The World Lacrosse Championships are underway in Limerick with live TV coverage on ESPN

THE Men’s U21 World Lacrosse Championships are underway in Limerick for the next 10 days.

The event in UL is the the largest junior-level world championship staged to date by World Lacrosse.

Ireland Lacrosse will host the tournament, featuring a record 23 teams and more than 500 athletes competing in 86 games.

Eight teams will be making their debut in the event: Jamaica, Kenya, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Puerto Rico, Sweden and Uganda. Meanwhile, eight teams will be making at least their fifth appearance in the competition: Australia, Canada, England, Germany, the Haudenosaunee, Japan, Korea and the United States.

Fixture information here

All 86 games in Limerick will be broadcast globally with 22 games distributed by ESPN and the remaining 64 games will be offered globally by Lax Sports Network. 

The 23 teams are split into five pools – three groups of five and two groups of four. Pool A features the top ranked teams: USA, Canada, Haudenosaunee, Australia and England.  

Pool play will continue through Monday, August 15 and will determine seeding for the playoff brackets. The top three teams from Pools B and C and the best fourth-place finisher from those pools will join the five teams from Pool A in a 12-team championship bracket.   

Meanwhile, Pools D and E are aimed at providing developmental and championship-level experience to 10 teams that do not meet the age rules for full participation. After pool play, those teams will compete in the platinum bracket to determine 13th through 23rd place, alongside the three lowest ranking teams from Pools B and C.  

Bracket play begins on Tuesday, August 16, building up to the semifinals on Thursday, August 18 and the medal games on Saturday, August 20, with the championship match set for 7 pm local time.  

The United States will be looking to maintain its claim on the world title.