Text © World of Showjumping

Swiss Equestrian has expressed its “deep disappointment” with the FEI’s decision to leave CSIO St. Gallen out of the Longines League of Nations™-series for the 2025-season. The FEI announced its decision yesterday, with the Polo Club de Saint-Tropez in Haras de Gassin replacing the traditional Swiss venue as host to one of the four 2025-qualifiers in the FEI's own Nations Cup series.

St. Gallen was one of four venues that made the cut to host one of this year's qualifiers in the inaugural season of the Longines League of Nations™ and was originally named by the FEI as a host for the 2025, 2026 and 2027 seasons, after having also been part of the previous FEI Jumping Nations Cup™-series. 

However, this year’s qualifier in St. Gallen – scheduled during the last week of May – had to be cancelled due to adverse weather conditions.

"Following a review of the 2024 season, and due to uncertainty regarding the future plans for the arena, the FEI Board decided that, regrettably, St. Gallen will no longer be part of the Series moving forward," the FEI stated about its decision.

When the Longines League of Nations™ events for the inaugural seasons 2024 to 2027 were announced by the FEI last year, several historical venues that had formerly been part of the FEI Jumping Nations Cup™-series – such as Dublin, Falsterbo and Hickstead – had been replaced, after a bidding process launced by the FEI in May 2023. The CSIO5* RDS Dublin Horse Show has since gone on to be part of the prestigious Rolex Series alongside CSIO Roma Piazza di Siena, CSIO Jumping International de La Baule, Jumping International de Dinard, CSIO Brussels Stephex Masters, and the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington. Falsterbo Horse Show and the Royal International Horse Show at Hickstead now host stand-alone CSIO5* Nations Cups, this year sponsored by Agria.

Furthermore, when announcing the 2024-2027 qualifiers, the FEI had reduced the number from the draft proposal’s five events to four – citing the 2024 Olympic Games as the main reason for dropping a fifth leg of the series.

In a press release, Swiss Equestrian explains that it together with the organising committee of CSIO St. Gallen has pulled out all the stops to ensure the future of the historic and traditional event by coming up with massive improvements to the infrastructure of the footing at the Gründenmoss arena.

“It is a shock and at the same time an affront to Swiss equestrian sport,” commented Damian Müller, President of Swiss Equestrian, in the press release. “This decision not only has an impact on the athletes and their entourages, but also on the entire organising committee, the partners, the volunteers and the Swiss Equestrian Friends, who passionately follow the Swiss riders at Gründenmoss every year.”

“In recent months, the federation has invested resources and time to support Longines CSIO St. Gallen and its organising committee with the aim of ensuring that it could take place under the best possible conditions,” Müller said. “We understand that important improvements need to be made to the footing. After intensive studies, investments have already been made and work has begun. We are firmly convinced that this show, which has shaped Swiss equestrian history like no other event, deserves to continue to exist as a Longines League of Nations event. We share the disappointment of everyone involved and the fans. It's a very heavy blow."

“We are determined to work with our partners and the FEI to organise an event of this magnitude in Switzerland again in the near future. We will work tirelessly on it. I personally take over the coordination and call on all equestrian fans to fight together for Swiss equestrian sport,” Müller added.

The organisers of Longines CSIO St. Gallen stated that they were “surprised and disappointed” by the news. “The organisers of Longines CSIO St. Gallen were informed today that the FEI has decided to prematurely terminate the contract signed for the Longines League of Nations for the period of 2024 to 2027,” read a statement published on CSIO St. Gallen’s social media accounts yesterday. “Following the cancellation of the Longines League of Nations qualifier in St. Gallen on 31 May 2024 due to extremely heavy rainfall, the organisers have together with the city and canton of St. Gallen and with support from Swiss Equestrian put all necessary and possible means in place to improve the quality of the show ring already for 2025.”