Skip to content
Home » Pieres Family

Pieres Family

Pieres Family

It is rare for any individual player to achieve the coveted rank of a “ten-goaler”. It is rarer still to have four members of the same family achieve that title. But, with a legacy entrenched in skilled performances on a variety of international polo stages, the Pieres’ continue to develop their reputation as one of the most successful families in polo.

Gonzalo Pieres Sr.

Gonzalo Pieres

Born in Argentina, Gonzalo Pieres’ polo career was highly influenced by growing up in the epicenter of the polo world. Although he started practicing the sport at an early age, he wouldn’t compete in the United States until 1980 when he obtained his eight-goal handicap. Shortly after his debut in the United States, Gonzalo was awarded the prestigious title of the ten-goal handicap. Across his journey to achieving the ten-goal handicap, and after graduating to the title, Gonzalo collected a variety of impressive accolades. Most notably, the ten-goaler won the Argentine Open, one of the most historic and prestigious polo competitions in existence, not once, but nine times. In addition he also won the USPA Gold Cup a total of seven times, and the Queen’s Cup, British Open, US Open, and finally, the Argentine triple crown.

During such a prosperous professional career, Gonzalo also helped found team Ellerstina in 1992, which would later be the home team his sons. In 2012, Ellerstina Team made up of Gonzalo Sr. sons Gonzalito, Facundo and Nico and his son-in-law Mariano Aguerre (married to Tatiana Pieres) made it a family affair when they won the Argentine Open.

Gonzalito Pieres

Gonzalito Pieres

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1982 to Gonzalo and his wife, Cecilia Rodríguez Piola, Gonzalito, like his father, was born not only in the global heart of polo, but also into a growing polo legacy. Therefore, like his father, Gonzalito made his polo debut at an early age and in a major way, by competing in the Argentine Open at just 17 years old. Since his first appearance, Gonzalito has competed in the iconic tournament every year, with one of his most storied performances occurring in 2008 when he led his family team, Ellerstina, to victory against young Adolfo Cambiaso’s team, La Dolfina by scoring the match winning goal in overtime.

Pieres Brothers Pilot

Shortly after this victory, Gonzalito was inducted into the Polo Hall of Fame for his exceptional performance. However, years prior to this accolade and after, Gonzalito has had the privilege of competing alongside his younger brother Facundo Pieres for much of his early career. And together, in 2019, the brothers won the inaugural Gauntlet of Polo with Team Pilot.

Facundo Pieres

Born in 1986, Facundo was quick to follow his older brother’s legacy and made his polo debut in 1997 with Ellerstina’s junior team. After his debut, Facundo quickly collected a multitude of successes at the high-goal level including victories in the Hurlingham Open, Tortugas Open, Jockey Club Open, Queen’s Cup, and Sotogrande. All of these accolades came together to secure Facundo the coveted title of ten-goaler in 2004 when he was just 18 years old. Many years later in 2022, he would be ranked as the number one player in the world.

In just the last two years of Facundo’s career, the ten-goaler helped secure back to back victories in one of polo’s most challenging and iconic high-goal tournaments; the Argentine Open. In 2023, Facundo competed in the 130th Argentine Open with team La Natividad. After losing to team La Dolfina the previous year, all eyes were on the epic rematch between the two all-star teams. The excitement of the match far exceeded everyone’s expectations, with a tied match going into the final chukka. In the end, Facundo scored the final goal in the last seconds of the match to secure La Natividad’s victory.

With such an outstanding match in 2023, polo fans everywhere were once again waiting for a legendary rematch in the 131st Argentine Open. And, in another nail biting finish, La Dolfina and La Natividad held their two goal lead for the win, and Facundo’s sixth Argentine Open came to a victorious close. Today, Facundo continues to compete as a professional polo player, world’s #2, and lead the Pieres family legacy onward alongside the youngest Pieres brother, Nicolas.

Nicolas Pieres

Destined for a life in polo, Nicolas, known as Nico, was born with high expectations for his polo career, and he has not disappointed. Making the ten-goal title by just 18 years old, Nico quickly established himself as another titan of polo in the Pieres legacy. Nico has won the U.S. Open Polo Championship, the Gold Cup, the Cartier Queen’s Cup, and many other high goal tournaments in between. In addition, Nico has participated in almost every historic high-goal tournament multiple times, including the French Open, the Sotogrande, where he has been a finalist and semi-finalist for multiple years, and the Gauntlet of Polo, where he has played successful seasons with iconic teams like Park Place and Coca-Cola. Although majority of Nico’s professional matches and victories have been within the States or the United Kingdom, he also had the opportunity to lead team Habtoor in the Dubai Gold Cup Final in 2017.

With incredible season averages of over 4 goals per game, Nico has proven to be a formidable
offensive opponent on many international stages. Although it would have been easy to be overwhelmed by the reputation preceding the Pieres family, Nico has truly stepped up to the challenge, and continues to uphold the Pieres family legacy, alongside his brothers, and also his cousin, Pablo ‘Polito’ Pieres.

Pablo ‘Polito’ Pieres

Like his cousins, Polito is also ranked as a ten-goaler. In the early part of his career, Polito played for the Pieres’ family team, Ellerstina.

While on the team, Polito competed in some of Argentina’s most prestigious tournaments like the Palermo Open, Tortugas Open, and the Argentine Open. However, Polito wouldn’t achieve his most notable accomplishment until he began playing with team La Natividad, the 10-goaler team founded by another legendary polo family member, Bartolomé Castagnola Sr. After being given the honor of the captain’s position, Polito helped lead team La Natividad to their first victory in the historic Palermo Open in 2021, which earned Polito his ten-goal handicap. In 2022, Polito joined La Natividad once again in Argentina and claimed the 2022 Tortugas Open. Polito has been collecting big wins across the world – 2023 and 2024 Queens Cup, the 2024 Tortugas Open, 2024 East Coast Open and more. Today, Pablo continues to prove himself as a ten-goaler in the U.S. -he carries a 9-Goal handicap in Argentina and England – every season and brings pride to the Pieres family name.

The new generation of the Pieres Family is being led by Antonio Aguerre, the son of Tatiana Pieres and Mariano Aguerre, playing in the 2024 Iglehart Cup. Gonzalito, Facu and Nico all have young children who will soon make their mark on the game of polo and we can’t wait to see it!

Written in collaboration with Lily Brennan

    Join the Polo Insider!

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *