World Polo ChampionshipCurrent season, competition or edition: 2022 World Polo ChampionshipSportPoloFounded1987No. of teams8 (Finals)ContinentInternational (FIP)Most recentchampion Spain (1st title)Most titles Argentina (5 titles)
The World Polo Championship is an international polo competition between countries. The event is organised by the sport’s governing body, the Federation of International Polo (FIP), and is contested by the national teams. There is no restriction on the gender of the players. The inaugural tournament was held in 1987, hosted by Argentina, and is now contested every three or four years.
In the early 1980s, motivated by a desire to broaden the scope of international polo, as well as to restore the sport’s Olympic status, Marcos Uranga, then President of the Argentine Polo Association, proposed that an international organization be formed among the polo-playing countries of the world. The initial meetings took place in Buenos Aires, and by April 1982, the Federation of International Polo, quickly known as “FIP,” was created. FIP’s first President was Marcos Uranga.
Mr. Uranga spearheaded the movement for a World Championship and scheduled the first for April 1987 in the Campo Argentino de Polo in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Aware of the relative difficulty of fielding high-goal teams worldwide, the early FIP organizers wisely decided to limit competition to teams rated 10 to 14 goals. In an attempt to nullify the factor of the horses, they devised the then-revolutionary idea of split strings of horses – assigning matched strings of 28 horses to each team by the luck of the draw.
In 1989, the second FIP World Championship was played in Berlin, at Maifeld, the very stadium that had been the site of polo’s last appearance in the Olympic Games. The sport had come full-circle, and it underlined the growing influence of FIP in the world polo community. Argentina, Australia, Chile, England, France, Germany, Switzerland and the United States competed in the tournament’s second edition.[1] A talented USA team beat England 7-6 in the final.[1] The USA team players were: Horton Schwartz, Julio Arellano, Charley Bostwick and John Wigdahl who scored the winning goal in the sixth chukker. The resulting publicity raised the visibility of the FIP among U.S. polo players.
The FIP World Championship III was held in Santiago, Chile in 1992.[2] Argentina outscored the host country 12-7 in the final securing their second World Championship. England beat the US for bronze.[2]
Starting in 1993 Michael Schultz-Tholen, then the FIP delegate to the International Olympic Committee, arranged numerous meetings with IOC representatives including the President of the International Olympic Committee Mr. Juan Antonio Samaranch. Finally at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, the General Assembly of the International Olympic Committee granted the status of an IOC Recognized Sport and accepted the Federation of International Polo as the worldwide governing body for the sport of polo. This decision was confirmed (“outright recognition”) two years later.
In 1995, the fourth World Championship was held in Saint Moritz, Switzerland.[3] Brazil fought its way gamely through the early rounds and met Argentina in the final where they pulled off an exciting 11-10 victory to assume the mantle of World Polo Champions.[3]
In 1998, the fifth World Championship was held at the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club in Santa Barbara, California.[4] Mr. James Easton, a member of the International Olympic Committee, presented Argentina, the winning team, with a history-making Olympic trophy. This was the first time in 62 years that the winning team of an international polo tournament was so honored.
The FIP World Championship VI held in Melbourne, Australia in 2001 featured eight national teams that qualified through a demanding and highly competitive zone playoff system, which included 24 international teams. Brazil narrowly defeated Australia by one goal (Brazil 10, Australia 9) in the final.[5]
In 2004, the Sixth World Championship was held in Chantilly, France. The tournament included eight teams. 28 countries competed in the qualifying rounds. All of the games were competitive. Brazil defeated England in the final (10-9) in sudden death.[6]
The eighth edition of the World Polo Championship took place in Mexico during May 2008 and was won by Chile.[7]
The ninth edition of the World Polo Championship took place in San Luis Province, Argentina during October 2011.[8] Argentina defeated Brazil in the final and Italy took the third place after defeating England.[8] It was the first time in World Polo Championship that Italy achieved a podium finish.
