The FEI has today announced the named qualifiers for the next three seasons of the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ North American League. Following a very competitive bidding and evaluation process, the FEI has allocated the eight qualifiers of this prestigious league in the USA, Canada and Mexico confirming the location and dates across the continent for seasons 2020/2021 through to 2022/2023.
This newly formatted series of qualifiers, with a minimum 4* level, will form the heart of a truly global qualification process that promotes universality and competitivity. Reducing the number of qualifiers and strengthening the quality of the events, gives a clear and fair pathway into the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Series and will see a higher demand from athletes to compete. Availability of an international live broadcast signal and extensive promotion of the series will be a welcome compliment to the changing landscape of the broadcast product and development of this professional sports league.
The first of the newly formatted seasons will kick off in Sacramento, CA, (USA) in early October 2020, it will continue to Washington, D.C. (USA), Lexington, KY (USA), Toronto (CAN), Las Vegas, NV (USA), Fort Worth, TX (USA) and Guadalajara (MEX). The season will finish in Wellington, FL (USA) in February 2021 where athletes will confirm their ticket to the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Final which returns to Gothenburg (SWE) for the 23rd time. Athletes from the North American League qualify alongside winners of the 15 other leagues including the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Western Europe League and the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ China League from this global series which has been in existence since 1978.
“We received an overwhelming number of bids to host these qualifiers. The major changes to the format of the series, the close collaboration between FEI and the National Federations with the support of our top partner Longines together with organisers and stakeholders highlights the continued efforts made to propel the sport forward making it more attractive to the athletes and the fans” said FEI President, Ingmar De Vos.
“The launch in 2015 established the series’ successful introduction into this region, expanding the international reach of the FEI World Cup as a global series in the emerging North American markets. Now that we are adding an international live broadcast signal, we believe this is an important and exciting decision that will take us to the next step to place jumping in North America in the spotlight as a sport.”
“We are proud to support the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup North American League as its Title Partner, Official Timekeeper and Watch since its inception in 2015” Matthieu Baumgartner, Longines Vice President Marketing said.
“This new promising format of the series is perfectly in line with our common goal to promote the show jumping discipline across North America. We are looking forward to taking part in the seasons to come and thus contributing to the continued expansion of the show jumping discipline in these markets”.
Longines is a strong supporter of equestrian sport around the world as FEI Top Partner, title partner of the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Western European League, the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ China League and the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup™. It is also the Official Timekeeper and Official Watch of the FEI.Now in its fifth year, the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ North American League 2019-2020 season held the first qualifier of the season in Vancouver last month and will continue next month in North Salem, NY (USA) on 15 September 2019.Click here to view the calendar.
Source FEI
