How lacrosse works, from the rule books to the governing bodies.

This section explains how lacrosse is organised and how its rules work, not how to play. Checking, shooting, cradling, facing off, defending and goalkeeping are learned in person from a qualified coach, and injuries are a matter for doctors. What these pages offer is the structure around the game: which bodies make the rules, what each rule book says, how the US college and school codes differ, and how people are brought into lacrosse.

Men's and women's lacrosse are different games with different rules, and these pages never merge them. Every rule is given with the body that wrote it, the rule book and its edition, and the rule number. Where sources disagree, each version is given with who says it, and anything that could not be confirmed is said to be unconfirmed. Equipment rules and standards are in the equipment section, safety in safety, and the vocabulary in the glossary.

Which rule books, which editions

Rule texts change, and each national body may vary World Lacrosse's rules and set its own start date. The current rule book of the competition, and the officials on the day, always have the final word.

The shortest possible version

• World Lacrosse governs four disciplines, each with its own rule book: men's field, women's field, box and sixes.
• Men's field is ten a side (Rule 19.1, 2025-2027) and restarts with a face-off; women's field allows up to ten a side (Rule 5.A.3, 2025-2026) and restarts with a draw. US college (NCAA) women's lacrosse is 12 a side, going by the wording of the NCAA's 2026 experimental rules (the NCAA rule book itself was not read).
• Box is the indoor game, six a side inside boards, with a 30-second shot clock (Rule 6.6.1, 2026-2028). Canada's National Sports of Canada Act of 1994 declares lacrosse the national summer sport.
• Sixes is six a side, on a 70 m by 36 m field at World Lacrosse events, with no body-checking (Rules 1.1.1 and 8.3.1, 2026-2028), and it is the form of lacrosse the IOC added to the Los Angeles 2028 Games in October 2023.
• World Lacrosse had 97 members (national governing bodies) after 15 April 2026, by its own count; no later addition was found by 23 October 2026.
• In the United States, the NCAA writes college rules, the NFHS high school rules (USA Lacrosse says it works with the NFHS on the girls' rules) and USA Lacrosse youth rules for 14U and below, each separately for the men's and women's games.

The pages in this section

1. What lacrosse is: the game as its rule books describe it.
2. The disciplines: men's field, women's field, box and sixes compared.
3. World Lacrosse: the merger, the rename, presidents and members.
4. The Olympic path: from 1904 to sixes at LA28.
5. National bodies: USA, Canada, England, Australia and the Haudenosaunee Nationals.
6. Men's field lacrosse: the 2025-2027 rules, rule by rule.
7. Women's field lacrosse: the 2025-2026 rules, rule by rule.
8. Box lacrosse: the indoor game and Lacrosse Canada's changes.
9. Sixes: the LA28 format and its W and M rules.
10. College and high school rules: the NCAA, the NFHS and USA Lacrosse.
11. Officials: crews, bench officials and certification.
12. Rule changes: what changed, by body and date.
13. How people learn: youth rule books and coach certification.
14. Wheelchair and adaptive lacrosse: formats, games and rules.
15. How many people play: each body's own figures, dated.

Match and championship results are not on these pages, and neither is the story of the game's Indigenous origins; both belong to the events and history sections of this site.