The tenth edition of the World Polo Championship took place in Santiago, Chile during March and April 2015. The hosts won beating the United States 12-11 in overtime in the final.[9]
In the 2017 World Polo Championship Argentina beat Chile in the final securing their fifth title.[10]
In the twelfth edition of the Championship, Spain clinched an 11-10 win in overtime against the US for their first ever title.[11]
# Year Host Champion 2nd 3rd Ref. 1 1987 Buenos Aires, Argentina Argentina Mexico Brazil [12] 2 1989 Berlin, Germany United States England Argentina [1] 3 1992 Santiago, Chile Argentina Chile England [2] 4 1995 St. Moritz, Switzerland Brazil Argentina Mexico [3] 5 1998 Santa Barbara, United States Argentina Brazil England [4] 6 2001 Melbourne, Australia Brazil Australia Argentina [5] 7 2004 Chantilly, France Brazil England Chile [6][13] 8 2008 Mexico City, Mexico Chile Brazil Mexico [7] 9 2011 San Luis Province, Argentina Argentina Brazil Italy [8] 10 2015 Santiago, Chile Chile United States Brazil [9] 11 2017 Sydney, Australia Argentina Chile England [10][14] 12 2022 Wellington, United States Spain United States Uruguay [11][15] 13 2026 Dubai, United Arab Emirates # Year Host Champion 2nd 3rd Ref. 1 2022 Campo Argentino de Polo, Buenos Aires Argentina Argentina United States England [16] RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal1 Argentina51282 Brazil33283 Chile22154 United States12035 Spain10016 England02357 Mexico01238 Australia01019 Italy0011 Uruguay0011Totals (10 entries)12121236 RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal1 Argentina10012 United States01013 England0011Totals (3 entries)1113 Pos. Team Champion Runners-up Third Fourth 1st Argentina 5 (1987, 1992, 1998, 2011, 2017) 1 (1995) 2 (1989, 2001) 1 (2022) 2nd Brazil 3 (1995, 2001, 2004) 3 (1998, 2008, 2011) 2 (1987, 2015) – 3rd Chile 2 (2008, 2015) 2 (1992, 2017) 1 (2004) 1 (1989) 4th United States 1 (1989) 2 (2015, 2022) – 3 (1992, 1998, 2017) 5th Spain 1 (2022) – – 2 (1987, 2008) 6th England – 2 (1989, 2004) 3 (1992, 1998, 2017) 4 (1995, 2001, 2011, 2015) 7th Mexico – 1 (1987) 2 (1995, 2008) – 8th Australia – 1 (2001) – – 9th Italy – – 1 (2011) – 10th Uruguay – – 1 (2022) – 11th France – – – 1 (2004) Country 1987 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2008 2011 2015 2017 2022 Argentina 1st 3rd 1st 2nd 1st 3rd P. round – 1st P. round 1st 4th Australia 5th P. round – – P. round 2nd 1st round – P. round – P. round P. round Brazil 3rd – – 1st 2nd 1st 1st 2nd 2nd 3rd – – Canada – – – – – P. round – P. round – – – – Chile – 4th 2nd – – – 3rd 1st P. round 1st 2nd – England – 2nd 3rd 4th 3rd 4th 2nd P. round 4th 4th 3rd – France – P. round – – – – 4th – – – – – Germany – P. round – – – – – – – – – – Guatemala – – P. round – P. round – – – – – – – India – – – P. round – P. round – – P. round – P. round – Italy – – – – – P. round – – 3rd – – P. round Mexico 2nd – P. round 3rd – – 1st round 3rd P. round – – P. round New Zealand – – – – – – – P. round – – P. round – Pakistan – – – – – – P. round – P. round P. round – P. round South Africa – – – – – – – P. round – – – – Spain 4th – – – – – – 4th – – P. round 1st Switzerland – P. round – P. round – – – – – – – – United States – 1st 4th – 4th P. round P. round – P. round 2nd 4th 2nd Uruguay – – – – – – – – – – – 3rd
- 2023, France
- 2025, United States
- Federation of International Polo
- Polo handicap
- Polo at the Summer Olympics
- Polo at the Pan American Games
- Polo at the 2007 Southeast Asian Games
- Polo at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games
- Polo at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games
- PIPA Snow Polo World Cup Tour
- PIPA Beach Polo World Series
- 10th FIP World Polo Championship Chile 2015 Archived 2014-12-24 at the Wayback Machine
- FIP Awards the FIP World Championship VIII – 2007 To Mexico Archived 2012-01-25 at the Wayback Machine
