World Lacrosse Championship

World Lacrosse Championship

Current season, competition or edition: 2014 World Lacrosse Championship
Sport	Lacrosse
Founded	1967
Countries	FIL member nations
Most recent champion(s)	Canada (3rd title)
Most titles	United States (9 titles)

The World Lacrosse Championship (WLC) is the world championship for international men's field lacrosse. From its inception in 1967 through the 2006 event, it was sanctioned by the International Lacrosse Federation (ILF). In 2008, the ILF merged with the former governing body for women's lacrosse, the International Federation of Women's Lacrosse Associations (IFWLA), to form the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL). Future World Championships will be sanctioned by FIL.

The WLC began as a four-team invitational tournament which coincided with Canada's centennial lacrosse celebration in 1967. Seven years later, Australia celebrated its lacrosse centenary, and the USA fielded an all-star team to compete in a similar international invitational tournament. It was here that the concept of holding a World Championship tournament every four years was born. The championship has not left North America since the tournament started, with the USA capturing nine victories and Canada the other three. The 2014 championships featured a record thirty-eight competing nations.

Editions

2006 Championship

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

2010 Championship

The 2010 World Lacrosse Championship was held in Manchester, England from July 15 to July 24. For the first time in the history of the World Lacrosse Championships, a FIL World Lacrosse Festival had been sanctioned to run alongside the FIL World Championships.

With more nations entering, the Round Robin stage of the tournament now 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.^[1]

Keeping with the colour themed divisions from previous Championships, in addition to the Blue, Red, Orange and Yellow divisions there would also now be Plum, Turquoise and Gray divisions.

The United States defeated Canada 12–10 in the Gold medal game to capture their ninth victory at the World Lacrosse Championships.

2014 Championship

The 2014 World Lacrosse Championship was held on July 10–19, 2014 in Commerce City, Colorado, at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, home of the Colorado Rapids soccer team.^[2] 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; the top four teams in this division advanced to the quarterfinals or semifinals automatically.

Belgium, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Israel, Russia, Thailand, Turkey, and Uganda all competed in the event for the first time.^[3]

Canada defeated the United States 8–5 in the Gold medal game to capture their third victory at the World Lacrosse Championships.

Winners

Year	Champion	Runner-Up	Championship Game Score	Host	Teams
1967	United States	Australia	25–11	Toronto, Canada	4
1974	United States	3-way tie	20–14	Melbourne, Australia	4
1978	Canada	United States	17–16 (OT)	Stockport, England	4
1982	United States	Australia	22–14	Baltimore, United States	4
1986	United States	Canada	18–9	Toronto, Canada	4
1990	United States	Canada	19–15	Perth, Australia	5
1994	United States	Australia	21–7	Manchester, England	6
1998	United States	Canada	15–14 (OT)	Baltimore, United States	11
2002	United States	Canada	18–15	Perth, Australia	16
2006	Canada	United States	15–10	London, Canada	21
2010	United States	Canada	12–10	Manchester, England	29
2014	Canada	United States	8–5	Denver, United States	38
2018	TBC	TBC	TBC	Manchester, England

Performance by team

Team	1967 (4)	1974 (4)	1978 (4)	1982 (4)	1986 (4)	1990 (5)	1994 (6)	1998 (11)	2002 (15)	2006 (21)	2010 (29)	2014 (38)
Argentina											28th	36th
Australia	2nd	2nd	3rd	2nd	3rd	3rd	2nd	3rd	3rd	3rd	3rd	4th
Austria											21st	28th
Belgium												27th
Bermuda										21st	18th	24th
Canada	3rd	3rd	1st	3rd	2nd	2nd	3rd	2nd	2nd	1st	2nd	1st
China												33rd
Colombia												37th
Costa Rica												38th
Czech Republic								9th	10th	15th	13th	14th
Denmark										16th	26th
England	4th	4th	4th	4th	4th	4th	4th	5th	6th	5th	5th	5th
Finland										9th	12th	13th
France											27th	31st
Germany								6th	8th	8th	6th	9th
Hong Kong									14th	20th	22nd	21st
Ireland									13th	7th	9th	10th
Iroquois						5th	5th	4th	4th	4th		3rd
Israel												7th
Italy										10th	19th	18th
Japan							6th	8th	5th	6th	4th	8th
Latvia										14th	20th	19th
Mexico											29th	23rd
Netherlands										12th	8th	16th
New Zealand									15th	19th	15th	12th
Norway											24th	25th
Poland											14th	20th
Russia												32nd
Scotland								7th	7th	11th	7th	6th
Slovakia											17th	26th
South Korea									11th	18th	25th	35th
Spain										17th	16th	30th
Sweden								10th	9th		10th	11th
Switzerland											23rd	15th
Thailand												29th
Turkey												22nd
Uganda												34th
United States	1st	1st	2nd	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	2nd	1st	2nd
Wales								11th	12th	13th	11th	17th

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	9	3	0	12
2	Canada	3	5	4	12
3	Australia	0	4	7	11
4	Iroquois	0	0	1	1

See also

• Lacrosse
• 1998 World Lacrosse Championship Final
• 2006 World Lacrosse Championship
• 2010 World Lacrosse Championship
• Federation of International Lacrosse
• Women's Lacrosse World Cup

References

1. https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/united-states/iroquois-lacrosse-team-faces-hardships-traveling-their-own-passports
2. "Schedule Released for FIL World Championship". March 4, 2014. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
3. "Record Field for 2014 FIL World Championship". March 4, 2014. Retrieved March 24, 2014.

External links

• US Lacrosse website
• U.S. Men's National Team History
• Team Canada Men's Lacrosse website