The Fédération Equestre Internationale Nations Cup series will have a new look and a name in 2013, following finalization of a 16 million euro four-year sponsorship package from the Saudi Equestrian Fund. The series will now be called the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup.

The sponsorship deal, worth 4 million euro per year and running through the end of 2016, was announced at the FEI Bureau’s first meeting at the General Assembly in Istanbul on Nov. 6.

Under the new rules for the Nations Cup series, the world has been divided into six regions for the purpose of qualifying teams for a world final. The six regions are Europe (Division 1 and 2), North and Central America, South America, Middle East, Asia/Australia and Africa.

An executive summary of the new format is available on the FEI website.

“This is a truly historic occasion,” FEI President HRH Princess Haya said. “The Nations Cup competition has been in existence for more than 100 years, and it has been running as a series since 1965, so rather than scrap everything, we’ve kept what was good and remodeled the rest to make the series universal and modern.”

In addition to the new rules for the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup series, the bureau set the deadlines for entries for the FEI European Show Jumping Championships, which will take place from Aug. 19-25, 2013, in Herning, Denmark.

U.S course designer Derek di Grazia is in contention to build the cross-country course at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Other possibilities include Mark Phillips (Great Britain), Pierre Michelet (France) and Rüdiger Schwartz (Germany). Di Grazia was also a finalist to design the courses for the 2012 London Olympics.

The FEI Jumping Committee appointed Stephan Ellenbruch (Germany) and Max Kühner (Germany) to the committee.

The FEI Dressage Committee appointed Hans-Christian Matthiesen (Denmark) as member for a four-year term (2012-2016). The term in office of the athletes’ representative Kyra Kyrklund (Finland), appointed by the International Dressage Riders Club, was extended until the online voting by athletes has been implemented.

The FEI Eventing Committee appointed Rüdiger Schwarz (Germany) for a four-year term (2012-2016). The term in office of the athletes’ representative Clayton Fredericks (Australia) was extended until the online voting by athletes has been implemented. 

The FEI Bureau approved the creation of an FEI Nations Cup Dressage series on a trial basis beginning in 2013 as follows:

• CDIO*** Vidauban (France), May 17-20, 2013
• CDIO*** Rotterdam (the Netherlands), June 20-24, 2013
• CDIO***** Aachen (Germany), July 3-8, 2013
• CDIO***** Hickstead (Great Britain), Aug. 1-4, 2013 (to be confirmed)

Any other CDIO outdoor competitions, with the exception of CDIO Wellington, Fla., which is of small tour level, will be included in the FEI Nations Cup Dressage series. 

FEI rules for dressage relating to team competitions will apply. The rules regarding the point system and participation will be available on the FEI website.

For eventing, the bureau approved the recommendation of the Eventing Committee to suspend the FEI World Cup Eventing until a better concept could be defined for this series according to the needs of the sport. It will continue on a trial basis in 2013, and a consultation process with the national federations will be launched in order to improve the series.

In order to support the FEI’s efforts to have FEI horses acknowledged at as high-health high-performance horses by national authorities and to ensure they are granted special travel privileges, the Bureau endorsed the production of an FEI Biosecurity Guide in 2013.

The bureau also supported the wider promotion of the use of horse passports for sporting needs as a record of event attendance, vaccinations, past disease, microchip information and anti-doping testing. The FEI has consolidated the agreement with the European Union, which now accepts FEI horse passports as valid EU approved passports as long as they are continuously validated. However there is a need for more national federations to have passports of a suitable standard.