2023 IKF World Korfball Championship

Tournament details
Host country	Taiwan
Dates	20–29 October 2023
Teams	24
Venue(s)	Taipei Gymnasium[1]
Final positions
Champions	Netherlands (11th title)
Runners-up	Chinese Taipei
Third place	Belgium
Fourth place	Czech Republic
Tournament statistics
Matches played	82
Goals scored	2,780 (33.9 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Fleur Hoek (33 goals)[2]
←2019 2027 →

The12thIKF World Korfball Championship was held inTaipei,Taiwan.^[3] It was the first time in the history of the IKF World Korfball Championship, the final wasn't played betweenBelgium and theNetherlands. TheInternational Korfball Federation awarded the hosting rights for the tournament to Taiwan on 9 August 2019, ahead of the bids ofCzech Republic and theNetherlands. The Netherlands was awarded the hosting rights for the2027 IKF World Korfball Championship instead.^[4]

In November 2022, the number of teams participating was increased from 20 to 24. The Americas are now allotted 2 spots, Africa 2 spots, Europe 12 spots, and Asia and Oceania 7 spots (in addition to the host country), among which at least one Oceanian country. (with a minimum of 1 for Oceania).^[5] Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Turkey are making their debut in the tournament.

The tournament also serves as the only qualification event for the2025 World Games, with eight qualification places available. The IKF framework aims at having 4 continents representing Korfball at the TWG 2025 out of the five continents represented in the 2023 IKF World Korfball Championship – Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, Oceania. To make this happen, participants from 4 continents should finish in the top-11 at the 2023 IKF World Korfball Championship. To determine the teams qualifying, IKF set out a series of rules:

1. All qualified teams for the 2025 World Games must participate in the 2023 IKF World Korfball Championship
2. As host of the 2025 World Games, China must be ranked in top 13 at the 2023 IKF World Korfball Championship to guarantee the qualification as host of the 2025 World Games. If China does not finish in top 13 of the 2023 IKF World Korfball Championship, a wildcard will be given to be decided by IKF Council vote, taking the interest of quality of the competition, global representation, and marketing impact into account.
3. If the top 8 ranking, including China, consists of participants of at least 4 continents the top 8 will qualify directly.
4. If four continents are represented in the Top 11 then:
   1. China qualifies (if in top 13) but does not count on behalf of Asia
   2. If China does not finish in top 13 of the 2023 IKF World Korfball Championship, a wildcard will be given to be decided by IKF Council vote
   3. Considering only Top 11 teams, the highest ranked team from each continent qualify
   4. Starting with the highest ranked team and descending, teams who have not qualified via the steps above are then added until eight places are filled
5. If three or two continents are represented in the Top 11 then:
   1. China qualifies (if in top 13) but does not count on behalf of Asia
   2. If China does not finish in top 13 of the 2023 IKF World Korfball Championship, a wildcard will be given to be decided by IKF Council vote
   3. Considering only Top 11 teams, the highest ranked team from each of those continents qualifies
   4. Starting with the highest ranked team and descending, teams who have not qualified via the steps above are then added until eight places are filled
6. If only one continent is represented in the Top 11 then:
   1. China qualifies (if in top 13) but does not count on behalf of Asia
   2. If China does not finish in top 13 of the 2023 IKF World Korfball Championship, a wildcard will be given to be decided by IKF Council vote
   3. Starting with the highest ranked team and descending, teams who have not qualified via the step above are then added until eight places are filled

Originally, the 2023 IKF World Korfball Championship was intended to involve 20 teams, but on 27 November 2022 the IKF decided to expand the tournament to 24 teams. As the European qualifiers had already been completed at that time and the IKF had awarded three extra places to European teams, third-place finishers Hungary and Slovakia qualified instantly, while the IKF decided that the fourth-place finisher ranked which was ranked highest on the IKF rankings per 1 January 2023 would qualify as well. Ireland as such qualified as well, with  Switzerland becoming first reserve.

The draw for the tournament was made on 10 July 2023, at which point it became clear that both Morocco and Zimbabwe had withdrawn from the tournament and the IKF had instead invited reserves Malaysia and South Africa.

Finally, on 2 October 2023, the IKF confirmed that Philippines would replace China.

