What is lacrosse?
Lacrosse is the stick-and-ball sport created by Indigenous nations of North America — the Haudenosaunee call it the Creator's Game — played today as ten-a-side field lacrosse, indoor box lacrosse, and the fast six-a-side sixes format that carried the sport back onto the Olympic program for LA28.[1] [2]
How does it work?
Sixes — six players a side, four eight-minute quarters, a shot clock and no long poles — was purpose-built for a compact Olympic tournament, scheduled at Exposition Park for July 24–29, 2028, with the World Lacrosse Sixes Championships as the primary qualifier. Beneath the international game sit the NCAA's championships and the professional PLL (field) and NLL (box).[2] [3]
Where is lacrosse strong?
The United States and Canada dominate — American college lacrosse is a major sport in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, and Canada owns the box game — with the Haudenosaunee Nationals a genuine world power competing as a sovereign nation, and England, Australia, Japan and Israel completing the elite.[2] [4]
How is lacrosse awarded?
- World Championship and Sixes titles, and Olympic medals from 2028.[2]
- National-team selection — including the Nationals' unique standing in world sport.[2]
- NCAA championships and All-America honors — the American credential ladder.[4]
- PLL and NLL contracts — the professional game's documented record.[3]
Who has won the most in lacrosse?
World championship counts from World Lacrosse's own championship-summary tables, with the 2026 women's final taken from the federation's gold-medal report because its history page is stale and still says nine. Two nations have won the men's title and two the women's. The Haudenosaunee Nationals appear as their own row, as they compete — a sovereign nation fielding a team, with men's bronzes in 2014, 2018 and 2023. Field and sixes are kept apart: no sixes world championship has been held yet, the first being Colorado Springs in 2027, so the sixes table holds World Games results only. Two premises commonly repeated are wrong and are corrected here: the women's championship began in 1982, not 1969, and the 1908 Olympic tournament awarded no bronze.
Most World Lacrosse men's world championship titles by country (1967–2023, 14 editions)
| Rank | Country | Years | Titles |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 1967, 1974, 1982, 86, 90, 94, 98, 2002, 2010, 2018, 2023 | 11 |
| 2 | Canada | 1978, 2006, 2014 | 3 |
Men's world championship medal table by country (1967–2023, 14 editions)
| Rank | Country | 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 |
Most women's world championship titles by country (1982–2026, 12 editions)
| Rank | Country | Years | Titles |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 1982, 89, 93, 97, 2001, 09, 2013, 17, 22, 26 | 10 |
| 2 | Australia | 1986, 2005 | 2 |
Women's world championship medal table by country (1982–2026, 12 editions)
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 10 | 2 | 0 | 12 |
| 2 | Australia | 2 | 4 | 3 | 9 |
| 3 | England | 0 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| 4 | Canada | 0 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| 5= | Scotland | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 5= | Israel | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
World Games sixes results (2022 and 2025)
| Edition | Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TWG 2022, Birmingham AL | Men's sixes (8 teams) | Canada (23–9 USA) | United States | Japan |
| TWG 2022, Birmingham AL | Women's sixes (8 teams) | Canada (14–12 USA) | United States | Australia |
| TWG 2025, Chengdu | Women's sixes (8 teams) | United States (16–8 Canada, 11 Aug 2025) | Canada | Australia |
Olympic lacrosse medals by country (1904 and 1908 only)
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Canada | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 2= | Great Britain | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2= | United States | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Medal lists rank on total medals, then gold, then silver; title lists rank on titles. Equal totals share a rank, and every table states the period and the last event it includes. Verified September 2026.[5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
References
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Lacrosse. Accessed August 2026.
- World Lacrosse — official site. Accessed August 2026.
- Olympics.com — sixes lacrosse at LA28: everything to know. Accessed August 2026.
- USA Lacrosse — World Lacrosse announces LA28 dates and structure. Accessed August 2026.
- World Lacrosse — men's world championship history, all 14 editions. Accessed September 2026.
- World Lacrosse — 2026 women's world championship: United States gold. Accessed September 2026.
- World Lacrosse — women's world championship history (its intro is stale; used for the edition list). Accessed September 2026.
- The World Games 2022 — official sixes results (Swiss Timing). Accessed September 2026.
- World Lacrosse — The World Games 2025, Chengdu. Accessed September 2026.
- Olympedia — Lacrosse (sport group LX): the 1904 and 1908 tournaments. Accessed September 2026.