Shandur Polo Festival explained: freestyle polo on the world's highest ground

High in the mountains of northern Pakistan, on a pass between Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan, sits a polo ground at roughly 3,700 metres above sea level. Widely described as the highest polo ground in the world, Shandur hosts an annual festival that blends fierce sport with music, dance and a tented village.

The Shandur ground lies on the boundary between Chitral and the Ghizer area of Gilgit-Baltistan. It is ringed by natural, stair-like slopes that act as grandstands, and its edges are marked by low stone walls, around 60 centimetres high, rather than the boards used in conventional polo.

The festival's centrepiece is a rivalry between teams representing Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral. Preliminary matches in each region are used to pick the best riders and horses, and the festival ends with a final between the two sides' top teams.

Freestyle polo: the old way

Shandur is played under freestyle rules, regarded as one of the oldest forms of polo still in existence. Its spirit is captured in a popular local saying that the only rule is that there are no rules.

Key features:

• Teams field six players each, with a few reserves.
• In earlier times, matches had no breaks and continued until one side scored nine goals; a scorer even had to dismount and pick up the ball before play resumed.
• Today the game is split into two halves with an interval, and the team with more goals wins.
• The crowd is driven on by the ghalwar, a traditional drumbeat that accompanies the action, while folk performers take the field at half-time.

A short history

Polo has deep roots in the region; local rulers are recorded as playing at Shandur long before the modern tournament. The festival itself dates back to the 1930s, when Evelyn Hey Cobb, the British political agent, encouraged the building of a large ground at the pass and organised regular matches. In later decades, local administrations took over the event. Today the governments of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan jointly organise it, with support from the security forces.

When it happens

The festival has traditionally been held from 7 to 9 July. Dates now shift from year to year: in 2025 it ran from 20 to 22 June to avoid clashing with Muharram, and in 2026 the final was played on 13 June.

That 2026 final was a classic. Gilgit-Baltistan beat their old rivals Chitral 6-5 to lift the trophy for the first time in more than a decade, in front of crowds who had travelled up the mountain roads and camped on the slopes.

Why it matters

Shandur is not just a sporting event. It is a showcase of mountain culture, horsemanship and community pride, and a major draw for domestic and foreign tourists. For many Pakistanis, it is the most spectacular sporting event the country hosts.