Team	Date of qualification	Method of qualification	Finals appearance	Previous appearance	IKF Ranking[nb 1]
Australia	4 December 2022	IKF Asia-Oceania Korfball Championship 2022 4th place	11th	2019	14
Belgium	9 August 2019	Automatic qualification	12th	2019	02
Brazil	20 December 2022	IKF Pan-American Korfball Championship 2022 2nd place	02nd	2015	20
Catalonia	5 November 2022	IKF EU World Korfball Championship Qualifier-B 2022 1st place	10th	2019	09
Chinese Taipei	9 August 2019	Host	10th	2019	03
Czech Republic	9 August 2019	Automatic qualification	07th	2019	08
England	22 October 2022	IKF EU World Korfball Championship Qualifier-A 2022 1st place	12th[A]	2019	10
Germany	9 August 2019	Automatic qualification	12th[B]	2019	04
Hong Kong	4 December 2022	IKF Asia-Oceania Korfball Championship 2022 7th place	04th	2019	15
Hungary	27 November 2022[C]	IKF EU World Korfball Championship Qualifier-B 2022 3rd place	05th	2019	11
India	4 December 2022	IKF Asia-Oceania Korfball Championship 2022 5th place	07th	2011	23
Ireland	1 January 2023[D]	Highest ranked 4th place finisher of EU qualifiers	02nd	2019	18
Japan	4 December 2022	IKF Asia-Oceania Korfball Championship 2022 6th place	03rd	2019	19
Malaysia	10 July 2023[E]	Invited after withdrawal of Morocco	01st	–	28
Netherlands	9 August 2019	Automatic qualification	12th	2019	01
New Zealand	4 December 2022	IKF Asia-Oceania Korfball Championship 2022 3rd place	02nd	2019	13
Philippines	2 October 2023[F]	Invited after withdrawal of China	01st	–	38
Poland	22 October 2022	IKF EU World Korfball Championship Qualifier-A 2022 2nd place	07th	2019	12
Portugal	9 August 2019	Automatic qualification	10th	2019	06
Slovakia	27 November 2022[G]	IKF EU World Korfball Championship Qualifier-A 2022 3rd place	04th	2019	16
South Africa	10 July 2023[E]	Invited after withdrawal of Zimbabwe	08th	2019	24
Suriname	20 December 2022	IKF Pan-American Korfball Championship 2022 1st place	02nd	2019	07
Thailand	4 December 2022	IKF Asia-Oceania Korfball Championship 2022 8th place	01st	–	27
Turkey	5 November 2022	IKF EU World Korfball Championship Qualifier-B 2022 2nd place	01st	–	22

As the tournament was expanded from 20 to 24 teams, the IKF implemented a new format. Instead of five groups of four, the first stage of the tournament will now feature eight groups of three teams (Groups A through H). The top two teams from each group will progress to the second group stage which features four groups of four teams (Groups I through L). Results obtained against teams also progressing from the same group are retained in the second group stage. The top two teams of the second group stage will then move into the knockout stages, which will determine places 1 through 8.

Teams finishing third in the first round will be paired in four matches, with the four losing teams playing in a round robin phase for places 21 through 24. The four winning teams will progress and be placed in a knockout tournament with the teams finishing fourth in the second group stage of the main tournament, to determine places 13 through 20. Finally, the four teams finishing third in the second group stage will be put in a round robin group to determine places 9 through 12.

On 10 July 2023, the official IKF World Korfball Championships 2023 group draw took place.^[6] The top eight teams of theIKF Ranking were awarded spots in groups A-H respectively. According to their ranking, the remaining 16 teams were put into 4 pots. The teams in pot 1 were awarded spots in groups H-E, teams in pot 2 spots in groups D-A, teams in pot 3 spots in groups A-D and teams in pot 4 spots in groups E-H. If a group would consist of 3 teams from the same continent, the country drawn would be pushed to the next group. For example,Turkey was drawn in group A but was moved to group B as it already contained Netherlands and Slovakia from Europe. The pots for the draw are shown below.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Catalonia (9)  England (10)  Hungary (11)  Poland (12)	New Zealand (13)  Australia (14)  Hong Kong (15)  Slovakia (16)	Ireland (18)  Japan (19)  Brazil (20)  Turkey (22)	India (23)  South Africa (24)  Thailand (27)  Malaysia (28)

Just a few weeks before the tournament, 5th seed China withdrew from the tournament, with Philippines (38) invited in to take its place.

