XIV. FIP Polo European Championship 2023 at the Polo Club Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf, 11. September 2023 – In a breathtaking final and in mediterranean
temperatures, Spain became the new European Polo Champion yesterday. In the final
the Spanish team faced the polo team from Azerbaijan and showed a superior
performance with a 9:6 victory.
The reigning world champions Spain are now also European champions. Team Spain, with
Joaquin Castellvi, Manuel Lopez, Luis Domecq and the outstanding Mario Gomez, who was
later awarded “Most Valuable Player” of the tournament, left no doubt from the start that they
wanted to bring home the victory. While the Azeris had won all their games in the group
matches of the preliminary round and also defeated the later final opponent Spain, Tarlan
Gurbanaliyev, Elchin Jamalli, Joaquin Copello and Andres Fernandez Llorente were unable
to find an answer to the Spaniards’ outstanding playing strength on Sunday.
The match for third place, in which Team Germany with brothers Paul, Anton and Emil
Grabosch with Ken Kawamoto faced Austria, also released enthusiastic emotions not only
among the players but also among the Düsseldorf audience. Greatest jubilation when the
young German team, which had only narrowly missed the entry into the final, could finally
secure the bronze medal with a score of 7:5.5. After exciting matches in this strong
international field of participants, the teams Italy (5th place), England (6th place), the
Netherlands (7th place) and Switzerland (8th place) finished in the other places.
Tournament organizer Otto Blank: “We are overjoyed and proud to be able to conclude this
XIV FIP European Polo Championship here at the Polo Club Düsseldorf so successfully.
Spain played overwhelmingly well today and we congratulate the new European
Champions.” Blank, who since 2018 has expanded the Polo Club Düsseldorf, which has
existed since the 1970s, into one of the most beautiful polo facilities in Germany through
extensive renovation work, now offers polo a unique platform in the north of the state capital.
Highest recognition for him that he had been commissioned by the polo world federation FIP
to host a European Championship.
In addition to the world federation FIP, whose representative Alex Taylor was on site in
Düsseldorf as tournament director during the entire European Championship, the German
Polo Association (DPV) is also co-host of the European Championship in Düsseldorf. DPV
President Oliver Winter: “We look back on 120 years of polo history in Germany, in which the
Polo Club Düsseldorf has played a leading role for over 44 years. We are all the more
delighted that Germany has now been entrusted with hosting a European Championship
here for the third time. We are thrilled about this fantastically beautiful facility with its Polo
Academy, which offers the best training opportunities for the German sport of polo and
especially for the young generation of players. A sensational achievement by Otto Blank, his
family and his team.”
Over 200 horses, players from eight nations and hundreds of spectators on the final
weekend turned the Polo Club Düsseldorf into a European polo hotspot in midsummer
temperatures. All team jerseys were again provided by the global, sports-inspired brand U.S.
Polo Assn. as the official apparel partner of the FIP and the European Polo Championships.