The path to the 2027 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship continues with the 2026 Asia-Pacific Men’s Lacrosse Championship, set for January 6-11 in Wellington, New Zealand.
The championship features seven teams in action over 17 games in six days at the New Zealand Campus of Innovation and Sport. Australia; China; Hong Kong, China; Japan; Korea; New Zealand and the Philippines will compete in the 10th edition of the event. New Zealand is hosting the championship for the first time since 2007.
The event is the second qualifier for the 2027 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship and as the host, Japan is automatically qualified. The top three finishing teams outside of Japan will also qualify for the 16-team field. Seven teams have already qualified after the European Men’s Lacrosse Championship in July 2025.
Live statistics and results are available at worldlacrosse.sport/APMLC26, and streaming is available at WL TV with a subscription pass for the entire event costing $20 USD.
The seven teams are split into a pool of three (AUS, KOR, NZL) and a pool of four (CHN, HKG, JPN, PHI) with pool play running from January 6-8. The pool winners will advance directly to the semifinals and wrap up their qualification for the men’s championship.
The play-in round is set for Friday, January 9, with the second and third place teams from both pools facing off in direct battles for two spots in the semifinals and potentially the final two qualification spots for the men’s championship. If Japan does not advance to the semifinals, the fourth qualification spot will be decided by the bronze medal game.
The semifinals are set for Saturday and the medal round is on Sunday, with the bronze medal game at 12 p.m. and the gold medal game at 3 p.m. NZT (UTC+13).
All seven teams in the field have appeared in multiple World Lacrosse Men’s Championships, led by 11-time medalists Australia. Japan finished in fifth, one spot behind Australia, at the 2023 Men’s Championship in San Diego, and defeated Australia in 2019 at the Asia-Pacific Men’s Lacrosse Championship in the last edition both teams appeared at.
Hong Kong posted the highest finish out of the remaining five teams in 2023 in 14th place. The Philippines finished in 15th but due to eligibility non-compliance was shifted to 30th place.
Korea and New Zealand both have appeared at the last six editions of the Men’s Championship, while China appeared in 2014 and 2018.
This event marks the second continental qualifier for the 2027 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship. The top 16 men’s field lacrosse teams in the world will compete based on the following allocations by Continental Federation:
European Lacrosse Federation: 7 (Czechia, England, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia)
Pan-American Lacrosse Association: 5
Asia Pacific Lacrosse Union: 4
Africa Association of Lacrosse: 0
2027 will mark the first Men’s Championship in World Lacrosse’s new championship format, with 16 teams competing based on results from continental qualifiers. All 16 teams must earn their place in the championship at a qualifying event, except for Japan, which automatically qualified as the host nation. World Lacrosse will also host a Division II Men’s Championship in 2027 with an additional 24 teams participating, including at least three teams from the APLU.
