Top 10 Best Polo Players of All Time
Polo is one of those sports that combines athleticism, strategy, and sheer horsemanship like nothing else. Watching a great polo match can leave you in awe of the skill, speed, and precision that the best players bring to the field. The combination of a player's ability to read the game, control their horse with almost telepathic precision, and deliver those game-changing shots is what separates the legends from the rest.
Who do you think deserves to sit at the top of this list? Is it the players who have rewritten the playbook on strategy and skill, or those who have made the game more thrilling for everyone watching? Take a look at the names and vote for the ones you think have truly earned their spot among the greatest of all time.
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Adolfo Cambiaso
I saw him many years ago. I can still see him bouncing his ball on his stick three or four times in full gallop.
He's arguably the greatest of all time. This man has utterly changed the game of polo. At 40 years of age, he's still hungry for more trophies. On top of that, he's won everything he's played in his career, which ultimately clinched him the Olimpia de Oro award as the best Argentine sportsman of the year 2014, surpassing even Messi as well as other great Argentine athletes. Saludos Idolo!
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Carlos Gracida
Gracida is simply the best.
He is the only one to have ever won the Polo Grand Slam: UK, USA, and Argentine Opens the same year. And he did it thrice: in 1988, 1989, and 1994. Nobody else has achieved that, neither famous Cambiaso nor Facundo Pieres, whose game I like so much.
No one else has ever won as many tournaments around the world as Gracida has: 5 Argentine Opens, 10 UK Opens, 9 US Opens, not to mention numerous trophies in Australia, France, Mexico, etc. Nearly every major tournament in the game.
Five times awarded player of the year, Gracida is also the only foreigner to have won the Argentine Triple Crown: Argentine Polo Open, Hurlingham Polo Open, and Tortugas Open, as well as the only foreigner to have been awarded the Olimpia de Plata, recognizing the best sportsman of the year in Argentina.
Most likely beloved everywhere for his talent and personality, coach to the English princes, the English queen's favorite. According to several websites, Prince William said about him when introducing Gracida to his future wife, Kate Middleton: This person is the best polo player ever. He is a legend. He is the best. My father thinks the same.
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Facundo Pieres
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David Stirling
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Guillermo Gracida
All players have a special thing of their own, and for "Memo" Gracida, it was the joking appearance and amusing character, as well as his ability and style with a polo mallet.
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Facundo Sola
Many people may say that he is not supposed to be here, but none of those people have actually seen him play 50 yards away. It was mostly his off-polo field enthusiasm for next matches and smiling appearance, and of course his 8-goal handicap, that got him here.
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Juan Zubiaurre
All upcoming talents are impressive, especially the one of eighteen-year-old Juan Zubiaurre. With his 4-goal handicap at such a young age, he is a big promise for the future.
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Mike Azzaro
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Luke Tomlinson
The Tomlinson brothers had a great talent for polo and I surely have more to write about them. Since I have other polo players to discuss, I have not got space for Clair Tomlinson or Marc Tomlinson.
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Pelayo Berazadi
Again, the same dispute as for Juan Zubiaurre and Facundo Sola gets them into this list. Their team with Corinne Ricard, Murus Sanctus, was nearly invincible from 2011 to now.
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Alberto Pedro Heguy
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Cecil Smith
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Bautista Heguy
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Nacho Figueras
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Corinne Ricard
She has to be classed as one of the best female polo players of all time.
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Juan Martín Nero
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Johnny Traill
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Juan Miles
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Gonzalo Heguy
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Mariano Aguerre
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Marcos Heguy
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Nicolás Roldán
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Gonzalo Pieres Sr.
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Juan Carlos Harriott