World Lacrosse Men's Championship: Schedule, Team Info, Key Matchups

The 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship begins Wednesday, June 21, and runs through July 1 in San Diego. All 107 games will be carried on ESPN platforms in the U.S. and in a record 185+ territories via ESPN International.

San Diego State’s new 35,000-seat Snapdragon Stadium will be the site of the opening and closing ceremonies, opening game between Canada and the United States, semifinals and medal games. The University of San Diego’s Torero Stadium will host featured games. All remaining games will take place on SDSU’s campus.

Thirty nations will compete in sunny San Diego over the next 10 days with their eyes on the ultimate prize. Continue below for a full event schedule, key matchups and information on all 30 teams.

POOL PLAY BREAKDOWN

The 30 teams are split into six pools of five, with the top five nations in the rankings making up Pool A. The top two Pool A teams will advance directly to the quarterfinals, while the remaining three teams from the pool will join the top nine teams from pools B-F (five first-place finishers and four second-place finishers) in the first round of the playoffs (June 27) to determine the remaining teams in the quarterfinals (June 28).

POOL A: Australia (AUS), Canada (CAN), England (ENG), Haudenosaunee (HAU), United States (USA)

POOL B: Denmark (DEN), France (FRA), Japan (JPN), Uganda (UGA), Wales (WAL)

POOL C: Czech Republic (CZE), Israel (ISR), Philippines (PHI), Puerto Rico (PUR), Sweden (SWE)

POOL D: Germany (GER), Jamaica (JAM), New Zealand (NZL), Poland (POL), Switzerland (SUI)

POOL E: Austria (AUT), Hong Kong, China (HKG), Italy (ITA), Mexico (MEX), Scotland (SCO)

POOL F: Ireland (IRL), Korea (KOR), Latvia (LAT), Netherlands (NED), Peru (PER)

MATCHUPS TO WATCH

VIA WORLD LACROSSE

POOL A: United States vs. Canada, June 21, 7 p.m. Pacific

The opening game of the tournament between two of the sport’s heavyweights. The stars will be out.

POOL B: Wales vs. Japan, June 24, 1 p.m. Pacific

A chance for the best team in Europe’s qualifying process to unseat the highest seeded team in the tournament outside Pool A.

POOL C: Israel vs. Philippines, June 23, 1 p.m. Pacific

The loaded Pool C features three extremely talented rosters: Israel, Philippines and Puerto Rico. No team can afford to finish third.

POOL D: Jamaica vs. Germany, June 22, 7 p.m. Pacific

Germany, with a carefully constructed pipeline of domestic growth, takes on Jamaica, a team that finished in the top 15 in its first championship appearance. The top of the group could be decided here.

POOL E: Scotland vs. Hong Kong, China, June 24, 1 p.m. Pacific

A potential battle for supremacy in Pool E pitting a rising power with an impressive qualifying campaign against a steady presence.

POOL F: Latvia vs. Netherlands, June 26, 1 p.m. Pacific

One of the final playoff spots could be up for grabs between two familiar foes from Europe with similar finishes in qualifying.

TEAM BY TEAM

AUSTRALIA

SEED: No. 4

APPEARANCES: 14

BEST FINISH: 2nd (1967, 1974, 1994)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 1967

FAST FACT: Two players are making their senior debut after playing with the U21 team in 2022: Mitchell Baker and Connor McDonough. Baker led the team with 16 points, seven goals and nine assists.

AUSTRIA

APPEARANCES: 4

BEST FINISH: 21st (2010)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 2010

FAST FACT: Austria head coach Richard Hauer Jr. is coaching in his fourth men’s championship. Three players return for him after competing in 2010, 2014 and 2018: Adrian Balasch, Rainer Jakisch and Klaus Hauer.

CANADA

SEED: No. 2

APPEARANCES: 14

BEST FINISH: 1st (1978, 2006, 2014)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 1967

FAST FACT: Defenseman Brodie Merrill will be competing in his fifth world championship. He made his senior men’s championship debut in 2006.

CZECH REPUBLIC

APPEARANCES: 7

BEST FINISH: 9th (1998)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 1998

FAST FACT: Pavel Došlý will be competing in his seventh straight men’s championship. He ranked 11th overall at the 2018 men’s championship with 30 points.

DENMARK

APPEARANCES: 4

BEST FINISH: 16th (2006)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 2006

FAST FACT: 

ENGLAND

SEED: No. 5

APPEARANCES: 14

BEST FINISH: 4th (1967, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 1967

FAST FACT: Denmark narrowly qualified with a 3-2 record in the European qualifier — with wins over Spain, Slovakia and Turkey.

FRANCE

APPEARANCES: 4

BEST FINISH: 27th (2010)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 2010

FAST FACT: Luke Blanc finished his sophomore season at Marquette this spring, starting 10 games and recording 18 goals and three assists.

GERMANY

APPEARANCES: 7

BEST FINISH: 6th (1998, 2010)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 1998

FAST FACT: Four players competed for Germany in the 2022 World Lacrosse U21 Men’s Championship: Wynton Bastian, Marius Butz, Felix Kins and Lasse Volquardsen.

HAUDENOSAUNEE

SEED: No. 3

APPEARANCES: 8

BEST FINISH: 3rd (2014, 2018)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 1990

FAST FACT: Five players on the roster are from the University of Albany, and five others are from Syracuse University.

