece respectively. Later that same day, Hungary beat Serbia to win the tournament.
The 2018 All-Africa Korfball Championship (AAKC) was held in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe, from 27 April to 29 April, with 3 national teams in competition.
The 12th IKF World Korfball Championship was held in Taipei, Taiwan. It was the first time in the history of the IKF World Korfball Championship, the final wasn't played between Belgium and the Netherlands. The International Korfball Federation awarded the hosting rights for the tournament to Taiwan on 9 August 2019, ahead of the bids of Czech Republic and the Netherlands. The Netherlands was awarded the hosting rights for the 2027 IKF World Korfball Championship instead.
The 2021 European Korfball B-Championship was held in Wrocław, Poland from 4 to 9 October 2021. The tournament was originally supposed to be played from 5 to 10 October 2020, but was postponed following COVID-19 measures.