Karate World Cup: France learns its pools for Hangzhou

The World Karate Federation (WKF) drew the pools for the 2026 Karate World Cup, its world championship for national teams, on 20 October, online and live on its YouTube channel. The second edition takes place from 20 to 22 November in Hangzhou, China, with 80 teams from 42 countries spread across four events: male kata, female kata, male kumite and female kumite. France is entered in three of them.

Japan and Egypt in France's path

In female kata, France lands in Group D with defending champions Japan, Egypt, Germany and Colombia. In female kumite, the French team is in Group A, seeded by Spain. In male kumite, Group D brings together holders Egypt, France, Malaysia, Mexico and Uzbekistan. No French team is entered in male kata, where Japan, also the holder, sits in Group D with Algeria, Venezuela, Portugal and Poland.

The other leading nations are spread as follows: in male kumite, Japan shares Group A with Türkiye and Senegal, and Iran is in Group B with Australia and hosts China; in female kumite, Italy, Egypt and Iran meet in Group C, while Japan is in Group D with Mexico, Germany, Algeria and Azerbaijan.

Round-robin pools, one team per country

The World Cup was created in 2024 in Pamplona, Spain, to give karate a nations competition separate from the individual world championships. Each country fields one team per event, making 20 teams per draw. The WKF qualification rules set out a group phase, then quarter-finals, semi-finals and medal matches, with a single bronze per event. Japan won three of the four titles in Pamplona, with Egypt taking male kumite.

The WKF schedule places the pools and quarter-finals of female kata and male kumite on Friday 20 November, those of male kata and female kumite on Saturday 21, followed by the four semi-finals, and the finals on Sunday 22: male kata and female kumite in the morning, female kata and male kumite in the afternoon. Hangzhou is seven hours ahead of Paris, so the morning finals will fall around 4 am in France and the afternoon ones around 8 am.

For French karate, the event comes hard on the heels of the Cadet, Junior and U21 World Championships in Bielsko-Biala, which ended on 18 October with eight medals. The French federation has not yet named its teams for Hangzhou. The venue, ticketing and broadcast arrangements also remain to be published by the WKF.