Korfball is a mixed gender ball sport played by hand by two teams of eight players.

The objective is to throw a ball into a netless basket (called korf) that is mounted on a 3.5 m high pole. The sport’s main characteristics encompass all-round skills, cooperative play, controlled physical contact, gender equality, players’ right to protected ball possession and scoring from 360° around the korf.

Korfball has similarities to netball and basketball.

Teams need to outscore their opponent by throwing the ball from above through the korf as many times as possible.

- Two groups of four teams

- Round-robin games in both groups

- 3rd placed teams from both groups compete in consolation matches against 4th placed teams in the other group.

- Winners of the consolation matches compete for 5th and 6th position.

- The two best teams from each group qualify for crossed semi-finals.

- Losing semi-finalists compete for the Bronze medal. Winning semi-finalists compete for Gold and Silver medal.

A Korfball match at The World Games consist of two halves of 20 minutes each, split into two quarters of 10 minutes, with 1 minute break between each period and 10 minutes half time break. Each time the ball passes through the korf a goal is awarded. Each goal is valued as one point. Players move the ball up court by passing the ball to one another. A player may not dribble, walk or run with the ball, but has protected ball possession and can pivot with one foot remaining on the ground.

The players can only defend players of the same gender. Once two goals have been scored, the teams change zones, with offence players becoming defence players, and vice-versa.

An attacking team has a time of 25 seconds to touch the korf with a shot or to score. This time is indicated by a shot clock. The exceeding of the time-limit is indicated by the buzzer of the shot clock, by which the game is interrupted. After an exceeding of the time-limit, the referee must give a re-start to the defending team. The re-start is taken from the place where the attacker had the ball in his possession at the moment that the buzzer sounded.

At the end of the game, the team with more goals wins. In case of a tie, there is an additional period of golden goal of 10 minutes that is played. The team to score first wins the game. If at the end of the golden goal period, neither team has scored a goal, then penalty shoot-outs are played to decide the winner.

Each team is allowed 1 time-out per game.

Each team is allowed 8 substitutions per game. Repeat substitutions are allowed.

The ball is out of play as soon as it touches a boundary line of the field of play; the ground, a person or an object outside the field of play; the ceiling. The game will be re-started by the opposing team outside the outlines.

The objective is to throw the ball into the korf. Each goal is awarded with one point, regardless of the position in the field where the shot takes place. 

During the game it is prohibited:

- To run/walk with the ball. It is only allowed to pivot on one foot when having the ball;
- Solo-play;
- To hand the ball to another player of one’s own team;
- To knock, take or run the ball out of an opponent’s hand;
- To push, cling to, hold off or excessively hinder an opponent;
- To hinder an opponent of the opposite gender in throwing the ball;
- To play outside one’s zone;
- To shoot from a defended position;
- To score from the defence zone of the attacking team or directly from a free pass or re-start;
- To influence a shot by moving the post;
- To take hold of the post when jumping, running or in order to move away quickly;
- To exceed the allowed time-limit in the attack zone (25 seconds without touching the korf or a score). 

If any of these rules has been violated, either a re-start is awarded to one of the sides, a free pass is awarded to the attacking side or a penalty is awarded to the attacking side.

- A re-start is taken from the spot where the infringement was committed or where the person on whom the infringement was committed was standing. The taker has four seconds to pass the ball, which has to travel at least 2.5 metres from the place of the re-start before a player of either team may touch it. It is not allowed to hinder the taker of the re-start.

- A penalty is taken from 2.5 metres in front of the post. All the other players must be at least 2.5 metres away from the post and from the penalty spot. This area is indicated by the two circles. It is prohibited to enter this zone until the ball has left the hand of the penalty taker.

- A free pass is taken from the penalty spot, however, in this case the taker first has to pass the ball to a team-mate before being allowed to shoot. All the players except the taker must be 2.5 metres away from the penalty spot. After the whistle, the taker has four seconds to pass the ball to a team-mate, who isn’t allowed to touch the ball, nor enter the 2.5 metre zone, until the ball has travelled 2.5 metres from the point of the free pass. Once the ball moves, the defenders can enter the 2.5 metre zone.

The Netherlands is the reigning champion of both the IKF World Korfball Championship (WKC) and the World Games. In The World Games they are unbeaten until now. They are highly motivated to continue this strike. Belgium, the current number two of the IKF World Ranking, wants to challenge the Dutch team. However, to do so they must pass the strong Chinese Taipei squad, who defeated the Belgians during the last World Games in Wrocław 2017. Eyes are also out for newcomer Suriname, the first Latin representative in a World Games edition. At the same time, all other teams are on the lookout for a medal as well.  

Players to watch are; Jing Zhao (CHN): overall topscorer at the last WKC (2019) in South Africa with a total of 39 goals, Laurens Leeuwenhoek (NED) one of the best allround players in the world, going up for his 3rd World Games.

Team Mixed

1. Team NED
2. Team TPE
3. Team BEL

Team Mixed

1. Team NED
2. Team BEL
3. Team TPE

Team Mixed

1. Team NED
2. Team BEL
3. Team TPE

Team Mixed

1. Team NED
2. Team BEL
3. Team CZE

Team Mixed

1. Team NED
2. Team BEL
3. Team TPE

Team Mixed

1. Team NED
2. Team BEL
3. Team TPE

Team Mixed

1. Team NED
2. Team BEL
3. Team GER

Team Mixed

1. Team NED
2. Team BEL
3. Team GER

Team Mixed

1. Team NED
2. Team BEL
3. Team USA