August 11 marked one year to go until the 2026 FEI World Championships in Aachen, Germany. They will run August 10-23, 2026 (these dates include the first horse inspections which may or may not be viewable by the general public). Essentially a mini World Equestrian Games, Aachen 2026 will include competition in six of the seven FEI sports disciplines (dressage, driving, eventing, para-dressage, show jumping, and vaulting), as well as entertainment and educational sessions.
Stefanie Peters, President of the Aachen-Laurensberger, talked about their commitment to hold the 2026 Championships in an August 11 press conference, “It is a great honor for us to host these important Championships. We will do everything in our power to offer equestrian sport a stage that will do more than justice to this international highlight.”
She listed some of targeted investments, partly funded by the German government, that are to be made in time for the World Championships. These include installing a cover over Arena 3 and modernization of the cross-country course (which is being designed by Italian Giuseppe Della Chiesa), to name just a few. “Our goal is for Aachen to continue to be seen as the global flagship of equestrian sports in the future and to set new standards for major international events.”
FEI 2026 Aachen World Championships Schedule & Venue
The fourteen days of the 2026 Aachen World Championships competition is divided into two weeks with three sports each week. Week one features dressage, eventing and vaulting, then in week two show jumping, four-in-hand combined driving and para-dressage fill the calendar.
There will be three competition stadiums and an outdoor course where eventing cross-country and driving marathon will be run. The Main Stadium will host the opening ceremonies, dressage, show jumping, and the final show jumping phase of eventing. Stadium 2 will be the home of the driving dressage and cones phases and eventing dressage. Stadium 3 will stage the vaulting and para-dressage classes.
Rave Reviews for Aachen
Germany’s Isabell Werth, the most decorated dressage rider of all time, had nothing but praise for the 2006 Championships during a press conference to mark the one-year until Aachen 2026, “The FEI World Equestrian Games 2006 in Aachen were the greatest championships we, as riders, have ever experienced.”
“Aachen is the mecca of show jumping. It’s one of the greatest shows in the world,” said Olympian and U.S. Show Jumping Team Chef d’Equipe Robert Ridland, after a U.S. Team Nations Cup CSIO5* win in Aachen in July. “There’s truly nothing like winning as a team here in Aachen.”
Six-time Olympian for the USA, McLain Ward commented on his affinity for showing at Aachen while competing there in 2024, “I think I came to Aachen for the first time 30 years ago, not to date myself, and it just never gets old.”
2024 Olympic show jumping gold medalist Christian Kukuk from Germany attended the 2006 Aachen Championships as a 16-year-old spectator on the stands and looks forward to making a bid for his country’s team in 2026. He said he had always hoped that a Championship of this magnitude would be staged in Aachen again. “I have not forgotten that breathtaking atmosphere.”
Tickets, Travel & Housing Tips
Tickets for this every-four-years event are selling fast with over 50 percent already purchased, so don’t wait if you want to attend in person. Ticket prices run from the 15-Euro Village Passes (with no competition seating) up to 620 Euros for a show jumping all-access pass in the Mercedes Benz Grandstand, with many affordable pricing options in between.
Eventing cross-country and driving marathon tickets cost 50 and 30 Euros, respectively. Para-dressage tickets are free with the purchase of another ticket (stadium seating for another sport or a village pass). Reasonably priced standing-room-only stadium tickets are also available for dressage and show jumping. Ticket prices may also include local bus fare for the date on the ticket.
Closest airports to Aachen are Cologne Bonn Airport in Germany (53 miles), Düsseldorf Airport in Germany (62 miles), Maastricht Aachen Airport (17 miles) in the Netherlands and Liège Airport (37 miles) in Belgium. Aachen transportation options include trains and buses as well as car rentals, taxis, ride share companies such as Uber and FreeNow, and bicycle rentals. When looking for housing, in addition to looking in Germany, also consider hotels and rentals in Belgium and the Netherlands due to the close proximity of Aachen to those borders. The address of the Aachen showgrounds is: Albert-Servais-Allee 50, 52070 Aachen, Germany.
More About Aachen
The city of Aachen is located in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia directly bordering Belgium to the southwest and the Netherlands to the northwest. The city has approximately 261,000 residents and is situated in the northern foothills of the High Fens and the Eifel Mountains and along the Wurm River.
Links to More information
Ticket Sales
◆ Ticket Sales Brochure
◆ Online Ticket Sales
Television Coverage
The competition will also be available live and on demand on FEI.TV via ClipMyHorse (subscription required).
General Information
For more information about the 2026 FEI Aachen World Championships, visit their website or the 2026 Aachen FEI page.
◆ Aachen 2026 World Championships E-Newsletter
◆ Aachen Tourism (includes housing and travel information)
2026 FEI World Endurance Championships
Fans of the seventh FEI sport, endurance, should note that the 2026 FEI World Endurance Championships will be in AlUla, Saudi Arabia, on October, 17, 2026. For more information about that competition, visit here.
But Wait, There’s More!
Aachen 2026 also begins another exciting three-year cycle of top-tier equestrian championships with the 2027 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games following. Ticket sales for the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Lima 2027 Pan American Games should open soon. (Anyone considering a trip to the Lima Pan Am Games could easily tack on a side excursion to see the historic Machu Picchu site in the Peruvian Andes too. It’s well worth the effort and organized tourism packages are readily available through approved tourism vendors listed on the Games website.)
But before all of those, to whet the appetite of equestrian fans for international sport here in North America, the Maryland 5* at Fair Hill Three-Day Event happens October 15-19, 2025, the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event April 23-26, 2026, and then April 8-12, 2026, the USA will host FEI World Cup Finals for dressage and jumping at the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
Watch for further updates on all of these competitions, as well as event coverage, on HorseIllustrated.com and in print in Horse Illustrated magazine.
