Lausanne, December 2016 – The Real Club de Polo de Barcelona (ESP), venue for the equestrian events at the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games, will once again play host to the FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping Final when the series reaches its climax at the end of September 2017. This is the fifth consecutive year that the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) has allocated the Final allocated to Barcelona, the cosmopolitan capital of Spain’s Catalonia region.
The FEI Nations Cup™, the world’s oldest and most prestigious team Jumping series, started in 1909. Open to the best 18 teams of the 46 nations that will contest the FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping 2017 season between February and September the Final will take place from 28 September – 1 October.
The FEI Nations Cup™ Final is run over three competitions, with each of the 18 national teams bidding to make it through to the top-10 Final. Team Germany reigned supreme this year, with a spectacular jump-off between newly-crowned Rio 2016 Olympic champions Nick Skelton and Big Star and Germany’s Marcus Ehning on Pret A Tout deciding the result.
“The FEI Nations Cup™ series is the jewel in the crown of the international team Jumping calendar and we are delighted to allocate the honour of hosting the Final of this flagship series to Barcelona”, FEI President Ingmar De Vos said.
“Barcelona has hosted the final since the inception of the modernised format of the series. In creating the final, we not only secured a future, but greatly increased the value of the series. We have absolute confidence in the Barcelona Organising Committee to deliver an outstanding event and together we will commemorate the ongoing legacy from the 1992 Olympic Games as the Club de Polo celebrates 25 years since it hosted the Olympic equestrian events. The significance of the FEI Nations Cup™ series has continued to increase over the years and the remodelling of the competition format in 2013 has revolutionised this team sport.”
“It’s a great honour and further testament to the efficient way in which the Club has organised the Grand Final over the last four years”, President of CSIO Barcelona Emilio Zegrí said.
“We are especially thrilled because our fifth Final will coincide with the celebrations for both the Club’s 120th anniversary and the 25th anniversary of the ’92 Olympic Games. It’s now 25 years since our arena hosted the equestrian competition at those Olympics. We’ve continued to be a point of reference at a global level and we want to remain so, for the sake of both Barcelona and the Real Club de Polo itself.”
The FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping series celebrates 108 years of team competition in 2017 and the forthcoming season will involve 19 qualifiers in 19 countries.
Qualifying events will take place in four regions: Europe Division 1 and Europe Division 2, North America and the Middle East. Qualification of teams from South America, Africa and Asia/Australasia will be established through the Longines Rankings.
There will be eight qualifying legs in Europe Division 1 and six in Europe Division 2, three in North America and a single event in the Middle East.
The 8 teams qualified for Europe Division 1 this season are The Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, France, Italy, and Spain.
15 December 2016
