Turn of Mannheim (Germany) in the Longines EEF Series 2023

The EEF Series Second Division Nations Cup league has already started. The first event was last weekend in Gorla Minore, Italy, where a CSIO3* was held. This is the third consecutive year that the prestigious Longines EEF Series starts in Italy for its first leg, after which it will continue to tour up to 10 European countries for 5 action-packed months.

This Nations Cup is composed of 10 events that are divided by zones, the south zone, the central zone and the west zone, depending on the location of the celebration of these competitions that make up the Nations Cup.

The 5 best teams from each region will go directly to the semifinals and then the grand final to be held again in Warsaw.

Last week, with the CSIO3* held at Equieffe Equestrian Center in Gorla Minore, we could see that it was France who won the event, a very young team formed by Oliver Robert, Dylan Levallois, William Ligier de la Prade and Jules Orsoliniy.

Second place went to Portugal and third to Belgium. However, this stage was not a Longines EEF Series qualifier for France, as it was a southern region qualifier.

Meanwhile, far from the podium, the battle for Longines EEF Series points among the southern nations was very intense, with Bulgaria taking first place and taking the 100 points.

It should be noted that the teams that can compete in the event and compete for the trophy must be those located in the same zone. This weekend, the first event of the central zone will take place in Germany.

From May 3 to 9 we have a new championship in Mannheim (Germany), where the show jumping, dressage and para dressage championships will be held.

The following countries will participate in Germany: Spain, Sweden, Czech Republic, Austria, Netherlands, France, Hungary, Switzerland, Slovakia and Germany itself.

As we commented, in this event being of the central zone, Spain, Sweden and France only can participate for the test, since they are not part of this group. On the other hand, the countries of this group, will have a double objective, the general test and to add the maximum points for the EEF Longines Series League.

Spain has nothing at stake in Mannheim, but it will be useful to prepare for the next event. The competition in the Netherlands is the only one in the Western Zone, in which the Spanish will play the pass to the Semi-Final in Deauville.

However, two events will be held in the Netherlands, the first from May 18 to 21 in Peelbergen and the next from May 25 to 28 in Aalborg.

The Spanish team will be composed of Eduardo Álvarez Aznar, Sergio Álvarez Moya, Alberto Márquez Galobardes, Teresa Blázquez Abascal and Carolina Villanueva Suárez. The latter is under 25 as all teams must have a U25 rider.

Among all the participants, we highlight the Swedish team, as it has the number 1 of the FEI ranking, Henrik von Eckermann and the also well known rider Peder Fredricson.

Other interesting teams, for example, the Portuguese team is composed of Rodrigo Giesteira Almeida, Mario Prieto, Adir de Abreu and Antonio Matos Almeida. On the other hand, we also have Thibault Philippaerts, Gudrun Patteet, Jeroen Appelen and Gilles Thomas, from the Belgian team.

We will keep you informed about the Longines EEF Series on Horse TV.