SEOGWIPO, JEJU, Korea — The road to San Diego 2023 continues this week as the 2022 Asia Pacific Lacrosse Union Men’s World Qualifier, hosted by the Korea Lacrosse Association, kicks off on Tuesday at the Jeju Gongcheonpo Training Center, running through Saturday, October 8. 

Six countries – Korea; China; Hong Kong, China; Chinese Taipei; New Zealand and the Philippines – will be competing to earn the four spots up for grabs in next year’s world championship.

Twenty-five spots in San Diego have been secured already, including berths for APLU teams Australia and Japan, who are automatic qualifiers after finishing fourth and sixth at the last men’s world championship in 2018. 

All six teams in the qualifier competed in the 2018 World Championship in Israel, which featured 44 total teams. The Philippines claimed the highest finish in 10th place, followed by New Zealand (21); Hong Kong, China (27); Korea (35); Chinese Taipei (41) and China (42).  

The Philippines only missed automatic qualification due to not being a Full Member of World Lacrosse during the 2018 Men’s Championship when Associate Members were still permitted to compete at senior-level world championship events. 

APLU President Mike Slattery said: "The APLU is excited to welcome teams and fans to beautiful Seogwipo on Jeju Island, Korea for the APLU Men’s Qualifier event. These five days of competition will be the culmination of countless hours of preparation for teams hoping to compete in the 2023 World Championship and we wish them the best of luck. We thank the Korea Lacrosse Association staff and volunteers who have worked tirelessly to ensure participants have access to excellent accommodation and competition facilities.” 

The six teams will compete in a round robin, playing five games each across five days, with three games total scheduled for each day of competition.  

All 15 games of the qualifier will be streamed for free by Korea Lacrosse on YouTube here. 

Results and standings will be updated throughout the competition here. Fans can follow World Lacrosse accounts on social media for qualification updates and the qualifier account here for more content. 

After the APLU qualifier, just one spot will remain in the 2023 Men’s World Championship for a team from Africa in a to-be-announced qualifier. The previous world championship rankings determined the number of allocation spots awarded to each Continental Federation. 

The full schedule can be found here.