Tournament Rules & Playing System

The men's tournament follows 2021–2023 WL Men's Field Lacrosse Rules, with the exception of the playing time.
The women's tournament uses 2025–2026 WL Women's Field Lacrosse Rules, with the exception of the playing time. The shot clock rule doesn't come into effect.

Playing time 2x 20 mins running time, during the last 30 seconds of every period the time is stopped with the whistle. Half-time break: 5 minutes. In case of a tie at the end of regulation, the 4-minute overtime periods follow immediately until the game is resolved by the golden goal. The time is stopped with the whistle in overtime.

Points: There are 3 points per game. The winner in regulation receives all points. In case of a tie, each team gets one point and the winner in overtime gets the last point.

Groups tie-breaker*
1. Number of points;
2. Head-to-head match result;
3. Total scored/received goals difference;
4. Total higher number of scored goals; 
5. Lower number of penalty minutes,
6. Toss (not applied in Z Group, teams share the final standings).
* If there are three or more teams with the same value of the criteria, after the elimination of one team we start the process from criteria 1 for the remaining teams.

Time-outs: each team shall be allowed a maximum of one 90-second. time-out per game.

Game protocol
● The pitch is available for warm-up immediately after the conclusion of the previous game.
● The home team bench is the left one and the visiting team is the right one (as seen from the pitch).
● Teams are expected to be ready for the game at the scheduled time. As the programme is tight no waiting time will be provided and the game will be forfeited if a team is not prepared to begin. The forfeit result is 8:0 in favour of the non-offending team.
● Team representatives are asked to confirm uniform numbers on the game roster before each game.
● There is no line-up before the games, except the final games.
● Teams shake hands after each game.
● Team captains sign the record to confirm its correctness.

Tournament system – men

Men's teams will play in two round-robin groups of five. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals, teams ranked 3rd and 4th will play in the 5th–8th place brackets. The 5th teams will match for the final 9th place. 

The round-robin groups draw was be held on Thursday August 7th, 2025 at 7 pm. CET. You can watch it here. For the draw, the teams were seeded into five pots according to the results from the previous year. The ranking of the country representative is relevant to the settings, although there is a different club representing the country this year. If the country did not take part in the last year, the results from the previous year were considered and so on.

MEN
Pot 1: Spencer LC (ENG), HTHC Hamburg (GER)
Pot 2: Zürich Lions (SUI), Oslo Saints (NOR)
Pot 3: Barcelona Dracs (ESP), Bologna Lacrosse (ITA)
Pot 4: Delft Barons (NED), Sundbyberg Lacrosse (SWE)
Pot 5: SK Lacrosse Jižní Město (CZE), Wrocław Panthers (POL)

Round-robin Groups
MEN
Group A
Spencer LC (ENG)
Oslo Saints (NOR) 
Bologna Lacrosse (ITA)
Delft Barons (NED)
Panthers Wrocław (POL)

Group B
HTHC Hamburg (GER) 
Zürich Lions (SUI)
Barcelona Dracs Lacrosse (ESP)
Sundbyberg Lacrosse (SWE)
SK Lacrosse Jižní Město (CZE)

Tournament system – women

Women's teams were seeded into the pots for the draw according to the same principle as the men's teams and in the draw following groups were created.

WOMEN
Pot 1: Rotterdam Jaguars (NED), LCC Girls (CZE)
Pot 2: Centaurs LC (ENG), Christiania Lacrosse (NOR)
Pot 3: Edinburgh University LC (SCO), Bern Titans (SUI)
Pot 4: Dublin Lacrosse (IRL), Schwarz-Weiß Köln (GER)
Pot 5: Poznań Hussars Ladies (POL), Bologna Lacrosse (ITA)+

Group A
Rotterdam Jaguars (NED)
Christiania Lacrosse (NOR)
Bern Titans (SUI)
Schwarz-Weiß Köln 1920 e.V. (GER)
Poznań Hussars Ladies (POL)

Group B
LCC Girls (CZE)
Centaurs Lacrosse Club (ENG)
Edinburgh University Women’s Lacrosse Club (SCO)
Dublin Lacrosse (IRL)
Bologna Lacrosse (ITA)

Unfortunately, the cancellation of the Dublin team was announced after the draw and the tournament system had to be adjusted to 9 teams.
All teams will play in one large group, where each team will play four games against various opponents. In the large group seeding, we have still considered the original groups according to the draw and the top two teams from Group A do not play the top two teams from Group B.
The top two teams from the basic group qualify directly to the tournament semi-finals. Teams in the 3rd to 6th place will play quarter-finals. Teams ranked in the 7th–9th place will match in Group Z for the final 7th to 9th place.