Record Field for FIL Men’s Lacrosse World Championship

BALTIMORE — A record 38 nations have been confirmed to compete in the 2014 Federation of International Lacrosse World Championship, which will be held July 10-19 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo., the “”Official Competition City” for the 10-day event, which is expected to attract as many as 150,000 visitors.

The 38-team field is headlined by the defending champion, the United States, and will include nine first-time entrants. The nations competing for the first time in an FIL men’s world championship will be Belgium, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Israel, Russia, Thailand, Turkey and Uganda. Uganda will be the first team from Africa to compete in an FIL world championship.

The previous record for number of teams competing in an FIL world championship was 29, set at the 2010 FIL men’s world championship in Manchester, England. The United States defeated Canada 12-10 in the gold medal game that year, avenging a loss to the Canadians from the 2006 world championship. The last time this quadrennial event was held in the United States was 1998, when 11 nations competed in Baltimore with the host U.S. edging Canada 15-14 in overtime.

Full-event ticket packages to the world championship, which include admission to more than 125 games over 10 days, along with access to the International Village and Vendor Village, are now on sale atwww.worldlacrosse2014.com<http://www.worldlacrosse2014.com>.

In addition to the world championship, registration is currently open for the boys’ youth and men’s masters’ World Festivals that will be held in conjunction with the event at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. More than 125 teams have already signed up for the World Festivals. Visit www.worldlacrosse2014.com<http://www.worldlacrosse2014.com> for more information about age groups and registering a team.

The final schedule for the championship will be announced in early March. Here are the competing nations:

Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Bermuda
Canada
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
Czech Republic
England
Finland
France
Germany
Hong Kong
Ireland
Iroquois Nationals
Israel
Italy
Japan
Republic of Korea
Latvia
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Poland
Russia
Scotland
Slovakia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Thailand
Turkey
Uganda
United States
Wales

World Championship History
Year        Location                           Teams       Champion                      Runner-Up
1967       Toronto, Canada               4                 United States                 Australia
1974       Melbourne, Australia       4                 United States                 Australia
1978       Manchester, England       4                 Canada                           United States
1982       Baltimore                           4                 United States                 Australia
1986       Toronto, Canada               4                 United States                 Canada
1990       Perth, Australia                 5                 United States                 Canada
1994       Manchester, England       6                 United States                 Australia
1998       Baltimore                           11               United States                 Canada
2002       Perth, Australia                 15               United States                 Canada
2006       London, Canada                21               Canada                           United States
2010   Manchester, England            29       United States Canada