The 24th Hublot Polo Gold Cup Gstaad will take place from August 22nd to 25th 2019.

We are looking forward to seeing you!

What a finale! Probably the most beautiful in twenty-three editions of the Hublot Polo Gold Cup Gstaad. Incredibly intense to the point that the audience (2000 spectators again) completely got caught up in game and greatly cheered from the sidelines. Although Cedric Schweri and his teammates of Banque Eric Sturdza were able to raise the trophy for the second year in a row, they truly had to fight for it.

What incredible semi-finals! The suspense lasted right until the end. Although it will finally be the two favourite teams of the first day that will play the big final tomorrow at 3 p.m., things were not that simple for Clinique La Prairie and Banque Eric Sturdza.

In both games, a minute and a half from the end, it was impossible to know who was going to win. The suspense was perfect for the 2000 spectators who had gathered along the 275 meters of the field under a beautiful sun, which was this afternoon’s surprise guest contradicting all the weather forecasts.

In the first semi-final, Hublot started the game with a half goal advance because of its weaker handicap. Nico Lopez Fuentes scored the first goal of the match for Banque Eric Sturdza and indeed the team of Cedric Schweri was not too worried during the second and third chukkers. But it was not counting on Hublot‘s burst and the energy of Julio Novillo Astrada who scored three goals allowing his team to narrow the gap by one and a half goals just minutes from the end, but Marcelo Pascual annihilated the last hopes of Hublot scoring a decisive goal: “The game was very tight, admits the Argentinean 5-goaler, even tighter than the score shows. They came back very strong at the end of the game but fortunately we were able to regain control at the right moment.” The advantage of this team was perhaps due to the fact that it counts three professionals players in its ranks whereas their opponents only have two: “Of course that makes a difference, but today we could build a strong team game because we know each other better. We really played together” and they together reached the final that already seems very undecided against Clinique La Prairie.

The latter had even more trouble getting a ticket to the final. The battle fought against Gstaad Palace was even harder, especially in the last two chukkers. Hugo Barabucci, the back of Clinique La Prairie, opened the score in the first period but Gstaad Palace always stayed close. Although Clinique La Prairie took a small lead in the second period, Gstaad Palace never gave up, even taking the lead in the third chukker. At 90 seconds from the end of the game, everything was still possible for the latter especially as a 30 yards penalty hit by Pedro Llorente allowed them to get the advantage at 5 ½ to 5! A minute and a half in which Agustin Canale was also transforming a 30 yards and where captain Faris Al Yabhouni scored his second goal of the game in the ultimate second! For his first participation in the Hublot Gold Cup in Gstaad, the captain from the United Arab Emirates will play his first Swiss final. But not without cold sweats as explained by back and polo manager Hugo Barabucci: “To be honest, Gstaad Palace is a fantastic team and very well organized and we noticed it from the first day. We are happy to have been able to win this game. We expected a difficult game which ended in a beautiful and competitive meeting that could not have been possible without the quality of our opponent.” If, in the end, Clinique La Prairie had the last word, the Argentinian player gives it above all … to luck: “Yes, we were a little luckier than them, this is polo and we are happy to play the final tomorrow. Again, this is going to be a very tough game but what we want above all is to offer a beautiful final to this fantastic public of Gstaad.”

An audience that will be spoiled again tomorrow with two promising games since before the big final between Clinique La Prairie and Banque Eric Sturdza (3 p.m.), Gstaad Palace and Hublot will face each other at 1.30 p.m. in the subsidiary final for the third place.

Progression Banque Eric Sturdza : 2/2 ½ – 4/2 ½ – 7/3 ½ – 9/6 ½

Progression Clinique La Prairie : 2/2 ½ – 4/2 ½ – 4/4 ½ – 7/5 ½

Best scorers of the day: Agustin Canale (ARG, H6), Pedro Llorente (ARG, H5), Nico Lopez Fiente (ARG, H5) et Julio Novillo Astrada (ARG H7), 4 goals chacun

Best scorer of the tournament: Agustin Canale (ARG, H6), 12 goals

Two games and two completely different scenarios marked the sunny opening of the 23^rd edition of the Hublot Polo Gold Cup in Gstaad. In the first game, Faris Al Yabhouni, the captain of team Clinique La Prairie, did not have to suffer too much to win whilst Cedric Schweri and his team Banque Eric Sturdza had to fight a more complicated battle to start their way towards the final.

