Olympic Lacrosse Is Coming to Colorado: Colorado Springs Lands 2027 World Sixes Championships

Colorado Springs will be at the center of the lacrosse world in 2027.

World Lacrosse announced that Colorado Springs has been selected to host the inaugural World Lacrosse Sixes Championships from October 4 through October 10, 2027, at Weidner Field. The tournament will serve as the primary qualification event for lacrosse at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

The event will bring 32 national teams to Colorado, with 16 men’s teams and 16 women’s teams competing over seven days. Teams will represent Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe and Pan-America.

For Colorado’s lacrosse community, the championship will provide a rare opportunity to watch many of the best players and national teams in the world compete in the state, with Olympic qualification on the line.

Five of the six available Olympic positions in both the men’s and women’s competitions will be determined through the 2027 championship. The final Olympic position in each division will be awarded through a separate qualification tournament in early 2028.

The tournament will also crown the first men’s and women’s world champions in the Sixes discipline.

Lacrosse returns to the Olympic Games at LA28 after more than a century away from the medal program. The Olympic competition will feature Sixes, the faster version of lacrosse played with six athletes per team, smaller rosters, a shorter field and a 30-second shot clock.

Sixes has become an increasingly important part of international lacrosse as the sport prepares for its Olympic return.

The road to Colorado Springs begins this fall.

National teams will compete in four continental championships between September and December 2026. The top teams from those events will qualify for the 2027 World Lacrosse Sixes Championships.

The Pan-American Sixes Lacrosse Championships will take place September 29 through October 4, 2026, in Oshawa, Ontario. The Asia-Pacific championship follows October 5 through 10 in Australia, with the European and African championships scheduled later in the year.

Five teams from Pan-America, five from Asia-Pacific, five from Europe and one from Africa will advance in both the men’s and women’s competitions, creating the 16-team fields that will come to Colorado Springs.

The United States receives an automatic place in the LA28 Olympic tournament as the host nation, provided it participates in both the Pan-American championship and the 2027 World Lacrosse Sixes Championship.

Colorado Springs is already closely connected to the Olympic movement. The city is home to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee headquarters, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum and more than 50 national sports organizations.

The Sixes championship adds international lacrosse to that history.

All games during the championship are scheduled to be played at Weidner Field, home of the Colorado Springs Switchbacks professional soccer club. The downtown stadium opened in 2021 and will host the entire seven-day tournament. Matches are also expected to be broadcast internationally.

For lacrosse fans across Colorado, this will be one of the biggest opportunities the state has had to see international lacrosse in person.

It also comes at an important time for the sport. Youth programs, high school teams, clubs and colleges across Colorado are beginning to incorporate more Sixes as players and coaches become familiar with the version of the game that will be played at the Olympics.

In October 2027, Colorado players will be able to see exactly what the game looks like at its highest international level.

The championship will determine world champions, help decide which countries will compete at LA28 and put Colorado directly on lacrosse’s road to the Olympic Games.

Colorado Lacrosse News will continue to follow the qualification process, national team rosters, Colorado connections and ticket information as the 2027 World Lacrosse Sixes Championships approach.

Source: World Lacrosse