It’s also one of the oldest. The organizing club dates back to 1898, and the event itself has run in something close to its current form since the 1920s, decades before most of what people now think of as major international sport existed in its current shape.

Key Takeaways

  • CHIO Aachen is organized by the Aachen-Laurensberger Rennverein, founded in 1898.
  • The first riding and driving tournament ran in 1924, drawing 20,000 spectators; international competition followed in 1927, and the first Nations Cup in 1929.
  • The event now spans five disciplines, show jumping, dressage, eventing, vaulting, and driving, across ten days.
  • The Rolex Grand Prix, CHIO Aachen’s marquee show jumping class, carries prize money in the seven figures, part of a broader endowment across the full ten-day programme.
  • CHIO Aachen is one leg of the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping; a rider who wins three Majors consecutively earns a bonus on top of standard prize money.

In This Article

What Is CHIO Aachen?

CHIO Aachen is an annual international equestrian festival held in Aachen, Germany, widely regarded as the largest event of its kind in the world. It runs across five disciplines over roughly ten days each summer at the Soers showgrounds, combining top-level sport with a scale of public attendance that few other equestrian events approach.

How Did CHIO Aachen Become the World’s Largest Equestrian Event?

The Aachen-Laurensberger Rennverein, the club that still organizes CHIO Aachen today, was founded in 1898. It took until 1924 for the club to host its first riding and driving tournament, an event that already drew 20,000 spectators, a serious number for a regional equestrian competition at the time. International competition followed in 1927, and 1929 brought the event’s first Nations Cup, the team format that remains central to top-level equestrian sport a century later.

That century of operation, through two world wars and the reconstruction that followed, is part of what separates CHIO Aachen from equestrian events with a shorter or more interrupted history. Scale followed longevity: the event now draws over 370,000 spectators across its ten days, a figure that puts it well ahead of comparable international equestrian festivals anywhere else in the world.

What Disciplines Does CHIO Aachen Cover?

Five disciplines run across the ten-day programme: show jumping, dressage, eventing, vaulting, and driving. Show jumping draws the largest public profile, largely because of the Rolex Grand Prix, CHIO Aachen’s marquee class and one leg of the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping, alongside the German Rolex Majors at Wellington and Spruce Meadows. A rider who wins all three Majors consecutively earns the Rolex Grand Slam trophy and a seven-figure bonus on top of the individual class’s own prize money, which sits in the seven figures itself.

That combination, genuine depth across five disciplines rather than a single headline event, plus prize money that rivals other major international sport, is a big part of why CHIO Aachen has kept its position at the top of the sport for a century rather than being overtaken by a newer, better-funded event elsewhere.

Why Does CHIO Aachen’s Scale Matter Beyond the Sport Itself?

An event running for a century, at this scale, with this kind of continuity, builds infrastructure most single-sport events never develop: a permanent showground, an established relationship with sponsors and broadcasters, and, relevant to anyone producing goods for the event, a settled annual production cycle that producers can actually plan around rather than negotiating from scratch every year.

What Does a Long-Term Collaboration With CHIO Aachen Actually Involve?

Am Ball has developed the CHIO Aachen Official Collection on an annual basis since 2020, a five-year run long enough to move past one-off event merchandise into a genuine yearly production cycle. That relationship covers three things:

  • Keychains, pins, and textiles, refreshed each year rather than reused as generic stock with a new date printed on it.
  • The closing-ceremony handkerchiefs, white handkerchiefs distributed for award ceremonies, rider farewells, and the festival’s closing moments, a tradition spectators have turned into one of CHIO Aachen’s own visual signatures, waved by thousands at the biggest sessions of the ten days.
  • A settled annual cycle, production planned against a known calendar instead of a fresh negotiation every year, the kind of continuity that detail-heavy, small-batch collectible production depends on to hold quality consistently at that pace.

A specific piece that becomes part of how an event is remembered is what a collaboration produces once it has run long enough. Our overview of what a merchandise agency relationship actually involves covers how that kind of long-running relationship typically works, for readers evaluating one for their own event or federation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is CHIO Aachen really the biggest equestrian event in the world?

Yes, by attendance. It draws more than 370,000 spectators across ten days at Aachen’s Soers showgrounds, a scale no comparable international equestrian festival matches.

How old is CHIO Aachen?

The organizing club, the Aachen-Laurensberger Rennverein, was founded in 1898. The first tournament ran in 1924, with international competition starting in 1927 and the first Nations Cup in 1929, making the event close to a century old in its current international form.

What disciplines are part of CHIO Aachen?

Five: show jumping, dressage, eventing, vaulting, and driving, all run across the same ten-day festival at the Soers showgrounds.

What is the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping?

A bonus competition across three of show jumping’s biggest events, CHIO Aachen and the Rolex Majors at Wellington and Spruce Meadows. A rider who wins all three consecutively earns a seven-figure bonus on top of each class’s own prize money.

Does Am Ball sell CHIO Aachen merchandise directly?

No. Am Ball produces the CHIO Aachen Official Collection, including the event’s traditional closing-ceremony handkerchiefs, but doesn’t operate direct-to-consumer sales for the event.

How long has Am Ball worked with CHIO Aachen?

Since 2020. Am Ball has produced the CHIO Aachen Official Collection, keychains, pins, and textiles, annually since then, alongside the event’s closing-ceremony handkerchiefs.

Conclusion

CHIO Aachen’s scale isn’t a recent development, it’s a century of continuity. It’s the result of the same organizing club running the same event for a hundred years, through interruptions that ended plenty of comparable institutions, and building the kind of depth, five real disciplines, genuine prize money, an actual permanent showground, that a newer or better-funded event still couldn’t replicate quickly. The white handkerchiefs waved at every closing ceremony are a small detail against that history, but they’re the kind of detail that only comes from a partnership that’s had years to become part of the event itself.

For a look at what that kind of multi-year event partnership actually takes to run, reach out to our team.