By way of background, Mr Holmberg explained that the current contract stipulated that negotiations with a new sponsor should not begin until 1 January 2008 and that this was a short time considering what needed to be done including creating a new product, finding a sponsor and reaching agreement with all those involved.

"Long-term the intention is to include more nations, to move the sport outside Europe and to enable more countries to take part at top level. There has been criticism of the current format which has been described as a "closed shop" with very little opportunity for new countries to break in, and with the same countries re-entering the series after being relegated", Mr Holmberg pointed out.

A proposed new format was presented in April at a meeting in Interlaken, Switzerland, and further developed following discussions during CHIO Aachen in July and a meeting of the FEI Jumping Committee at FEI headquarters in Lausanne last Tuesday.

A short summary of the new series

- Each Nations Cup competition will offer at least 300,000 Euros in prize money with an additional 300,000 Euros on offer in the Grand Prix at each venue

- The sponsor will provide the Nations Cup prize fund and the show organiser will provide the Grand Prix prize fund

- There will be a maximum of eight events with a total of 10 teams. If the host country is not qualified, the home team is entitled to participate at the event

- There will be a maximum of five riders and 12 horses from each nation. In the first season three teams will qualify through the Rolex World Rankings as at 31 December 2008

- In future there will be three tiers of Nations Cup competition - Top Level, Promotional which will include events from 2-Star to 5-Star level and Lower Level which will include only 2-Star shows

- The 2009 series will include La Baule, Rome, St Gallen, Falsterbo, Rotterdam, Aachen, Hickstead and Dublin

- The last leg will take place in Dublin, but double-points will NOT be on offer

- The new format will operate for just one year after which it will be reviewed and modified

- There was a meeting in Barcelona today to begin the process of making contracts with show organisers

- The standard contract will be for one year, with the option of one further year

- Each of the organising committees have been give of list of improvements they must make to their own event in order to satisfy the criteria.

The FEI is in advanced negotiations with a new sponsor and when the final agreement is reached the FEI will communicate it officially.