FEI announces Candidate Cities for FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2022

Two cities have been announced as Official Candidates to host the FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2022. Lexington, Kentucky (USA) and Samorin (SVK) have both been selected as potential hosts for the FEI flagship in six years’ time.

“We are very happy to have two such strong official candidates for the 2022 FEI World Equestrian Games”, FEI President Ingmar De Vos said. “Both the Kentucky and Samorin venues have the infrastructure in place already to host the Games, which is one of the biggest events on the global sporting calendar.

“The last edition in Normandy two years ago attracted more than half a million spectators and a worldwide television audience of 350 million, delivering a significant economic impact to the French economy.

“There’s no doubt that these Games are a huge undertaking, but we believe both Samorin and Kentucky have the capability to host spectacular Games and we look forward to working with them through the further stages of the bid process over the next year.”

The next phase in the decision-making process for the 2022 Games will include site visits between January and May 2017, with a deadline of June 2017 for submission of the Candidates’ complete bid and signed host agreement. The Candidates will make formal presentations to the FEI Evaluation Commission in the third quarter of 2017, with the final FEI Bureau decision and allocation of the Games in November 2017

Notes to Editors:

The FEI World Equestrian Games™, held every four years in the middle of the Olympic cycle, combines eight World Championships at one event. The FEI disciplines - Jumping, Dressage and Para-Equestrian Dressage, Eventing, Driving, Endurance, Vaulting and Reining - are all included on the competition schedule.

The inaugural FEI World Equestrian Games™ were hosted in Stockholm (SWE) in 1990. Since then the Games have been staged in The Hague (NED) in 1994, Rome (ITA) in 1998, Jerez (ESP) in 2002, and Aachen (GER) in 2006. The first Games to be organised outside Europe were the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ in Lexington, Kentucky (USA) 2010. The Games came back to Europe for the 2014 edition, the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ in Normandy (FRA).

The 2014 Games in Normandy attracted more than 500,000 on-site spectators and a worldwide television audience of 350 million, as well as delivering an economic impact of €368 million to the French economy.

The FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2018 will be held at the Tryon International Equestrian Center in North Carolina (USA) from 10 to 23 September 2018. The 2018 Games were originally allocated to Bromont (CAN), but were switched to Tryon at the beginning of November following the withdrawal of Bromont (CAN) earlier this year.

The FEI World Equestrian Games™ History Hub can be viewed here