World Lacrosse Announces 20 Nations for Men's U20 Championship

World Lacrosse has announced the 20 nations that will compete for the 2025 World Lacrosse Men’s U20 Championship on Jeju Island in Korea from August 15-24.

Headlining the field is the nine-time world champion United States squad. The U.S. has only lost two pool play games in the history of the event that dates to 1988 and in unbeaten in bracket play. The most recent championship came in 2022 when the U.S. defeated Canada 12-10 in Limerick, Ireland behind five goals from tournament MVP C.J. Kirst.

This year’s U.S. squad is led by head coach Shawn Nadelen, a gold-medal winning player for the U.S. national team who is also the head coach at Towson University. The U.S. team had an initial tryout last June and currently has more than 40 players on its training roster. The team has two training camps scheduled ahead of the world championship – one in June at Towson University and a second in July at Cornell University.

The top 10 teams from the 2022 U20 world championship are returning to the field for this year’s event. Two newcomers to the field are Ghana, which has never competed in a World Lacrosse championship, and New Zealand, which is competing at the men’s U20 level for the first time despite sending senior men’s teams to the world championship five times.

“I am thrilled to announce an exceptionally strong field for this men’s U20 championship, which features the best young talent in our sport from an increasingly diverse lacrosse community,” said World Lacrosse CEO Jim Scherr. “The rapidly rising level of competition at our U20 championships reflects the trajectory of our sport and I cannot wait for our global fanbase to witness the next stars of our game at an exceptional World Lacrosse event on the beautiful Jeju Island in Korea.”

The pools and schedule for the 20-team field will be announced early next month. The complete list of teams competing follows:

Australia 
Canada 
China 
England 
Germany 
Ghana 
Haudenosaunee 
Hong Kong, China 
Ireland 
Israel 
Jamaica 
Japan 
Kenya 
Korea 
Mexico 
Netherlands 
New Zealand 
Puerto Rico 
Chinese Taipei 
United States