Chogan,Ancient Persian game in 600 years BC

Polo is known as “chogan” in Iran which is recognized as the cradle of this equestrian sport practiced today all over the world. At the end of 2017, UNESCO included it in its List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The chogân, which has been practiced in Iran for more than 2,000 years, involves two teams of four players. Players harnessed to their mounts score points by driving a ball or plastic or white wood into the opposing team’s goal using a long-handled mallet. The traditional sport of polo is played on a large grass field measuring up to 300 meters in length.

Originally a tribal game, polo appeared around the 5th century BC in the steppes of Central Asia. If the exact date of its appearance is unknown, sources indicate that it was practiced using a ball and a wooden mallet, and could bring together up to a hundred riders. In antiquity, it was training for the horsemen of the elite troops of the army and the guards of the king of Persia.

It quickly became a princely pastime, one of the favorite games of the princes and nobles of Iran, and a brilliant opportunity to demonstrate their military skills, especially in front of an aristocratic and female audience. The literature also relates that the kings of Iran tried their hand at playing polo from childhood.

Today Iran has a national team and its own chogân federation.