Adolfo Cambiaso wants to conquer a new world for polo and lands with La Dolfina in Saudi Arabia

That Argentina is the greatest polo power in the world is no secret. AND Adolfo Cambiaso AND La Dolfina They are synonymous with history and success in that sport too. That is why it is not surprising that the best player in the world has expanded his brand, that of the team that has won the prestigious title fifteen times Palermo open, Worldwide. The last destination where the leader of the Cañuelas group landed Saudi Arabia.

Cambiaso, together with his children Bean AND Myhis colleagues from La Dolfina, Juan Martin Nero AND David Stirling and other important Argentine polo players, participated in the third edition of the Polo Richard Mille AlUla Desertthe only tournament of this discipline that takes place in a desert and the first official competition organized by the Saudi federation, founded just six years ago.

The visit of the best player in the world to AlUlaa tourist destination located 1,100 kilometers from the capital Riyadh, was the setting for the signing of a strategic alliance between La Dolfina and the Royal Commission for AlUla.

Cambiaso was appointed world ambassador of that city and it was decided to create a new Polo Academy in the country, with training programs and tournament management. The agreement also provides that La Dolfina will provide the horses and will manage the players who will participate in the academy. The leader of the Cañuelas quartet is also committed to promoting AlUla as a unique tourist destination in every corner of the world he travels to.

The alliance aims to “significantly support the growth and development of polo in the AlUla desert and establish northwestern Arabia as the number one winter destination for equestrian sports,” he explained. Zaid AlsuhaibaniSports Executive Program Director at the Royal Commission for AlUla.

“La Dolfina’s membership in our network of international partners, who share years of knowledge, sporting achievements and the experience of winning major international tournaments, will help bring equestrian sports in this city to a higher level of sophistication, participation and enthusiasm” added Alsuhaibani, who exchanged the team shirt with Cambiaso. AlUla Football Club and the Argentine national team.

Eight teams took part in the four-day competition, in which the polo players who usually shine in the Argentine Triple Crown shared the field with professional players from other countries, the most important polo patrons in the world and members of the Saudi royal family.

Adolfito was crowned champion, along with his teammates Saudiathe American Melissa Ganzi and Nigerian Sayyu Dantata. In the final they won 9 to 5 Riccardo Millewhose captain was Paul MacDonoughformer Dolfina player and champion last year in Palermo with The Nativityand completed by Australians David Paradise and Yoanna Hanbury.

The tournament was played on a sand court built specifically for the occasion in the middle of the desert, in a place with more than 200 thousand years of history and home to Egrathe country’s first site inscribed on the World Heritage List UNESCO.

Also known as al-Hijr or Mada’in Saleh, the approximately 52-hectare ancient city is one of Saudi Arabia’s major archaeological attractions and is home to more than 100 monumental tombs with ornate facades carved into the sandstone outcrops, surrounding this walled urban settlement. The place is in a good state of conservation and dates back to the 1st century BC and 1st AD

It is not the first time that Cambiaso and his companions visit that historic place. In early 2020, months after winning the Argentine Open, the entire La Dolfina team (which at the time was formed with MacDonough in place of Bean), landed on Saudi soil to hold an exhibition as part of the Tantorafestivala 12-weekend celebration in the historic Al Madina Al Munawara region, aimed at spurring the development of the hub in the country.

They returned two years later, in February 2022, a trip that established a first alliance, strengthened by the one signed in 2024.

“When we traveled for the first edition of Desert Polewe were struck by the impressive landscape of Hegra and the AlUla desert,” Cambiaso said before his second trip to the region.

“AI-Ula’s relationship with horses dates back thousands of years, you can see it in the archaeological inscriptions on the rocks of AlUla and its surroundings. It’s like an open-air museum. The commitment and passion to develop the polo and “Sport in general is a mission that we share with AlUla and in which we want to collaborate”, he added.

The Cambiasos’ recent visit to the historic place left several special postcards, such as the one from Bean poses next to the prince Salman bin Mansur In front of Elephant Rocka rock more than 52 meters high with a peculiar elephant shape resulting from the erosion of wind and water over thousands of years.

Furthermore, Mia Cambiaso – who starred in a commercial for a renowned British luxury car brand, with the imposing landscape of AI-Ula in the background -, Lia Salvo AND Nina Clarkinthree figures of women’s polo in Argentina ran a Polo Clinic to teach and promote the values ​​of this sport among Saudi women.

For revenge, with the same quartet

The adventure in Saudi Arabia, the experience of playing on a different pitch and the new alliance with AlUla marked the start of a 2024 in which La Dolfina will seek revenge in the Triple crown Argentina, the most important trio of tournaments in the world of polo, which last season gave him little pleasure. And they will do it with the same team that lost the final in Palermo a few months ago.

The fact is that although at the beginning of last season Adolfo Cambiaso had warned that 2023 would be the last year he would share with his son Poroto, to allow him to put his team back together after the defeat in the championship Argentine Open He backtracked: “It’s a gift to be able to compete and have fun at 48. Happy to continue sharing the field with my son and friends next year,” he wrote on Instagram.

Thus La Dolfina, champion last year Hurlinghamwill face the high handicap Argentine season with a 40-goal team, with Cambiaso as 1, the Uruguayan David Stirling as 2, Poroto with the 3 shirt and Juan Martín Nero as Backwards.

His great rival will be another quartet with a perfect score, which last year embittered him in the semi-final of the Tortugas and stole the title from him in Palermo, The Nativity. Cañuelas’ other team also made no changes and will form with Facundo Pieres (still 10 handicap), Camilo Cup Chestnut, Pablo MacDonough AND Bartolomé Castagnola.