FEI announced the decision in a bid to maintain the finals of the competition in Barcelona in Spain, scheduled for October.

A total of 22 nations will be invited to compete at the finals at the Barcelona Polo Club with all qualifying events except the Middle East qualifier in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates being wiped from consideration.

Those nations who qualified in the UAE were the hosts and Syria and they will retain their places in the final alongside the hosts of the finals themselves Spain.

All 10 nations from Europe, all from Europe's Division One, will directly qualify for the final as well as the three teams from North America -  Mexico, Canada and the United States.

The other six spots will be determined by the world rankings with two quota spots dedicated to South America as well as Asia/Australasia while Africa and Eurasia are guaranteed one place each.

Some of those nations that could qualify include Brazil, Australia, Egypt, Colombia and Jordan.

FEI President Ingmar De Vos said it was the fairest system under the current situation ahead of the finals.

De Vos said, "There is no certainty that teams would be able to travel to any of the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup events that are able to go ahead, and without a fair qualification system and the impossibility of being able to offer a level playing field where all teams have the same possibility to train and participate at events, this was a decision that had to be made.

"Of course all this is dependent on what happens with the pandemic and we truly hope that there will soon be respite from all the terrible suffering around the globe, but we need to be optimistic and having the FEI Jumping Nations Cup Final in Barcelona in October with up to 22 countries competing for our sport's most prestigious team title is a goal we are hoping can be realised."

In the meantime, the Dressage Calendar Task Force has also met to discuss changes via teleconference as FEI's eight disciplines are separately planning their calendars due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has upset many 2020 events.

The main topics raised in the group included deadlines for National Federations to come back to the FEI for proposed alternative dates for 2020 events as well as managing date clashes.

Also on the agenda were the Dressage Championships for 2020 and 2021 and the FEI Dressage Nations Cup 2020 and the FEI Dressage World Cup Final 2021.

On April 20, a joint task force will be held between driving, vaulting and reining disciplines with particular focus on the FEI European Championships for youth and seniors in 2020 and 2021.

Also next week, jumping will hold their second task force meeting on April 22 and eventing will hold their first on April 24.

The rest of April will see dressage hold their second meeting on April 28, followed a day later by the endurance conference and then on April 30, Para dressage.