World Lacrosse Adds 4 New Nations, Reaches 90 Members

World Lacrosse the addition of four new members on Thursday, all from Africa — Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

World Lacrosse’s global membership is now 90 national governing bodies. World Lacrosse membership has added 11 new members in 2023 — its most-ever growth in a calendar year — and 17 new members in the last two years.

With the additions of Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe, there are now 15 federations in the Africa Association of Lacrosse (AAL).

“We remain committed to the development of lacrosse in Africa across a diverse Continental Federation, and we are thrilled for these new members to pick up and enjoy the game,” World Lacrosse CEO Jim Scherr said in a release.

From the release:

The AAL has seen a banner year for growth, with the addition of these four new federations following a successful Wildfire Festival hosted by Ghana Lacrosse in August, the inclusion of Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and Togo in March, and Uganda’s journey to the 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship in June after advancing out of the first ever AAL Qualifier in late 2022. The Kenyan women also competed at the 2023 Super Sixes in Canada. 

In the past decade, World Lacrosse has doubled its membership.

“I am pleased to welcome four new members from the south of Africa to our strong lacrosse family,” World Lacrosse manager of sport in Africa Rufus Ntiamoah said. “We have added nine nations to our membership this year and now have considerable hotbeds of development in three distinct regions of Africa: west, east and south. We will continue our growth altogether as well as through these regions behind the ongoing work of the AAL.”