Engel & Völkers, XI FIP European Polo Championship, Berlin 2016: Congratulations Ireland, France and Germany ! - NAANII GLOBAL Luxury/Quality Family Lifestyle MAGAZINE 'en Vogue' - NAANII GLOBAL Quality & Luxury Family Lifestyle - MAGAZINE 'en Vogue'-

Engel & Völkers, XI FIP  European Polo Championship 2016, Berlin:

Gold Medall: IRELAND
Silver Medall: FRANCE
Bronce Medall: GERMANY

Eight strong Teams from Europe with handicaps from 6-8 goals qualified for  the Engel & Völkers XI FIP European Championship 2016 and fighted for the titel  the past 10 days in Berlin. Germany, Poland, France, Netherlands, Italy, Slovakia, Austria and Irland.

After Ireland and France managed to make it to the finals of the XI. FIP European Championship, it was time to move the thrill of the game, which started last Sunday 28.08. from Phöben close to Berlin to the main stage: the magnificent Maifeld Olympia Stadium in the City Centre of Berlin  this weekend 3.-4.09.2016.

The day Saturday kicked off with an encounter between Poland and Slovakia. Both teams were lucky enough to experience a brand new Mailfeld Polo Field, that had been prepared for the event.
The game opened with a lot of uncertainty because both teams are relatively new, and nobody really knew what to expect from them or their horses. Finally, the great teamwork of Poland got them the lead and they won 6,5-4.

The second match of the day was the one between Italy and The Netherlands. The Italian team was renovated: Tuky Caivano and Pulli Grilling were still team members but Ginevra d’Orazio (the only woman on the tournament) and Goffredo Cutinelli joined. Apparently this was the winning formula, as Italy won 6-4 to The Netherlands !



Later on in the day, with the iconic backdrop of the Olympic Stadium of Berlin, the Tom Tailor Cup of the Maifeld Polo Cup was celebrated.
Teams Engel & Voelkers (formed by Christopher Winter, Thomas Winter, Tim Ward, and Oliver Winter) played the subsidiary finals versus team Eltec (Moritz Gaedeke, Nico Wollenberg, Marcos Riglos and Tatu Gomez Romero). It was an exciting match on which Eltec was able to take the lead of the game all through the four chukkas, but only for a small difference, until they managed to extend it and won by 7,5-10.
Winner of the Tom Tailor Cup 2016 : Team Tom Tailor  (Uwe Schröder, Daniel Crasemann, Gastón Maiquez and Christobal Durrieux) !

After the polo day, when the sun set, the guests gathered once again at the Maifeld for a lovely gala dinner, on which the FIP and Organizers thanked everyone involved.


On a sunny and rainy Sunday afternoon, both Championships, the 'XI FIP European Polo Championship'  - and the 'Tom Tailor Cup' resumed with the FINALs.
First it was time for Germany to battle the Austrian Team for the Bronze. The German boys put up a great fight, showing excellent discipline and solid teamwork. Even though the locals started with the right foot and kept the lead until the fourth chukka, Austria, a tough opponent, kept the German boys busy by fighting hard until the very end as surprisingly, Martin Bleier scored three goals in a row on the last one, proving once again the unexpectedness of the sport, and they went to overtime, when Caesar Crasemann managed to score 'the Golden Goal' and end this nail-biting game on his team’s favor. The final score was 5-6 for Germany. !

Following the Bronze, it was time for the most awaited game of the last ten days:
THE FINALS of the XI. FIP European Championship. The air was tense, the crowd expectant, and along came the finalists IRELAND and FRANCE.
Louis Jarrige opened up the scoreboard, but Max Hutchinson wasn’t going to grant les bleus to lead for long: he scored shortly after, and on the second chukka, thanks to two goals by Mikey Henderson and one by Creighton Boyd, the game was decided: the four Irishmen and their fast and responsive horses would siege the gold emerging as champions 2016

The Closing and  prize giving ceremony organized by FIP ambassador Moritz Gädeke from the berlin PPCCBB Polo Club and his  Event Management Team in front of a thrilled crowd, honored all participating Teams in presence of officials from Berlin, the french and argentinian embassy, the DPV (Deutscher Polo Verband) and the FIP (Federation International de Polo).  



FIP President, Nicholas Colquhoun-Denvers congratulated Gold Medall winner, Team Ireland, Silver Medall winner Team France and Bronce Medall winner, Team Germany  and closed the XI FIP European Championship with warm thankful words congratulating all involved in the organisation of this historic  event for their dedication and passion in bringing yet another world class tournament to the international polo scene at Berlin Olympiapark.  Special thanks went to Rackham Schröder and Nicolas Jeising from Engel & Völkers, titel Sponsor of the XI FIP European Championship and Tom Tailor Cup for their fantastic support.

Best Playing Pony  went to Max Hutchinson’s horse, 'The One Who Got Away'.


Fotogallery: Here



Fotos: Copyright K. Johanna Altmann, all rights reserved