Can Europe break Asian supremacy?
In July and August 2023 and a few months later, in December 2023, the best national tchoukball teams will come together for the biggest tchoukball competitions in the world:
- The Junior and Adult World Championships to be held in Singapore and Prague in the Czech Republic
- The Nations Cup, to be held from 14 to 16 December 2023 in Geneva, Switzerland
These events, which are at the cutting edge of world tchoukball, see their titles hotly contested by an ever-growing number of national teams, and once again demonstrate the impressive growth of the sport at international level. The fact that this year these major competitions are taking place just a few months apart should allow us to see teams at the top of their game and in top form!
The World Tchoukball Championships
2 to 5 August 2023 – Prague (Czech Republic)
In less than two months, the next world tchoukball championships will take place! They only take place every 4 years, and the last 2 editions have been held in Asia: in 2019 in Malaysia and in 2015 in Taiwan.
For its return to Europe, this year’s competition brings together athletes from 20 countries: Argentina, Bangladesh, Benin, Brazil, Cameroon, Taiwan, Colombia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Italy, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom and Uruguay.
This summer the teams will be competing in the following 3 adult categories:
- Women’s World Championship
- Men’s World Championship
- P40 World Championship
From 14 to 16 July, the 2023 World Junior Championships will be held in Singapore
This summer, before seeing the adult teams in Prague, the national junior teams will be playing in Singapore. The world junior championships will be held there. It’s a chance to see tomorrow’s tchoukball stars shine.
The Women’s World Championships
16 women’s national teams will be representing their countries in these world championships. Among them are the winners of last year’s 4 women’s continental championships: Singapore, Cameroon, Argentina and Switzerland. If we add Taiwan and Italy to these top 4 countries, we have the list of favourites for these world championships in 2023! The level of competition is sure to be very high, with several clash matches on the programme:
- Can Taiwan take revenge on Singapore, the team that won the Asian championship last summer?
- In European competitions, Italy and Switzerland have been vying for the number 1 spot for many years. Switzerland won the European title in the summer of 2022, while Italy won the Nations Cup at the Geneva Indoors in December of the same year. How will these teams fare against the best teams from Asia and South America?
The match schedule should be published on 15 July at the latest. We’re already looking forward to seeing the players on the pitch!
Who will be able to beat the Taiwanese men’s team?
In the history of the world tchoukball championships, the Taiwanese men’s national team has only been beaten in one match, and that was in the final in 2004, when Switzerland became world champions. So the question is: is there a team today capable of beating the Taiwanese team again? We’ll have the answer in August. There are many candidates for this objective: in Asia, there is certainly the Singapore team, while in Europe, the favourite candidates will probably be Italy and Switzerland. But the 13 other national teams in the running will undoubtedly be pulling out all the stops to try and pull off an upset and win the cup!
A first – the men’s master M40 category: when experience takes to the playing field
For the first time at the world championships, a tournament will be organised for players in the P40 category. This is an opportunity for experienced players over the age of 40 to play and compete for a world title. As this is the first tournament in this category, it’s difficult to make a prediction. So we’re going to go with our gut feeling and name the countries with the most ‘solid’ history in international tchoukball competitions, namely Brazil, Taiwan, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. But here again, we won’t know the result until the end of the P40 World Championships, which take place from 31 July to 1 August in Prague.
Beyond titles, an opportunity to meet and make friends from all over the world
The world championships are always a fantastic time to make contacts, meet old friends and make new ones. It’s also a great opportunity to share experiences: What are the best new training techniques? How can we introduce children to our sport in a fun way and instil in them a passion for tchoukball? How can we train new coaches and referees? Well aware of the importance of these exchanges, the International Tchoukball Federation is also offering courses for coaches and referees during these world championships, to help them acquire the skills they need to develop our sport throughout the world.
“Team Spirit” – the official ball of the Nations Cup also chosen as the official ball of the World Championships
We were proud to learn that the 2023 World Tchoukball Championships have chosen to play with Tchoukball Promotion’s “Team Spirit” ball. This is the same ball we use every year at the Nations Cup and the Tchoukball Geneva Indoors competitions. Greatly appreciated by the players, but also by the teachers, the “Team Spirit” ball, used in the biggest competitions, is the ball of the “founding partner” of the Tchoukball Geneva Indoors: Tchoukball Promotion.
We wish all the players, participants and fans lots of fun on and around the courts at the forthcoming World Championships! We wish the organisers every success!