VMware Player supports a newer hardware version (compatibility mode) than ESXi 5.5 (see http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1003746)
Unless your VM uses features which aren't supported by HW version 10, you may want to take a look at e.g. Import OVF Template - Unsupported hardware family 'vmx-10' for how this issue can be resolved. Other than this you could also try to (temporarily) modify the source .vmx file prior to converting the VM to the OVF format.
André
