World Lacrosse Championship

Sport	Field lacrosse
Founded	1967; 57 years ago (1967)
Organising body	World Lacrosse
Region	International
Most recent champion(s)	United States (11th title) (2023)
Most titles	United States (11 titles)
Related competitions	Women's Lacrosse World Cup World Indoor Lacrosse Championship World Lacrosse Men's U20 Championship
Official website	Official website

The World Lacrosse Men's Championship,^[1] formerly World Lacrosse Championship, is the international men's field lacrosse championship organized by World Lacrosse that occurs every four years.

The WLC began before any international lacrosse organization had been formed. It started as a four-team invitational tournament which coincided with Canada's centennial lacrosse celebration in 1967. Canada, the United States, Australia, and England participated. Seven years later, Australia celebrated its lacrosse centenary and another four-team invitational tournament was held between the same countries. After that tournament in 1974, the first international governing body for men's lacrosse was formed, the International Lacrosse Federation (ILF). The ILF merged with the women's governing body in 2008 to form the Federation of International Lacrosse, which changed its name to World Lacrosse in 2019.^[2]

The United States has won the championship most titles in eleven times.^[2] With 46 nations competing, the 2018 WLC in Israel was the largest tournament and was the first championship held outside of Australia, Canada, England or the United States.

The oldest world Lacrosse championship match was recorded on April 22, 1870, in Montreal. The Montreal Lacrosse club accepted a challenge vs the Caughnawaga Lacrosse team.^{[citation needed]}

Canada defeated the United States 15–10 in the gold medal game of the 2006 World Championship in London, Ontario. Geoff Snider of Team Canada was named tournament MVP.

The 2010 WLC was held in Manchester, England from July 15 to 24. For the first time, a World Lacrosse Festival was sanctioned to run alongside the world championships.

With more nations entering, the Round Robin stage of the tournament featured 30 nations and was split into 7 divisions, considerably larger than ever before. The Iroquois Nationals were unable to participate because the host nation did not recognize the validity of passports issued by the Iroquois confederacy.^[3]

The United States defeated Canada 12–10 in the gold medal game to capture their ninth victory at the World Lacrosse Championship.^[4]

The 2014 WLC was held on July 10–19, 2014 in Commerce City, Colorado, at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, home of the Colorado Rapids soccer team.^[5] 38 nations participated in over 142 games. The countries with the top six rankings - Australia, Canada, England, Iroquois, Japan, and the United States - competed in the Blue Division.

Belgium, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Israel, Russia, Thailand, Turkey, and Uganda all competed in the event for the first time.^[6]

Canada defeated the United States 8–5 in the gold medal game to capture their third World Lacrosse Championship

The 2018 WLC was held on July 11–21, 2018 in Netanya, Israel, at Netanya Stadium and Wingate Institute. 46 nations participated in tournament games. The countries with the top six rankings - Australia, Canada, England, Iroquois, Scotland, and the United States - competed in the Blue Division.

United States defeated Canada in the gold medal game, dramatically scoring the controversial game-winning goal at the last second.^[7]

Originally, the championship was scheduled to be held in 2022 in Coquitlam, British Columbia,^[8] however due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the games were delayed to 2023 and moved to Los Angeles, California,^[9][10][11] but ultimately were relocated to San Diego, California.^[12]

The 2023 WLC was held from June 21–July 1, 2023. Pool games and placement games were held at San Diego State University's SDSU Sports Deck and the University of San Diego's Torero Stadium, while playoff games were held at SDSU's Snapdragon Stadium. 30 nations participated in tournament games, marking both the first time qualifiers were used to determine tournament entry and the first time the number of competing teams decreased from the previous tournament.^[13][14]

The countries with the top five rankings - Australia, Canada, England, Haudenosaunee, and the United States - competed in Pool A.

After the tournament, the Philippines' standing was demoted to 30th (last place) due to the team's failure to comply with eligibility requirements, the team initially finished in 15th place. ^[15]

Hosting responsibilities for the 12 championships from 1967 to 2014 were evenly divided between four countries, with the United States, Canada, Australia, and England each hosting three times.

The 2018 championship in Israel was the first time the tournament expanded beyond the traditional four hosts. For the 2018 edition, World Lacrosse had originally selected England in 2013, but English Lacrosse withdrew in 2017, citing “unacceptable financial risk”, and Israel was selected instead.

