The beginning of Jumping competitions – “Nations cup” could be traced in XIX century.
The first registered results of team competitions by FEI were made in the early 1909.
Historians consider that neither London, nor San Sebastian as organizers knew that they must write down a statistic of team results and give prizes to the winners.
For the fist time a team competition was held in Olympia Hall in London and each team comprised of three officers. In this first competition the following nations took part: France, England, Canada, Belgium and Argentina. The first outdoor team competition was held in San Sebastian – Italy in which teams from Italy, France, England, Belgium, Argentina, Spain and Portugal took part. In that competition the team was made up of 5 officers. The French team won the competition in London, while the host – Italy won in San Sebastian.  
In the years before the First World War, 21 Nations Cup were organized. France dominated by winning 6 of the competitions, while Belgium won 5 prizes. Russia had participated in only 4 competitions and had won 3 of them – in London – 1912, 1913 and 1914. Italy and Netherlands, each won 2 prizes.
Nations Cup competitions after the war - in the years till 1929 were organized 17 times. At that time the cavalry dominated, the army and the best competitors were the cavalry officers. Leaders were still Italy and France, but new strong nations appeared – Germany and Ireland.
From 1929 to 1942, 200 Nation Cup competitions were held. Italy won 41 of them, Germany – 37, France – 26, Ireland – 23, England – 17 and Poland – 16.
After the break during the Second World War, for the first time the competitions were organized in Dublin, New York and Toronto.
In 1955, FEI takes a decision each member to organize only one Nations Cup competition.
Till the end of 80ties the number of Nation Cups was only 16 in the whole world. Bulgaria organizes such competitions from 1983 in Voivodinovo – Plovdiv.
After 1998 the number of Nation Cups rapidly increased.
From 1965 the team, which won most points for the season won the Presidential Cup. England first won this Cup. With three exceptions the cup was won only by England, France and Germany. Switzerland was Vice Champion three times, but never succeeded to become a Championship.

SPONSORSHIP

It’s interesting that until 1985 no money awards were given, till then it was a question of pride to present your country in Nation Cup competitions.
In 1987 this competition had its first sponsor – the Italian manufacturer of luxurious leather products – “Gucci”. Gucci was the sponsor till 1990, when was replaced by HCS – a Dutch Technology company. Unfortunately due to the recession the sponsorship of HCS was too short – only for one season.

In the nineties the number of Nation Cups increased to 32 in 1997-1998.  In 1989 - 29 federations participated, while in 1995 they were 37.
For the organization of such a prestigious event a lot of time, efforts and funds are needed, especially stables with many boxes for the horses. A competition with 10 participating nations takes more than 4 hours.
In the beginning of nineties the FEI took a decision only 6 teams to participate in the second round.
Without having a sponsor till 1991, the series welcomed Samsung Electronics, part of Samsung Group – the largest industrial enterprise in Korea for 1997. Samsung joins Volvo - the sponsor of Individual World Cup of many years’ duration. These two companies turned out to be the biggest supporters of equestrian sport in the world.
From all sports, which Samsung sponsored /from baseball to badminton/ the equestrian sport is of great significance, said Michael Hyon. He illustrated aspects of Samsungs’ own policy of “cooperation as harmony, quality and strategy”. 
The first sponsorship season of Samsung started in 1997 with the French CSIO in La Bol and ended in September with the World final in Calgary – Canada. This final was won by the American team. The finals of the next season were in Donawenshenghen – Germany and were won by the French team, which gained a victory over the Dutch field in a dramatical competition. The finals of the previous season were again won by the French competitors. For the fist time Bulgarian team competes and took the 8th place.
From 2003 Samsung sponsors rounds from the Super League, in which the first 8 teams take part, which gained qualification the previous season.
David Brum possess the utmost world record for participation in Nation Cup competitions  – 108. His first competition was in 1959.
Bill Stenkrauz – one of the greatest riders, which Nations Cup competitions ever had. 
He said: “For me the Nations Cup competition is the heart and soul of horse sport. This competition has prestige, and participating in it is always very special, emotional and all riders of the team are winners, when their team is first.”   

NAMES OF NATIONS CUP

1909 – 2006  winners/by countries