LAUSANNE, Switzerland, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A total of 10 countries have put in formal bids to host the FEI World Championships 2022, including two proposals to host the multi-discipline FEI World Equestrian Games, equestrian sports' world governing body FEI said here on Thursday.

The FEI said in a statement that the bidding countries are Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, the Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, and the United States.

Italy, who hosted the 1998 World Equestrian Games in Rome following Ireland's late withdrawal, are looking to once again host the full Games. The Saudi Arabian capital city of Riyadh is also in the running having put forward an all-discipline bid for 2022.

"The number of formal bids that we've received for single and multi-discipline FEI World Championships and full Games is an excellent indication that the interest in the World Championships is as strong if not stronger than ever," FEI President Ingmar De Vos said.

"We knew that some of the countries that put in expressions of interest back in February were just dipping their toes in the water, but these formal bids are a great validation of the new bidding process and show that we have a really strong product."

The FEI initiated a bidding process for individual World Championships in all disciplines for 2022 after the FEI General Assembly in Manama, Bahrain, in November 2018.

The FEI Board decided that multi-discipline bids would be given preference, and that Dressage and Para Dressage should be combined. The World Championships in 2022 in the Olympic and Paralympic disciplines will serve as qualifiers for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

All bids will be fully evaluated over the summer and the allocation of FEI World Championships 2022 will be made at the in-person board meeting during the FEI General Assembly in Moscow, Russia, in November this year.