2027 IIJL Commonwealth Cup Returns to Melbourne February 18-21

The IIJL Commonwealth Cup (COMCUP) will return to Melbourne, Australia in 2027, with the Canadian Lacrosse League (CLL) and Australian Box Lacrosse (ABL) announcing February 18–21 as the dates for the fifth consecutive edition of the COMCUP. 

The four-day event will once again be hosted by Victoria Box Lacrosse at Altona Lacrosse Club in Altona, Victoria, home of the Alan Lewer Box Court; the only dedicated box lacrosse facility in the Southern Hemisphere. 

For Canadian players, COMCUP offers something increasingly difficult to find in a crowded tournament calendar: a genuinely different lacrosse experience.

Players aren't travelling across the country to see the same opponents they have played against for years. They're travelling across the world to represent Canada, compete against players from another lacrosse culture and experience the game in an environment unlike anything available to them at home. 

Conceptually, that's been the idea behind COMCUP from the beginning. 

[PHOTO: Group play action from the 2024 IIJL Commonwealth Cup, Canada vs Melbourne Storm.]

“When we first went to Australia, the goal wasn't to create another tournament,” said CLL President and CEO Chris Fox. “We wanted to create an opportunity that players couldn't get anywhere else. You can play a lot of lacrosse without ever leaving your own lacrosse circle. This gets players outside of that. You're representing Canada, you're playing against athletes you've never seen before, and you're doing it on the other side of the world.” 

The competition has continued to grow modestly and improve with each edition. 

What began as a Canada-Australia event has developed alongside the growth of the box game in the region, with Australian players coming from Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth and New Zealand joining the competition in 2026.

The 2026 Commonwealth Cup produced the closest championship game in event history and another step forward for an Australian program that has steadily narrowed the gap against its Canadian opposition. 

Australian progression, and now New Zealand,  is an important part of why the COMCUP exists.

FOUR YEARS OF GROWTH 

The Commonwealth Cup has never been intended to exist in isolation. 

Over the past four years, CLL and ABL have used the event as a platform to leave more behind in Australia than a final score.

In 2026, ABL introduced the Next Gen Series, bringing 16U players into the event and creating an opportunity for younger Australian athletes to experience box lacrosse alongside the international competition. 

The week also included a box lacrosse coaching clinic, along with shared practices and development opportunities involving Canadian and Australian players, coaches and goaltenders. 

Those additions will continue to be part of the long-term vision for COMCUP. 

[PHOTO: Day 2 of the 2026 COMCUP featuring Next Gen Series action, Australian youth players getting their first experience of box lacrosse.]

[PHOTO: Foreground collection of Australian box lacrosse championship trophies, background Marty O'Neill leading an IIJL box lacrosse coaching clinic.]

For CLL and ABL, growing international box lacrosse means more than staging games. It means developing players, teaching coaches, creating competition and building infrastructure that allows the game to continue after an international team goes home. 

The two organizations have spent the past four years doing exactly that in Australia. 

“We've watched the level of play improve every year,” said Fox. “But what I'm probably most proud of is everything happening around the games now. There are younger players picking up the box game, coaches learning it, players from different parts of Australia coming together and now New Zealand becoming involved. That's how you actually grow something.” 

The relationship between CLL and ABL has also become part of a larger effort to create meaningful international opportunities outside of box lacrosse's traditional North American base. 

Rather than simply exporting a Canadian tournament model, the objective has been to work with local lacrosse leaders to build something sustainable in their own communities. 

COMCUP has become the annual meeting point for that work.

LACROSSE IS ONLY PART OF THE TRIP 

Ask players who have made the trip to Australia with CLL what they remember most, lacrosse will only part of the answer — and that's intentional. 

The Commonwealth Cup takes place during the Australian summer, with Altona Lacrosse Club located near the shores of Port Phillip Bay and Melbourne a short trip away. 

[PHOTO: Day trip to Brighton Beach and the world famous beach bath houses.]

[PHOTO: Champions of the 2025 CLL Beach Lacrosse Australia.]

The IIJL Commonwealth Cup takes place during the Australian summer, with Altona Lacrosse Club located near the shores of Port Phillip Bay and Melbourne a short trip away. 

There is time at the beach. Time in Melbourne. Australian food, wildlife, neighbourhoods and sporting culture. There are team outings, sightseeing and the simple experience of spending a week on the other side of the world with a group of people who started the trip as teammates. 

For many players, it will be their first time in Australia. For some, it will be their first international trip without their family. 

Those experiences matter. 

A junior lacrosse career goes quickly. There will always be another practice, another game and another tournament. There aren't many opportunities to play box lacrosse in Australia.

[PHOTO: The 2026 roster at an Australian Rules Football game.]

[PHOTO: The view from team seats catching a National Basketball League (Australia) game in 2025.]

[PHOTO: The view from teams seats at an Australian Rules Football game at Marvel Stadium in 2023.]

2027 IIJL COMMONWEALTH CUP

With the dates now set, planning is underway for the Canadian delegation that will travel to Melbourne in February. 

The CLL will announce details surrounding the 2027 Canada Development Team, player applications, coaching staff, travel and additional COMCUP programming in the coming months. 

Returning members of the CLL international program will receive priority consideration, with opportunities also available for new players interested in joining the program. 

The 2027 event will mark the fifth Commonwealth Cup and another year in a partnership between the Canadian Lacrosse League, Australian Box Lacrosse and Altona Lacrosse Club that has helped establish a consistent international box lacrosse presence in Australia. 

For the players who make the trip, however, the opportunity is considerably simpler. 

Play for Canada. Play someone new. See Australia. 

February 18–21, 2027 Altona Lacrosse Club Altona, Victoria, Australia Additional information regarding Team Canada applications, travel and the 2027 event schedule will be announced at a later date..

"Working with Australian Box Lacrosse and the gentlemen at Altona Lacrosse Club to establish and announce dates for the 2027 COMCUP to early provides with ample runway to prepare, add to the event, and ultimately empower us to put more focus on domestic growth and development" added Fox.

[PHOTO: View of the Melbourne city skyline from the team hotel across from Hobsons Bay]

[PHOTO: Last but not least, a kangaroo sighting during team tour of the Great Ocean Road.]

Players interested in playing box lacrosse in Australia and a once in a lifetime trip are encouraged to complete a Prospect Form (click).

ABOUT IIJL COMMONWEALTH CUP
The IIJL Commonwealth Cup is a joint partnership between the Canadian Lacrosse League (CLL) and Australian Box Lacrosse (ABL). The competition itself is designed to facilitate the growth of box lacrosse in Australia, by bringing would class competition to Australia, while showing Canadian players, coaches, and staff the beautiful country and culture of Australia.