England’s 2026 summer of lacrosse
It's been another whirlwind summer of international lacrosse with England teams competing in three tournaments across two continents in 2026.
2026 European Box Lacrosse Championships
First up, in late June and early July, our England women’s and men’s box teams were in action in Prague, Czechia at the 2026 European Box Lacrosse Championships.
In the third edition of the men’s competition, England started the tournament as reigning champions and were looking to be the first team in history to retain the European title.
With the rosters of every team stronger than ever, England came through the group in third spot with one win and two narrow over-time defeats.
A play-in game victory over Belgium was followed by a close run quarter-final against Israel which England won by three.
The quarter-final win set up a mouth-watering semi-final tie against one of the favourites Finland, who had already defeated England by a single over-time goal in the group stage.
History repeated itself as Finland secured a place in the final with a 10-9 overtime win leaving England to compete in the third place game against Germany in a repeat of the 2022 final, England coming out on the wrong side of a 17-9 result.
Running concurrently to the men’s competition also in Prague, the women’s Euros took place for the first time with England looking to build on a fourth place finish at the inaugural World Championship in 2024.
A bumper round robin group stage that saw England play all six teams in the competition ended with England in third spot heading into the knockout phase.
Four wins over Finland, Germany, Czechia, and the Netherlands, in which England scored 66 goals, conceded 42, and overcame two teams in overtime, and two defeats to Israel and Ireland, an agonising overtime defeat that effectively denied England second spot in the group, meant Germany awaited in the semi-final.
In the group stage, England had defeated Germany in overtime after an incredible comeback from 4-0 down in the first half and the semi-final match-up proved to be a similarly tight contest.
But this time it was Germany who came through with the one-goal win to leave England heartbroken and playing in the third place game against Ireland the following day.
A bronze medal in the inaugural Euros is not to be sniffed at and England came out all guns blazing against Ireland eventually securing an 11-7 win and their names in the history books.
2026 World Lacrosse Women’s Championship
After two successive bronze medals, England headed to Tokyo, Japan in late July with dreams of making a first World Championship final for 33 years, since a 3-1 defeat to USA in the 1993 showpiece.
England started the tournament with flair and breezed through Group C with three wins out of three against Puerto Rico, Scotland, and Argentina.
Impressively, England conceded just 15 times across the three group stage games while scoring 56.
By topping Group C, England qualified for the quarter-final and a showdown with Group A runners-up the Haudenosaunee.
It turned out to be a closely fought quarter-final with neither side more than two goals ahead but with a big final quarter which they won 4-1, the Haudenosaunee reached their first ever World Championship semi-final while England were left to go again in the 5-8 placement play-in game against Japan.
After taking Canada all the way to overtime in the semi-final, Japan fell short and took on a determined England side in the play-in game.
England started fast and surged into an early lead that they never gave up, securing a spot in the fifth place game with a 10-5 win.
A final game against a familiar foe awaited for England as they took on Australia in the fifth place game after overcoming them in consecutive World Championship bronze medal matches in 2017 and 2022.
Despite taking a 4-1 lead in the first quarter, Australia chipped away, eventually getting back on level terms with just three minutes left to play in regulation time.
In overtime, Jordan Carr with an assist from Sofia Wise secured a dramatic 8-7 victory and a fifth place finish.
What’s next?
2026 Women’s European Sixes Lacrosse Championship (Olympic Qualifier) | Salou, Spain | 2-9 November
2026 Men’s European Sixes Lacrosse Championship (Olympic Qualifier) | Salou, Spain | 10-18 November
2027 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship | Tokyo, Japan | 18-27 June
2027 World Lacrosse Sixes Championships (Olympic Qualifier) | Host city TBD | October