The Global Champions Tour (GCT) is an annual show jumping series that comprises 14 rounds of competition hosted around the world. It brings together the top 30 riders in the FEI Jumping World Rankings.
It was founded in 2006 by the Olympic gold medalist Jan Tops. Member of the Monaco royal family Charlotte Casiraghi is Honorary President of the Jumping International de Monte-Carlo leg of the tour and regular high-profile competitors include Athina Onassis, Georgina Bloomberg, Jessica Springsteen, Sofia Abramovich, Guillaume Canet and Jennifer Gates.
In 2014, overall LGCT Championship winner Scott Brash (see Rules below) received just under €300,000, making it the biggest single prize in any of the three Olympic equestrian disciplines (dressage, eventing and showjumping). During this season, Brash won over €852,000 in total prize money making the Longines Global Champions Tour one of, if not the, richest equestrian sporting series in the world.
Since 2007, all LGCT events have been held as CSI 5*, which means that under FEI rules they are championship-level events. The LGCT classes are run under FEI rules but the governing body has no part in the organisation of the series, aside from ratifying the schedule. The LGCT is not an FEI series like the World Cup or the Nations Cup competitions.
The television broadcaster is Eurosport.
Allowed to participate in Global Champions Tour (GCT) events are:
Until 2016 GCT competitions consisted of two rounds, plus a Jump-Off. The course was changed after the first round and the second round was limited to the top-18 riders of the first round or all fault-free riders if there were more than 18 zero-point-rounds. The points collected during the first round were added to the points collected during the second round.
When FEI accepted the Global Champions League as an international jumping series in 2017 the mode of the Global Champions Tour was changed:
a Global Champions League competition is held the day before the Global Champions Tour Grand Prix. The second round of the Global Champions League competition is the qualification out of which the top-25 riders qualify individually for the Global Champions Tour.
The Global Champions Tour competition is a single-round competition plus a Jump-Off. All riders start with zero points. The horse can be changed between the two competitions.