Major pre-Olympic fixture pulls plug on FEI’s Nations Cup after rule change

Aachen has parted ways with the FEI Dressage Nations Cup series after a decade – and will instead host its own elite team dressage competition at the 2024 World Equestrian Festival (28 June to 7 July).

The show takes place less than a month before the Olympics, when the build-up to Paris 2024 will be at its peak, and concludes the day ahead of the final entry deadline for this summer’s Games (8 July).

The news, first reported by Eurodressage, comes amid changes to the FEI Nations Cup rules for 2024. This year, organisers of competitions in the FEI Nations Cup series must invite all national federations, which has brought about the split.

“We have withdrawn from the FEI Nations Cup Series 2024 due to the changed invitation mode,” an Aachen spokesman told H&H. “Aachen organisers will confirm invitations as soon as possible, which is contrary to the FEI Dressage Nations Cup Rules 2024.”

Aachen’s schedule shows it will be inviting the seven top-placed teams from the 2023 European Championships, plus the best non-European team from the 2022 World Dressage Championships.

This means that Britain, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, the USA, Austria, Denmark, France and Sweden are expected to be on the list of invitations for Aachen’s own inter-nation team dressage competition.

Aachen’s team showjumping and eventing competitions are already run on the show’s own terms and are known as Nations Cups, but without the FEI prefix as they have not been part of the FEI-owned series for some time.

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