Founded in 2011, the Israel Lacrosse Association has achieved rapid growth and instant success. There are eight programs around the country with more than 5,000 youth players engaged in the sport, and Israel has already posted four Top 10 finishes in Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) competitions.

Now the organization takes on its biggest initiative yet. Israel will host the FIL Men’s World Championship in July 2018. With as many as 50 countries expected, it will be the largest international lacrosse event in history.

“We never thought we’d have this in our sixth year as an organization,” said Scott Neiss, chairman of the Israel Lacrosse Association, during a conference call with media members on Tuesday. “It’s going to be a lightning rod for us in our development.”

Adding to the challenge is the diminished preparation time for Israel. The 2018 event was awarded to Manchester, England, back in 2013, but in late April, the FIL announced that English Lacrosse withdrew its host bid due to financial concerns. The FIL announced via Twitter that Israel was selected as the replacement host, and Israel formally announced its selection at a press conference this morning.

The growing size of the event has made it a difficult financial puzzle for host nations. The FIL expects roughly 50 countries to participate next summer, up from 38 when US Lacrosse hosted the event in 2014 in Denver. Neiss said he thinks this will be the last open world championship with the FIL discussing qualifying models for future events, but Israel is confident it can pull off a “break-even, first-class event.”

“We did a lot of research during the bid process, and since [the announcement] came out, we’ve been signing contracts and finalizing these arrangements,” Neiss said.

The event will be held in Netanya, a popular tourist destination on the Mediterranean that is located 30 minutes outside of Tel Aviv. With more than 200,000 residents, Netanya is Israel’s seventh-largest city.

Netanya Stadium, a 13,610-seat stadium that opened in 2012, will be used for the opening ceremonies and medal games, while fields at Wingate Institute will be used for the remainder of the games.

Neiss addressed security concerns during the call, and said that security measures will be one of the largest budget items for the event.

“I don’t think there’s much we can do to change perception,” Neiss said. “But this is one of the safest places on the planet. We’ll work so the players, coaches and their supporters can feel safe and focus on the games.”

PHOTO BY SCOTT MCCALL

The opportunity to showcase the country and add fuel to lacrosse development efforts is what led Israel to submit its bid. Israel finished seventh at the FIL Men’s World Championship in 2014, and a team of primarily Israeli-born players finished sixth at the FIL Men’s U19 World Championship last summer in Canada. Neiss expects 10-12 games from the event to be televised nationally in Israel.

“People know how historic this is for our country,” Neiss said. “We’ve never had an event this big that is the highest level of a sport. People in the sports world understand how big this is. It’s going to help us out tremendously. We want to use this championship to jolt our development locally.”