2013 Polo World Cup

Overview

The 2013 Polo World Cup was the inaugural Arena Polo World Cup, a three-day polo tournament held in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 6–8 September 2013 under the slogan “Bringing Polo Home”. Four teams competed at the new Outdoor Polo Arena at the Elite Equestrian Centre in Baku, and the European team Baltika won the title, taking a 100,000-euro prize from a total prize fund of 250,000 euros (AzerNews; AzerNews).

The tournament was presented by the Azerbaijani food company Milla jointly with World Polo GmbH and local partners, and drew more than 10,000 spectators across its three days (AzerNews). AzerNews described it as Azerbaijan’s first-ever polo competition: the modern version of the sport had not yet gained a foothold in the country, even though chovgan, described as the original form of polo, was still played there (AzerNews). A second Polo World Cup followed in Azerbaijan in 2014, with Argentina first, the European Union second and Azerbaijan third (AzerNews).

Bringing Polo Home to Baku

The Arena Polo World Cup was staged as an explicit homecoming: polo returning to a land where its ancestor game had been played for thousands of years (AzerNews). The four competing teams were Great Britain’s Bentley, the USA’s Mont Blanc, the Argentinean Chopard and the European Baltika, and the tournament’s slogan was “Bringing Polo Home” (AzerNews). The venue was the new Outdoor Polo Arena at the Elite Equestrian Centre in Baku, built for the occasion as a showcase for what organisers called royal equestrian sport (AzerNews). To present the event at a high level, the organisers added expanded entertainment programmes and parties featuring international celebrities around the matches (AzerNews). The framing was self-consciously historical: only a few people knew of the connection between chovgan and polo, AzerNews wrote, and the tournament was a reminder of the roots of the original polo sport in Azerbaijan (AzerNews).

The tournament

The three-day tournament closed in Baku on 8 September 2013, with the European team Baltika celebrating victory and collecting the winner’s prize of 100,000 euros from a total prize fund of 250,000 euros (AzerNews). More than 10,000 spectators attended across the three days, and AzerNews called the event a fantastic “back to the roots” for polo in Azerbaijan and a huge success, with high-level polo and fabulous players (AzerNews). The presentation mixed sport with spectacle: the Azerbaijani food company Milla presented the tournament together with World Polo GmbH and local partners, and the programme wrapped the matches in entertainment and celebrity parties (AzerNews). The tournament’s competitive record beyond the final result is thin in the surviving coverage: the sources read for this profile name the winner and the prize but do not give match-by-match scores, so no fuller results table is constructed here.

Chovgan roots and a second edition

The tournament’s signature set piece was a friendly game between the Azerbaijani team Chovgan and one of the competing teams, staged to reflect upon the roots of polo in Azerbaijan (AzerNews). UNESCO describes Chovqan as a traditional horse-riding game played by two teams mounted on Karabakh horses, using wooden mallets to drive a small ball into the opponents’ goal, interspersed with folk music called janghi (UNESCO). AzerNews presents chovgan as the original form of polo, dating back thousands of years and still played in Azerbaijan, while the modern version of the sport had not yet managed to gain a foothold in the country (AzerNews). Azerbaijan also joined the Federation of International Polo (FIP) in 2013, and a second Polo World Cup followed in 2014, with Argentina first, the European Union second and the host country third (AzerNews).

Team (as billed in 2013)	Described as	Result
Baltika	European team	Winner — 100,000 euros
Bentley	Great Britain	Competed
Mont Blanc	USA	Competed
Chopard	Argentina	Competed

Source: AzerNews; winner and prize from AzerNews. Placings below first are not given in the sources.

Frequently asked questions

What was the 2013 Polo World Cup? It was the inaugural Arena Polo World Cup, a three-day polo tournament held in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 6–8 September 2013 under the slogan “Bringing Polo Home”. Four teams competed at the Elite Equestrian Centre, and the European team Baltika won the title and a 100,000-euro prize.

Where was the tournament played? At the new Outdoor Polo Arena at the Elite Equestrian Centre in Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital. The venue hosted the three-day tournament plus a friendly game between the Azerbaijani Chovgan team and one of the competing teams, staged to reflect polo’s roots in Azerbaijan.

Who won the 2013 Polo World Cup? The European team Baltika won, taking 100,000 euros from a total prize fund of 250,000 euros. The other competing teams were Great Britain’s Bentley, the USA’s Mont Blanc and the Argentinean Chopard. Match-by-match scores are not given in the sources read for this profile.

Did the Polo World Cup happen again after 2013? Yes — a second Polo World Cup was held in Azerbaijan in 2014, where Argentina took first place, the European Union second, and Azerbaijan third. Later editions beyond 2014 were not verified from sources read in full for this profile and are not asserted here.

What this profile does not claim

• It does not present a general history of a “Polo World Cup” tournament: the sourcing supports this 2013 Baku edition (and a 2014 sequel) specifically, so the profile is scoped to the edition.
• It does not give match-by-match results: the sources read name the winner and the prize but not the individual match scores.
• It does not resolve the team-naming difference between reports (sponsor names versus country names); it follows the pre-tournament roster.
• It does not assert that the Arena Polo World Cup continued beyond the verified 2014 second edition.
• It does not claim that chovgan is the proven historical ancestor of polo as settled historiography; it reports AzerNews’ and UNESCO’s framing of the relationship.