European Lacrosse Federation (ELF) is the

sport governing body A sports governing body is a sports organization that has a regulatory or sanctioning function. Sports governing bodies come in various forms and have a variety of regulatory functions. Examples of this can include disciplinary action for rule i ...

of men and women's

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. It was founded in 1995 by the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, Sweden, Germany, and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. There are currently 34 member nations.

Overview

The ELF sponsors the

European Lacrosse Championships The European Lacrosse Championships began in 1995, the same year as the founding of the European Lacrosse Federation (ELF), to determine the best national lacrosse team of Europe. The men's tournament was held that first year, with the women ...

for national teams in both men’s and

women's lacrosse Women's lacrosse (or girls' lacrosse), sometimes shortened to lax, is a sport with twelve players on the field at a time (including the goalkeeper). Originally played by indigenous peoples of the Americas, the modern women's game was introduce ...

. The annual

Aleš Hřebeský Memorial The Aleš Hřebeský Memorial is held by Lacrosse Club Custodes Sokol Radotín to honor its former player who died in the autumn of 1993. Today the Aleš Hřebeský Memorial is the most prestigious box lacrosse event in Europe with teams from 15 cou ...

tournament in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

is the largest European box lacrosse tournament. The main club field lacrosse competition is the

Ken Galluccio Cup The Ken Galluccio Cup is the European field lacrosse championship club competition. Organised by the European Lacrosse Federation, it is contested by the champions from European lacrosse leagues. History The idea of the competition was conceived b ...

, where the winner of each country’s league competes to decide the European club champion. The ELF is an affiliate member of the lacrosse world governing body,

World Lacrosse World Lacrosse (WL), formerly the Federation of International Lacrosse, is the international governing body of lacrosse, responsible for the men's, women's, and indoor versions of the sport. It was established in 2008 by the merger of the previo ...

. 21 ELF members are full members of the WL, which is the majority of all full members. In March 2022, due to the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

, Russian teams, athletes, and officials were suspended from participation in World Lacrosse events and qualifiers, and it was decided that no World Lacrosse or European Lacrosse Federation events would be held in Russia.

References

External links

Official website
{{Sports governing bodies in Europe * International lacrosse