^[16]

Year	Host		Champions	Score	Runner-up		Number of teams
1967	Toronto, Ontario		United States	League	Australia		4
1974	Melbourne, Australia		United States		Australia		4
1978	Stockport, England		Canada	17–16 (OT)	United States		4
1982	Baltimore, Maryland		United States	22–14	Australia		4
1986	Toronto, Ontario		United States	18–9	Canada		4
1990	Perth, Australia		United States	19–15	Canada		5
1994	Bury, England		United States	21–7	Australia		6
1998	Baltimore, Maryland		United States	15–14 (OT)	Canada		11
2002	Perth, Australia		United States	18–15	Canada		16
2006	London, Ontario		Canada	15–10	United States		21
2010	Manchester, England		United States	12–10	Canada		29
2014	Denver, Colorado		Canada	8–5	United States		38
2018	Netanya, Israel		United States	9–8	Canada		46
2023	San Diego, California		United States	10–7	Canada		30
2027	TBD, Japan

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	11	3	0	14
2	Canada	3	7	4	14
3	Australia	0	4	7	11
4	Haudenosaunee	0	0	3	3
Totals (4 entries)		14	14	14	42

^[16]

Team	Appearances	Highest Finish	1967 (4)	1974 (4)	1978 (4)	1982 (4)	1986 (4)	1990 (5)	1994 (6)	1998 (11)	2002 (15)	2006 (21)	2010 (29)	2014 (38)	2018 (46)	2023 (30)	2027 TBD
Argentina	3	28th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	28th	36th	39th	–
Australia	14	2nd	2nd	2nd	3rd	2nd	3rd	3rd	2nd	3rd	3rd	3rd	3rd	4th	4th	4th
Austria	4	21st	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	21st	28th	24th	27th
Belgium	2	27th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	27th	30th	•
Bermuda	4	18th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	21st	18th	24th	37th	–
Bulgaria	0	••	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	••	–
Canada	14	1st	3rd	3rd	1st	3rd	2nd	2nd	3rd	2nd	2nd	1st	2nd	1st	2nd	2nd
China	2	33rd	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	33rd	42nd	•
Colombia	2	37th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	37th	45th	•
Costa Rica	1	38th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	38th	–	–
Croatia	1	43rd	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	43rd	•
Czech Republic	7	9th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	9th	10th	15th	13th	14th	26th	22nd
Denmark	4	16th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	16th	26th	–	34th	28th
England	14	4th	4th	4th	4th	4th	4th	4th	4th	5th	6th	5th	5th	5th	5th	6th
Finland	4	9th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	9th	12th	13th	15th	••
France	4	17th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	27th	31st	33rd	17th
Germany	7	6th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	6th	8th	8th	6th	9th	9th	11th
Greece	1	19th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	19th	•
Haiti	0	••	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	••	–
Haudenosaunee	8	3rd	–	–	–	–	–	5th	5th	4th	4th	4th	••	3rd	3rd	3rd
Hong Kong	6	13th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	14th	20th	22nd	21st	27th	13th
Hungary	1	28th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	28th	•
Ireland	6	7th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	13th	7th	9th	10th	12th	12th
Israel	3	7th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	7th	7th	7th
Italy	5	9th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	10th	19th	18th	16th	9th
Jamaica	2	8th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	13th	8th
Japan	8	4th	–	–	–	–	–	–	6th	8th	5th	6th	4th	8th	6th	5th
Latvia	5	14th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	14th	20th	19th	18th	20th
Luxembourg	1	46th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	46th	–
Kenya	0	•	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	•
Mexico	4	15th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	29th	23rd	38th	15th
Netherlands	4	8th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	12th	8th	16th	22nd	14th
New Zealand	6	12th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	15th	19th	15th	12th	21st	24th
Norway	3	17th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	24th	25th	17th	•
Peru	2	21st	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	39th	21st
Philippines	2	10th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	10th	30th
Poland	4	14th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	14th	20th	32nd	19th
Portugal	0	•	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	•
Puerto Rico	2	8th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	8th	10th
Russia	2	32nd	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	32nd	36th	–
Scotland	7	6th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	7th	7th	11th	7th	6th	11th	16th
Slovakia	3	17th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	17th	26th	23rd	•
Slovenia	0	•	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	•
South Korea	6	11th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	11th	18th	25th	35th	35th	25th
Spain	4	16th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	17th	16th	30th	31st	•
Sweden	6	9th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	10th	9th	–	10th	11th	25th	23rd
Switzerland	4	15th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	23rd	15th	20th	26th
Chinese Taipei	1	41st	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	41st	•
Thailand	1	29th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	29th	–	–
Turkey	2	22nd	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	22nd	44th	•
Uganda	3	29th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	34th	40th	29th
United States	14	1st	1st	1st	2nd	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	2nd	1st	2nd	1st	1st
U.S. Virgin Islands	0	•	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	•
Wales	7	11th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	11th	12th	13th	11th	17th	14th	18th

• World Lacrosse
• World Lacrosse Women's World Championship
• World Lacrosse Men's U20 Championship
• World Indoor Lacrosse Championship (men)
• Field lacrosse

• Federation of International Lacrosse official website
• 2018 WLC official website