Kabaddi World Cup (World Kabaddi)
International kabaddi competition
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Kabaddi World Cup, is an indoor international kabaddi tournament conducted by the World Kabaddi. It follows the standard style (indoors on a rectangular court) and is contested by both men's and women's national teams. The format involves a round-robin tournament followed by a knockout stage.
| Most recent season or competition: 2025 Kabaddi World Cup (World Kabaddi) | |
| Founded | 2019 |
|---|---|
| First season | 2019 Melaka |
| Administrator | World Kabaddi |
| No. of teams |
|
| Region | Global |
| Most recent champions | |
| Most titles | |
| Official website | https://worldcupkabaddi.org/ |
The World Cup has been held once (in 2019) with another scheduled for 2025. Unlike its IKF counterpart, all World Cups of World Kabaddi were held outside India to globalise the event. In 2019, both the men's and women's competitions were won by the Indian teams.
World Kabaddi
World Kabaddi[a] was formed on 24th March 2018, a day it now celebrates as "World Kabaddi Day".[3]
The World Kabaddi has focused in spreading the game beyond Asia, especially in Europe and Africa,[4] and as of 2024, World Kabaddi had more than 50 member countries.[5] However, some countries that participate in International Kabaddi Federation events cannot participate in World Kabaddi events as they do not have a governing body affiliated to the World Kabaddi.[4][6] Countries that participate in both IKF and World Kabaddi sanctioned events have separate governing bodies for each affiliation.[4]
In 2024, at a World Kabaddi Day event organised by HIPSA and World Kabaddi at Panchkula, it set a Guinness World Record for the most players in a kabaddi exhibition match.[7]
History
The 2019 World Cup was hosted by Malaysia Kabaddi Federation[b] in Melaka.[8] It was initially scheduled for April, but was postponed to July.[9][8] The Indian team, selected by New Kabaddi Federation, won the inaugural men's and women's competitions in the finals.[8] Iraq and Taiwan were 2nd and 3rd respectively in the men's competition, whereas Taiwan and Malaysia were 2nd and 3rd in the women's competition.[8]
The 2025 World Cup was hosted in West Midlands and was supported by the West Midlands Combined Authority. The tournament took place from 17–23 March with venues in Wolverhampton, Walsall, Birmingham and Coventry.[5] Both the men's and women's tournaments were won by India, with England being the runner's up.[10] Scotland and Hong Kong China were 3rd in the men's and women's tournaments respectively.
Editions and results
Men
Women
| Year | Host | Final | Third place match | Number of teams | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | Score | Runner-up | Third place | Score | Fourth place | ||||||
| 2019 |
 Melaka |
 India |
47–29 |  Taiwan |
Malaysia |
53–26 |  Hong Kong |
4 | |||
| 2025 |
 West Midlands |
India |
57–34 | England |
Hong Kong China |
75–14 |  Wales |
6 | |||
Medal table
Team results
Men
Women
Notes
- Not to be confused with the World Kabaddi Federation founded in 2003 or the now-folded World Kabaddi League of 2014–2018.[2]
- Not to be confused with Malaysian Kabaddi Federation which is affiliated to the IKF.