Competing countries were divided into eight groups of three teams (groups A through H). Teams in each group played one another on around-robin basis, with the top two teams of each group advancing to theSecond Group Stage.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		NED	SVK	BRA
1	Netherlands	2	2	0	0	0	79	16	+63	6	Second Group Stage:Group I			39–9	40–7
2	Slovakia	2	1	0	0	1	30	44	−14	3					21–5
3	Brazil	2	0	0	0	2	12	61	−49	0	3rd-place Playoffs

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BEL	HKG	TUR
1	Belgium	2	2	0	0	0	75	18	+57	6	Second Group Stage:Group J			43–9	32–9
2	Hong Kong	2	0	1	0	1	27	60	−33	2					18–17GG
3	Turkey	2	0	0	1	1	26	50	−24	1	3rd-place Playoffs

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		TPE	NZL	IRL
1	Chinese Taipei	2	2	0	0	0	68	21	+47	6	Second Group Stage:Group K			30–13	38–8
2	New Zealand	2	1	0	0	1	31	41	−10	3					18–11
3	Ireland	2	0	0	0	2	19	56	−37	0	3rd-place Playoffs

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		GER	AUS	JPN
1	Germany	2	2	0	0	0	43	16	+27	6	Second Group Stage:Group L			14–13	29–3
2	Australia	2	1	0	0	1	38	17	+21	3					25–3
3	Japan	2	0	0	0	2	6	54	−48	0	3rd-place Playoffs

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ENG	IND	PHI
1	England	2	2	0	0	0	56	12	+44	6	Second Group Stage:Group L			26–10
2	India	2	1	0	0	1	34	37	−3	3
3	Philippines	2	0	0	0	2	13	54	−41	0	3rd-place Playoffs		2–30	11–24

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		POR	POL	RSA
1	Portugal	2	2	0	0	0	50	12	+38	6	Second Group Stage:Group K			16–9	34–3
2	Poland	2	1	0	0	1	32	20	+12	3					23–4
3	South Africa	2	0	0	0	2	7	57	−50	0	3rd-place Playoffs

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SUR	HUN	MAS
1	Suriname	2	2	0	0	0	49	13	+36	6	Second Group Stage:Group J			22–8	27–5
2	Hungary	2	1	0	0	1	33	27	+6	3					25–5
3	Malaysia	2	0	0	0	2	10	52	−42	0	3rd-place Playoffs

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		CZE	CAT	THA
1	Czech Republic	2	2	0	0	0	49	20	+29	6	Second Group Stage:Group I			25–15	24–5
2	Catalonia	2	1	0	0	1	39	32	+7	3					24–7
3	Thailand	2	0	0	0	2	12	48	−36	0	3rd-place Playoffs

Four groups of four are formed, with teams keeping the results against teams they already met during the first group stage.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		NED	CZE	CAT	SVK
1	Netherlands	3	3	0	0	0	118	32	+86	9	Knockout stage			37–9	40–14	39–9[a]
2	Czech Republic	3	2	0	0	1	55	67	−12	6					25–15[a]
3	Catalonia	3	1	0	0	2	48	75	−27	3	Finals for 9th–12th place
4	Slovakia	3	0	0	0	3	32	79	−47	0	Finals for 13th–20th place			13–21	10–19

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BEL	SUR	HUN	HKG
1	Belgium	3	3	0	0	0	92	30	+62	9	Knockout stage			15–8	34–13	43–9[a]
2	Suriname	3	2	0	0	1	52	31	+21	6					22–8[a]
3	Hungary	3	1	0	0	2	45	76	−31	3	Finals for 9th–12th place
4	Hong Kong	3	0	0	0	3	37	89	−52	0	Finals for 13th–20th place			8–22	20–24

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		TPE	POR	POL	NZL
1	Chinese Taipei	3	3	0	0	0	85	42	+43	9	Knockout stage			24–22	31–7	30–13[a]
2	Portugal	3	2	0	0	1	60	40	+20	6					16–9[a]
3	Poland	3	1	0	0	2	35	57	−22	3	Finals for 9th–12th place
4	New Zealand	3	0	0	0	3	30	71	−41	0	Finals for 13th–20th place			7–22	10–19

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		GER	ENG	AUS	IND
1	Germany	3	3	0	0	0	64	31	+33	9	Knockout stage			15–8	14–13[a]	35–10
2	England	3	2	0	0	1	53	32	+21	6						26–10[a]
3	Australia	3	1	0	0	2	44	45	−1	3	Finals for 9th–12th place			7–19		24–12
4	India	3	0	0	0	3	32	85	−53	0	Finals for 13th–20th place

The teams finishing third during the First Group Stage are paired with each other. In the 3rd-place Playoffs, teams winning their first match play a second round to determine the order amongst winners, but all four will move on to play for places 13 through 20 in a knockout tournament involving losing teams from the Second Group Stage. Teams losing their first match in the 3rd-place Playoffs are grouped together in a group of four playing for places 21 through 24.