HONG KONG, CHINA

APPEARANCES: 6

BEST FINISH: 15th (2002)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 2002

FAST FACT: Dash Tsai — San Diego/La Jolla native and son of Joe Tsai, owner of the San Diego Seals (NLL) — will compete with the senior team for the first time after a summer with the U21 team in 2022.

IRELAND

APPEARANCES: 6

BEST FINISH: 7th (2006)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 2002

FAST FACT: Sean Gibson — vice chair of the World Lacrosse Athletes’ Commission — has competed with Ireland in the 2010, 2014 and 2018 men’s championships. He has also competed in four World Lacrosse Box Championships and is expected to reach 50 world championship games played in San Diego, as well as a total of 100 international games for Ireland (non-exhibition).

ISRAEL

APPEARANCES: 3

BEST FINISH: 7th (2014, 2018)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 2014

FAST FACT: Israel posted a top-10 finish at the 2018 men’s championship on home soil in Netanya, finishing seventh for the second time in a row.

ITALY

APPEARANCES: 5

BEST FINISH: 10th (2006)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 2006

FAST FACT: Will Vitelli won 72 faceoffs for Italy during the qualifier for an 88-percent win percentage.

JAMAICA

APPEARANCES: 2

BEST FINISH: 13th (2018)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 2018

FAST FACT: Goran Murray will be playing in his second men’s championship. He was a two-time All-American at Maryland with a first-team selection in 2014.

JAPAN

APPEARANCES: 8

BEST FINISH: 5th (2002)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 1994

FAST FACT: Head coach Naofumi Suzuki helmed Japan at the U21 men’s championship last year, when the team achieved a best-ever fifth-place finish, upsetting England in its final game, 7-6 in overtime.

KOREA

APPEARANCES: 6

BEST FINISH: 11th (2002)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 2002

FAST FACT: Assistant coach Aaron Cahill was the former captain of the Ireland men’s national team, playing at the men’s championship in 2014 and 2018.

LATVIA

APPEARANCES: 5

BEST FINISH: 14th (2006)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 2006

FAST FACT: Latvia has 15 players with men’s championship experience, led by a fifth appearance for brothers Kaspars and Miks Stabulnieks after they competed in 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018.

MEXICO

APPEARANCES: 4

BEST FINISH: 23rd (2014)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 2010

FAST FACT: Angel Ascencio, Taylor Fialkowski and Fernando Garcia are all from San Diego and playing in their first men’s championship.

NETHERLANDS

APPEARANCES: 5

BEST FINISH: 8th (2010)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 2006

FAST FACT: During the qualifier, Alderik van der Heyde — a San Diego native — was the leading scorer with 12 goals and four assists and is competing in the men’s championship for the first time.

NEW ZEALAND

APPEARANCES: 6

BEST FINISH: 12th (2014)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 2002

FAST FACT: Brothers Blake and Max van der Maas are competing together in their second men’s championship. This is Max van der Maas’ third men’s championship after he competed in 2014 and captained the team in 2018.

PERU

APPEARANCES: 1

BEST FINISH: 39th (2018)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 2018

FAST FACT: During the 2018 men’s championship, Peru was ranked second in faceoff percentage (65 percent). James Burleson-Porras led with 35 faceoff wins.

PHILIPPINES

APPEARANCES: 2

BEST FINISH: 10th (2018)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 2018

FAST FACT: Brothers Donovan, Griffin and Phoenix Rodas — who all played together at Grand Canyon — will all suit up for the Philippines for the first time.

POLAND

APPEARANCES: 4

BEST FINISH: 14th (2010)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 2010

FAST FACT: Head coach William McNamara returns for his second world championship with Poland, this year as a coach. In 2018, McNamara was the second leading scorer with 10 goals and six assists. McNamara also coached Poland at the U21 men’s championship.

PUERTO RICO

APPEARANCES: 2

BEST FINISH: 8th (2018)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 2018

FAST FACT: Will Mark (Syracuse) is in goal for Puerto Rico after a college season in which he was in the top 25 of Tewaaraton Award nominees. Mark made 207 saves and finished the season with a 54.2 save percentage.

SCOTLAND

APPEARANCES: 7

BEST FINISH: 6th (2014)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 1998

FAST FACT: Assistant defensive coach Giles Davidson brings knowledge of the men’s championship, having played in 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2006.

SWEDEN

APPEARANCES: 6

BEST FINISH: 9th (2002)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 1998

FAST FACT: This will be Kevin Powers’ fourth men’s championship. He was the leading scorer in 2018 with 20 goals and nine assists.

SWITZERLAND

APPEARANCES: 4

BEST FINISH: 15th (2014)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 2010

FAST FACT: This will be the sixth time that Stefan Zweifel and Dominik Gütensperger are competing in the men’s championship. 

UGANDA

APPEARANCES: 3

BEST FINISH: 34th (2014)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 2014

FAST FACT: Uganda defeated Kenya in a triple-overtime thriller in the African qualifier to secure its spot in the field.

UNITED STATES

SEED: No. 1

APPEARANCES: 14

BEST FINISH: 1st (1967, 1974, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2010, 2018)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 1967

FAST FACT: The United States enters the 2023 Men’s Championship as the favorite on home soil, looking to extend its record with a potential 12th trophy and become the first champion to repeat in more than 20 years.

WALES

APPEARANCES: 7

BEST FINISH: 11th (1998, 2010)

FIRST APPEARANCE: 1998

FAST FACT: Wales finished first in the European qualifier (5-0), highlighted by a 10-3 win against Latvia and a 14-4 win against Denmark.