World Lacrosse (WL), formerly the Federation of International Lacrosse, is the international governing body of

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

, responsible for the men's,

women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardle ...

, and indoor versions of the sport. It was established in 2008 by the merger of the previously separate men's and women's international lacrosse associations. Its headquarters are in Colorado Springs,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. World Lacrosse has 77 members. It is the only international sport organization to recognize First Nations bands and Native American tribes as sovereign nations. The Iroquois Nationals (men) and the Haudenosaunee Nationals (women) of the

First Nations Lacrosse Association First Nations Lacrosse Association (formerly Iroquois Lacrosse Association) is the governing body of lacrosse for First Nations within Canada and Native American tribes within the United States. The First Nations Lacrosse Association (FNLA) overs ...

represent the

Haudenosaunee The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Indigenous confederations in North America, confederacy of First Nations in Canada, First Natio ...

people of New York and Ontario. World Lacrosse was given provisional recognition status by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swis ...

in November 2018. In May 2019, the Federation of International Lacrosse launched a rebrand and changed its name to World Lacrosse. In March 2022, due to the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. A ...

, Russian teams, athletes, and officials were suspended from participation in World Lacrosse events and qualifiers, and it was decided that no World Lacrosse or European Lacrosse Federation events would be held in Russia.

Tournaments

World Lacrosse organizes the

World Lacrosse Championship The World Lacrosse Championship (WLC) 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 ...

, the Women's Lacrosse World Cup, the

Under-19 World Lacrosse Championships The Under-19 World Lacrosse Championships (U-19) are held separately for men and women every four years to award world championships for the under-19 age group in men's lacrosse and women's lacrosse. The tournaments are sanctioned by World Lacrosse ...

for both men and women, and the World Indoor Lacrosse Championship.

Members

Continental Federations

* African Association of Lacrosse * Asia Pacific Lacrosse Union * European Lacrosse Federation * Pan American Lacrosse Association Source:

Awards

Predecessor organizations

International Lacrosse Federation

The International Lacrosse Federation (ILF) was founded in 1974 to promote and develop men's lacrosse throughout the world. Before 2008, the international governing bodies for men's and women's lacrosse were separate, which was one of the obstacles of lacrosse one day becoming an Olympic sport. In August 2008 in

Lahti Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...

, Finland, the ILF and the International Federation of Women's Lacrosse Associations merged to become the Federation of International Lacrosse. ILF Founders: Thomas Hayes (USA) Don Hobbs (Australia) Laurie Turnbull (Australia) Nigel Wade (England) The ILF conducted the

, World Indoor Lacrosse Championship and the men’s

, all of which were taken over by the FIL.

IFWLA

The International Federation of Women's Lacrosse Associations (IFWLA) was formed in 1972 to promote and develop

women's lacrosse Women's lacrosse (or girls' lacrosse), sometimes shortened to lax, is a sport with twelve players on the field at a time (including the goalkeeper). Originally played by indigenous peoples of the Americas, the modern women's game was introduce ...

throughout the world. It wound up its affairs in August 2008 when it agreed to merge with the ILF to form the Federation of International Lacrosse. Promoting all levels of lacrosse included IFWLA sponsorship of the Women's Lacrosse World Cup and the Women’s

, tournaments taken over by the FIL.

References

External links

*
2018-19 Annual Report
{{Authority control International lacrosse Lacrosse governing bodies Sports organizations established in 2008 2008 establishments in Canada