In the world of equestrian sports, the Nations Cup is the flagship team event of a season and a federation for the Olympic disciplines (show jumping, dressage and eventing). The Nations Cup is the only team class in of this mainly individual sport with of course the European, World and Olympic Team Championships. Each year, a national federation can organize only one Nations’ Cup per country.
This concept, which is highly publicized, did not yet exist in polo, even though it is a team sport par excellence! The prospect of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games has inspired the French Polo Federation (FFP) and the Chantilly Polo Club: the Polo Nations Cup will be held in June 2023 (from 8 to 18). It will oppose, at a 12-goal level, teams representing a nation and a region or a state selected by their federation with a maximum of two foreign players per team.
In 2024, this Polo Nations Cup will be part of the events held outside the official program organized in the wake of the Paris Olympic Games.
Polo has always been part of the Olympic family and the FIP is a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Polo has been an official discipline of the Olympic Games five times. First played at the 1900 Summer Olympics, it was dropped from the program after the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. It was an Anglo-American team that won the first gold medal in 1900, then Great Britain twice (1908 and 1920) before Argentina took over (1924 and 1936).
The Polo Nations Cup will perhaps allow a gradual return to this beautiful era of polo at the Olympic Games, but above all to attract the public around the fields to continue to develop polo in France!
More infos :
Pascal Renauldon – +33 6 08 75 94 07 – p.renauldon@rbpresse.com
Justine Jacquemot – +33 6 77 74 52 94 – justine@chantillypoloclub.com
About the Federation of French Polo (FFP)
The Federation of French Polo is the governing body of polo in France. Created in 2006, its main objective is to make polo accessible to all, to promote the sport throughout France and to support by all means the common interests of its affiliated clubs.
About the Polo Club du Domaine de Chantilly
In 1995, a group of friends created the Polo Club du Domaine de Chantilly in the village of Apremont. The grounds and grasslands were previously used for polo, having been chosen by Baron Robert de Rothschild in 1920. In 2004, the club took up the challenge of organising the Polo World Championship. All the games took place on the club’s nine fields. A relaxed, cavalier spirit continues to flourish in this countryside near Paris. The standard of polo continues to improve, with the world’s greatest players coming here regularly, attracted by the various tournaments. The development of polo in France and the Chantilly Polo Club is a shared history!
Video © Justine Jacquemot:
