Horse polo is one of the oldest modern sports around, with roots in ancient Iran. However, unlike many other sports, polo would not have a world championship until 1987.
The first set of formal rules was codified by the Hurlingham Polo Association in 1875, which is the body that assigns handicaps to players, oversees domestic fixtures and effectively manages the game in the UK and Ireland.
After it lost its Olympic sport status in 1939, Polo gained a foothold in over 90 countries, with a particularly rich tradition in Argentina, the only nation with 40 goal handicap teams and the most 10 goal players in the history of the game.
After a successful International Polo Tournament for Clubs held in Buenos Aires in 1978, Marcos Uranga, then head of Argentina polo, proposed an international alliance that would bring the sport international in the same way FIFA had for football.
The three biggest polo governing bodies, The Asociación Argentine de Polo (AAP), the United States Polo Association (USPA) and the Hurlingham Polo Association (HPA) then formed an international governing body in 1982.
The Federation of International Polo (FIP) had the singular aim of bringing polo into the international mainstream, and they moved to create a world championship which was set to take place in the Campo Argentino de Polo in April 1987.
One of the early issues the FIP had was ensuring fair competition. The AAP were hamstrung by their own success as few teams had handicapped players that could effectively compete. As such, the first few competitions had a limit of 14 goal handicaps.
As well as this, horses were assigned by the luck of the draw, nullifying the effects of travel and breeding of horses and focusing on fair competition.
Argentina naturally dominated their home event in 1987. However, they did not make the finals in Berlin in 1989, and after an incredibly close match, the USA won after a final goal in the sixth chukker by John Wigdahl.
The next event is set to take place in 2022 in Indio, California.