New League files complaint against FEI

The new Global Champions League (GCL) has filed a complaint against the FEI for imposing an “exclusivity clause” on riders, preventing them competing in the series.

‘Breach of EU law’

This clause prohibits riders, horses, and officials from taking part any non-FEI approved competition for a period of six months prior to their participation in an FEI event.

According to attorney Jean Louis-Dupont, who is representing GCL, the exclusivity clause is a “clear breach of EU competition law and therefore illegal”.

The new showjumping league was developed by the team behind the Global Champions Tour (GCT). The “football-style club competition” would see team owners picking two star riders from a squad of four to compete at each GCT event.

The GCL was due to launch this year. However, following a year of discussion, it has not been approved by the FEI. This means anyone who participated in the league would be banned from competing in FEI events.

Legal action

GCT President Jan Tops said: “It is with regret that the FEI has left us with no choice but to resort to legal action as has been the case in other sports in similar situations to overturn anti-competitive practices.”

“In the spirit of compromise, we agreed to make some changes which it appears were designed to protect the FEI’s Nations Cup. However, since then the FEI has refused to give us the go ahead and has caused us to postpone the launch at considerable expense.”

The complaint against the FEI also points out that the governing body is also a commercial organisation running its own events.

‘Strict neutrality’

FEI secretary general Sabrina Zeender has responded with a statement saying the federation has asked for full details of the complaint.

“The Global Champions Tour is one of a number of series that has been approved by the FEI,” she said. “One of the roles of the FEI as the world governing body of equestrian sport is to make sure that the rules are fair and in the interests of the sport.

“We always apply strict neutrality and the board of the FEI is competent to approve the series in a very fair and transparent way.”