FEI Cites ‘Very High’ Interest in 2022 World Championships Bid Process

Photo by Leslie Wylie.

With the sustainability of a seven-discipline world championship in question, in November the FEI initiated a bidding process for individual world championships for all divisions for 2022. Today the FEI reports that it has already received some exciting expressions of interest for 2022, with more submissions expected before the Feb. 28 deadline.

“I am delighted to say that the level of interest and the quality of submissions to host FEI World Championships in 2022 has been very high so far, and we are confident that we will have an interesting pool of candidates to choose from when the allocations are made later this year,” says FEI President Ingmar De Vos.

De Vos has stressed that this does not necessarily mean the end of the FEI World Equestrian Games concept, and bids to host the full seven disciplines together for 2022 will be considered. However, no “realistic” bids were submitted either of the two times the bidding process for the 2022 WEG was opened last year.

“Equestrian sport has become increasingly globalized, but there are relatively few countries that have the capacity to host world championships in all disciplines simultaneously,” he says.

The FEI has noted that multi-discipline bids will be given preference, and that dressage and para dressage should be combined. The world championships for 2022 in the Olympic and Paralympic disciplines will serve as qualifiers for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

“The new bid process allows for the sustainable and cost-effective use of existing equestrian sports facilities and for the FEI to partner with National Federations that may have hesitated putting forward multi-discipline bids in the past,” De Vos says. “The door is now open for these Federations to consider submitting an expression of interest for an individual world championship in the discipline of their choice.”

The FEI will host an interactive workshop at the end of March in Lausanne for all National Federations/Organizing Committees that submit an expression of interest in the 2022 World Championships.

“This interactive workshop is a key factor in ensuring that we adequately convey the structure, opportunities and minimum requirements of hosting the FEI World Championships 2022. By working more closely with the National Federations and Organizing Committees from the very start of the process, we can ensure a unified vision and establish an achievable set of goals to work towards,” De Vos says.

Timeline

• Feb. 18, 2019 – Deadline for receipt of non-binding expressions of interest to host one or multiple FEI World Championship(s) 2022. All information can be accessed here.
• March 26, 2019 – Workshop to be held in Lausanne after which interested bidders will be invited to submit a formal bid, outlining their plans and visions for hosting FEI World Championships in 2022.
• November 2019 – Allocation of FEI World Championships at the in-person Board meeting at the FEI General Assembly in Moscow (RUS). All bids will be fully evaluated over the Spring/Summer of 2019.

[OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS WITH FEI WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2022 BID PROCESS]