The Dutch based Moroccan Olympian Yessin Rahmouni ihas qualified for the 2026 World Cup Finals in Fort Worth for the one slot as non-league rider.
Non-League Rider or FEI Extra Starting Place?
The starting place for Non-League NFs are allocated to the highest ranked Athlete on the February list of the current year FEI Dressage World Ranking List (DWRL), on application from the respective NF. The application must reach the FEI not later than two (2) weeks following the publication of this DWRL.
Eighteen riders compete in the annual World Cup Finals: Normally 9 spots go to Western Europe League riders (the top nine (9) WEL Athletes in the final WEL Standings excluding any Non-WEL Athlete(s), 2 to Central European league riders, 3 for North America, 1 for Asia-Pacific, 1 for a non-league rider, and 1 for the title defender, and 1 extra starting place.
A complicated set of rules determines the extra starting place (see Art. 16.8. on page 15 + 16 of the rules).
Rahmouni Gets Ticket to Fort Worth
The Moroccan equestrian federation announced that Rahmouni qualified for the 2026 World Cup Finals based on his one participation in a Western European League world cup qualifier.
"The Royal Moroccan Equestrian Federation is pleased to announce Yessin Rahmouni's qualification for the upcoming World Championships thanks to his 67,848% at the CDI-W's-Hertogenbosch," the FRMSE announced on social media.
The FEI confirmed to Eurodressage that Yessin's slot concerns the "non-league rider" slot for which combinations have to compete in one CDI and one World Cup qualifer.
Kind of Magic
Rahmouni competed the 11-year old KWPN gelding Kind of Magic (by ) at the 2026 CDI-W 's Hertogenbosch last weekend and posted 67.848% in the Grand Prix and 72.865% in the kur.
After handing over the reins of his double Olympian ride All at Once to Lara van Nek, Yessin returned to the big tour arena with a new horse, Kind of Magic, in November 2025 at the CDI Kronenberg Indoor. Their second show was the CDI Lier in February and Den Bosch was only their third international show so far.
"I have been riding him for a year now, but have known him since he was three," Yessin told Eurodressage. "He's owned by Joy Geerts whose been a good friend for years and who always joins me at shows. She has trained him from when he was three and always took lessons with me. Last year she got pregnant and was struggling with the one tempi changes, so that's when I started riding him."
When asked if he considers him his 2028 L.A. Olympic hopeful, he replied, "I would prefer to keep him for L.A. because he's a young and talented Grand Prix horse but he might be for sale."
Photo © Astrid Appels
Related Links
Scores: 2026 CDI-W 's Hertogenbosch
Eurodressage Coverage of the 2025-2026 World Cup show circuit