Team PracWhile Fort Worth, Texas, is hosting the FEI World Cup™ Finals for the first time in 2026, this is hardly the first time the major championship has called the U.S. home. Outside of Europe, the U.S. has welcomed the world’s best horse-and-rider combinations onto its soil more times than any other nation. We look back at past U.S. editions of the FEI World Cup™ Finals and forecast what lies ahead this year in the Lone Star State.
The Early Years of the FEI World Cup™ Finals
In recent years, the FEI World Cup™ Finals have consisted of dressage and jumping championships (as well as the occasional vaulting championship) running concurrently, but they were originally two separate events. The FEI Jumping World Cup™ Final first took place in 1979 in Gothenburg, Sweden, and the inaugural FEI Dressage World Cup™ Final was held in 1986 in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands. It wasn’t until 2005 that the two finals took place at the same location, with Las Vegas, Nevada, serving as the initial joint host city. Vegas held the honor of being the joint host again in 2007 and 2009 until the two championships officially became the FEI World Cup™ Finals in 2011. While Las Vegas has played host to an individual or joint final six times, several other U.S. cities have held the thrilling competition.