Brazil  v Thailand

23 October 2023 14:00UTC+08:00

Brazil	6–14	Thailand
	report

Turkey  v Malaysia

23 October 2023 15:45UTC+08:00

Turkey	15–7	Malaysia
	report

Ireland  v South Africa

23 October 2023 17:30UTC+08:00

Ireland	24–15	South Africa
	report

Japan  v Philippines

23 October 2023 19:00UTC+08:00

Japan	16–7	Philippines
	report

Matches below serve only to determine seeding going into thefinals for 13th–20th place, which all four teams will take part in irrespective of the below results.

Thailand  v Ireland

24 October 2023 17:30UTC+08:00

Thailand	11–14	Ireland
	report

Turkey  v Japan

24 October 2023 19:00UTC+08:00

Turkey	21–13	Japan
	report

	Fifth place					Consolation semifinals					Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Final
											Germany		19
											Czech Republic		20
						Germany		20								Czech Republic		13
						England		14								Netherlands		41
											Netherlands		36
											England		2
	Germany		10																		Netherlands		27
	Suriname		26																		Chinese Taipei		9
											Belgium		26
											Portugal		18
	Seventh place					Portugal		14								Belgium		19			Third place
						Suriname		17								Chinese Taipei		21
	England		13								Chinese Taipei		19								Czech Republic		11
	Portugal		19								Suriname		15								Belgium		26

These places will be decided through a round-robin stage only, between the teams finishing third in their respective groups of the Second Group Stage.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Rank		HUN	CAT	POL	AUS
1	Hungary	3	2	0	0	1	46	43	+3	6[a]	9th				15–14	10–11
2	Catalonia	3	2	0	0	1	65	50	+15	6[a]	10th		18–21		21–16	26–13
3	Poland	3	1	0	0	2	41	46	−5	3[b]	11th					11–10
4	Australia	3	1	0	0	2	34	47	−13	3[b]	12th

	Seventeenth place					Consolation semifinals					Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Thirteenth place
											Thailand		14
											Slovakia		23
						Thailand		17								Slovakia		10
						Japan		15								Hong Kong		21
											Japan		10
											Hong Kong		22
	Thailand		9																		Hong Kong		13
	Ireland		13																		Turkey		16
											Ireland		12
											New Zealand		13
	Nineteenth place					Ireland		24								New Zealand		12			Fifteenth place
						India		18								Turkey		19
	Japan		14								Turkey		19								Slovakia		17
	India		21								India		6								New Zealand		11

These places will be decided through a round-robin stage only, between the four teams losing the3rd-place Playoffs.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Rank		MAS	BRA	RSA	PHI
1	Malaysia	3	3	0	0	0	69	32	+37	9	21st			16–13	32–10	21–9
2	Brazil	3	2	0	0	1	42	37	+5	6	22nd				14–13	15–8
3	South Africa	3	1	0	0	2	44	60	−16	3	23rd
4	Philippines	3	0	0	0	3	31	57	−26	0	24th				14–21

Rank	Name	Goals[2]
1	Fleur Hoek	33
2	Vladimir Slot	29
3	Ran Faber	28
4	Alwin Out	27
	Ya-wen Lin
6	Steffen Heppekausen	26
7	Elizabeth Tighe	25
8	Chelsie Browne	24
	Tamara Siemieniuk
10	Zsolt Ferenc Majer	23
	Torsten Ball
	Luise Costa Ruivo
	Leonardo Martins Bernardino

Rank	Team
	Netherlands †
	Chinese Taipei
	Belgium †
4	Czech Republic †
5	Suriname
6	Germany †
7	Portugal †
8	England †
9	Hungary †
10	Catalonia †
11	Poland ‡
12	Australia
13	Turkey ‡
14	Hong Kong
15	Slovakia ‡
16	New Zealand
17	Ireland ‡
18	Thailand
19	India
20	Japan
21	Malaysia
22	Brazil
23	South Africa
24	Philippines

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• October 2023 sports events in Asia

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