In 1901, Dutch schoolteacher Nico Broekhuysen travelled to the Swedish town of Nääs to take an educational course on teaching gymnastics to children.

The objective of this Swedish game was to score points by throwing a ball through a ring attached to a pole that was 3 metres (9.8 ft) in height.

Upon Broekhuysen's return to Amsterdam, he began to teach his students a modified version of ringboll.

Broekhuysen replaced the ring with a basket to make it easier to see whether the ball had gone through it and scored a point.

[citation needed] The oldest korfball club that is still in existence, and has never merged with another, is HKC ALO in The Hague, having been founded on 1 February 1906.

[7][8][9][better source needed] Korfball is played inside in winter and outdoors in spring, summer and autumn.

[10] An international korfball match typically consists of two halves or four periods, with the length varying depending on the competition.

In between those zone-changes, attackers cannot set foot on their defending zone or vice versa.

Therefore, tactical and efficient teamwork is required, because players need each other in order to keep the ball moving.

This rule encourages fast movement while also limiting the impact of players' height compared to their opponents.

The national teams competition organized by the International World Games Association has been played roughly every four years since 1981.

The national teams competition organized by the International Korfball Federation has been played roughly every four years since 1978.

The IKF used to organize the Europa Cup competition for national champions (clubs) every year.

PKC from Papendrecht, the Netherlands, have won the championship the most times, a record 12 wins in total.