Roma Polo Club, Italy's best players compete for the title.

After the European Championship in Poland and a few days before the World Cup in Charlottesville (USA), the best Italian players will be on the pitch competing for the title . On Sunday, October 5th, the day of the finals, 'Polo for Smiles' returns, the charity event in support of Operation Smile.

First the European Championships in Poland, then the Arena Polo World Championships in the United States. The 2025 Italian Polo Championship , organized by the Italian Equestrian Sports Federation, comes at the perfect time: the peak period of the season. With the national team fresh from its fourth-place finish in Europe and about to depart for Charlottesville, Virginia, the polo stars—among them Stefano Giansanti and Giordano Magini, called up along with Mariano Raigal for the Arena Polo World Championships—will take to the field from Friday, September 26th to Sunday, October 5th at the Roma Polo Club , one of the "living rooms" of Italian polo, for a highly anticipated event that in 2024 saw the victory of the UnoAerre Acquedotto Romano team.

Seven teams will compete, divided into two groups, for a total of 17 matches: Group A, consisting of three teams, features S&K Team-Fideuram, Impresion Polo, and Harpa-Farout , while Group B, consisting of four teams, features UnoAerre Acquedotto Romano, Moonlooker-La Cavallerizza, Cria del Mar, and Agua Alta. The top-place teams in each group will advance to the final, with the second-place teams playing in the third-place match, and the remaining three teams competing in a round-robin format for the highest ranking.

Entrance to the stands of the Roma Polo Club will be free , with the Italian Championship that last year closed with a sold out and 1500 spectators present in the stands to admire a discipline that over the years - between traditional Polo and Arena Polo, proposed at the Galoppatoio with the Italia Polo Challenge within the CSIO Piazza di Siena-Master d'Inzeo - has managed to carve out an important space within the national equestrian calendar.

POLO FOR SMILES This year, on Sunday, October 5th, "Polo for Smiles" will return, the charity event combining sport and solidarity at the Roma Polo Club in support of Operation Smile 's medical programs in low- and middle-income countries. Thanks to the extraordinary participation of previous editions, medical care and surgery have been provided to patients with cleft lip and palate in Peru, Ghana, and Madagascar. Polo for Smiles, combined with the championship finals, will be a day filled with sport, entertainment, activities for adults and children, and a wealth of solidarity, with the goal of raising funds to provide medical and surgical care to children and adults born with facial deformities in Madagascar.

It is estimated that in this country, one in 2,000 children is born with a facial deformity every year. However, high poverty rates, a lack of qualified healthcare professionals, and poor hospital infrastructure make access to treatment difficult. This is why Operation Smile has been providing free, quality medical and surgical care in the country since 2007. Since then, surgeries have been performed on more than 4,300 patients.