Best Polo Teams in the World: Top Squads Ranked

Walk into the clubhouse at Palermo during the Argentine Open and you’ll hear the same two names traded back and forth: La Dolfina and Ellerstina. Between them, these two Argentine outfits have owned the sport’s biggest tournament for the better part of two decades, and the gap to everyone else outside the country remains wide.

Why Argentina Dominates World Polo

Argentina became the spiritual home of competitive polo through a combination that’s hard to replicate: open pampas for grazing and training horses, a gaucho tradition that produced generations of natural riders, and a domestic polo infrastructure most countries never built. The Argentine Open, held every year in Palermo, Buenos Aires, is the sport’s most prestigious tournament, and Argentine teams have controlled it for decades.

The Top Polo Teams in the World

These teams sit at the top of high-goal polo based on tournament results, player handicaps, and overall standing in the sport.

Team	Country	Key Players	Notable Achievements
La Dolfina	Argentina	Adolfo Cambiaso	Multiple Argentine Open titles
Ellerstina	Argentina	Gonzalito Pieres	Consistent Argentine Open finalists
Valiente	USA	Bob Jornayvaz	Leading North American high-goal team
King Power Foxes	UK	Sponsored international squad	Strong performers at Gold Cup
Dubai Polo Team	UAE	International lineup	Winners of major European tournaments
Park Place	USA	Andrey Borodin	US Open Polo Championship contender

La Dolfina: The Benchmark of Excellence

La Dolfina is built around Adolfo Cambiaso, a player many call the best the sport has produced. The team’s run of Argentine Open titles has set the standard for what a modern high-goal team looks like, and Cambiaso’s tactical reading of the game, horsemanship, and hitting have made La Dolfina close to unbeatable when the team is at full strength.

Ellerstina: The Perennial Challengers

Ellerstina, built around the Pieres family, is La Dolfina’s most consistent rival. The team has reached the Argentine Open final repeatedly and also performs well in European tournaments. Brothers Gonzalito and Facundo Pieres rank among the sport’s most decorated players outside Cambiaso’s own circle.

Strong Teams Beyond Argentina

Argentina leads, but a few teams from other countries compete at the same level:

• Valiente (USA): One of the strongest American teams, regularly competing at 26-goal level during the Florida winter season.
• King Power Foxes (UK): A fixture of the British high-goal calendar, including the Queen’s Cup and Gold Cup at Cowdray Park.
• Dubai Polo Team (UAE): Has picked up prestigious tournaments in Spain and England, a real mark on the European circuit.

How Teams Are Ranked

Polo doesn’t have a single global ranking table the way football or tennis does. Prestige comes from performance at a handful of marquee events: the Argentine Open at Palermo, the US Open Polo Championship, the British Gold Cup, and the Dubai Gold Cup. Teams that win or reach finals at these events are the ones the sport considers its best.

Player handicaps, assigned on a scale from minus 2 to 10 goals, work as a rough proxy for team strength too. The highest-rated players in the world are overwhelmingly Argentine, which is itself part of why the country’s teams keep winning.