For Faris Al Yabhouni it was the first time in Gstaad: “It is a nice place: the surroundings, the people who are welcoming us here, everything is perfect. It is of course great to have won this first game especially as the teammates did not know each other yet nor did we know our horses that we rented from Saint-Tropez. The first two chukkers were pretty tight, but then we started to get to know and understand each other and the last two periods were easier and we managed to take the lead.” They defeated team Hublot, led by Swiss Captain Matteo Beffa: 13 to 6 ½.

It is this last team that the titleholder, Cedric Schweri, will face in the semi-final next Saturday, his game of the day was already quite difficult: “Actually, it was very “hard” for a first game, confirms the captain of Banque Eric Sturdza. The problem is that it was the first time we played together and we needed some time to really hit it off. When the team knows each other, it is easier.” Cedric contributed to the victory with an incredible golazo (Argentinian, meaning a beautiful goal) in the second chukker at the end of a beautiful solo run: “It is always nice to score a goal like that. In general, we the patrons, are there to defend, but scoring a goal is good.” And an important one as well as the team only won by a half-goal: “But this victory makes us confident for the rest of this Hublot Gold Cup, I think we will go to the finals, and after…”!

But before that, they will have to pass the semi-finals, which promise to be open. They will be played on Saturday at 1.30 p.m. and 3 p.m. In the meantime, the teams will parade tomorrow through the streets of Gstaad, a nice tradition that brings polo closer to the public.

Progression Clinique La Prairie: (0 / 1,5) – 3 / 3,5 – 6 / 4,5 – 9 / 5.5 and 13 / 6.5

Progression Banque Eric Sturdza: (0 / 0,5) 1 / 1,5 – 2 / 2,5 – 4 / 3,5 and 5 / 4,5

Best scorer of the day: Agustin Canale (ARG, h6) – 8 goals

The work to transform the new airport Gstaad-Saanen into a polo club is already in full swing and in a few days, everything will be ready to host the 23rd edition of the Hublot Polo Gold Cup which begins Thursday, August 16^th and will end Sunday, August 19^th.

It has been more than 20 years since the airport situated in the canton of Bern and the only flat space in the middle of the mountain, has been transformed for a few days, into a grass polo tournament, the most prestigious in Switzerland. The scenery offered by the Alps is not only beautiful, but also unusual for this sport that is more commonly played on large flat spaces. So to offer an unforgettable spectacle to visitors and impeccable conditions to the players and their horses, one needs to be able to … move mountains. And that is exactly what President Pierre Genecand, his organizing committee of 13 members and the 125 volunteers do.

For several days now, the teams have been working on assembling the stables and the exhibitors’ village, as well as preparing the grass field – which requires real expertise – on which the six matches will be played. Early next week, several trucks from across Europe will take the road to the mountain to bring the 120 horses of the 16 players and 2 referees of the tournament. In addition to the 120 boxes needed to house the four-legged athletes, tons of straw, hay, and oats are also needed. The 28.000 m² space will also host 18 exhibitors stands, a children’s play area and an important VIP area where the Gstaad Palace team will serve a total of 1.500 meals during the VIP lunches and the Saturday’s Night Gala.

More than 7000 expected visitors will come to admire players from Argentina mostly, but also from Brazil, the United Arab Emirates and of course Switzerland. The four teams bearing the colours of sponsors Hublot, Bank Eric Sturdza, Gstaad Palace and Clinique La Prairie, will compete in the qualifying games on Thursday, followed by the semi-finals on Saturday and the finals on Sunday. On Friday, the polo atmosphere will come to the streets of Gstaad with the traditional parade. Accompanied by carriages and bell ringers, the players and their horses will come to salute the villagers.

It is therefore a real large-scale operation that began to turn the airport of Gstaad-Saanen into an international polo centre for four days of spectacular sport and festivities from August 16^th to 19^th.