Normandy will host the 2014 Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) World Equestrian Games, the FEI Bureau announced today. This will be the seventh edition of the FEI World Equestrian Games and the first one to be held in France.

The Games are the world championships of the eight equestrian disciplines recognized by the FEI. Organizers expect to host 900 horses and 800 riders and drivers from 60 nations, as well as 300,000 spectators, for two weeks of competition in August 2014. The FEI World Equestrian Games will be broadcast widely and is expected to generate economic, tourist, and sports benefits.

“Hosting the FEI World Equestrian Games represents an exceptional opportunity for the promotion and development of Normandy on the international level,” said Laurent Beauvais, President of the Regional Council of Basse-Normandie and President of the Organizing Committee Normandy 2014.

“The allocation of the 2014 FEI World Equestrian Games to the region of Normandy in France is an important development for the future of our sport,” said FEI President HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein. “The bid committee, in cooperation with the French Equestrian Federation, have worked for eight years and presented a project of outstanding quality and vision which enjoys the support of the French government and regional authorities, and presents us as a sport with an exceptional platform in the very heart of a region that shares our passion for horses