HeadFirst Group partner Best of Champions

HeadFirst Group and The Dutch Masters have agreed on the partnership for the spectacular new competition Best of Champions. This unique showdown with the horse rotation, as previously used at world championships, will have its premiere at The Dutch Masters on Thursday evening 13 March 2025. Here, Olympic champion Christian Kukuk, World champion Henrik von Eckermann, European champion Steve Guerdat, and Dutch champion Willem Greve will not only ride their own horses, but also jump the course with each other's horses. This final with horse rotation was last ridden at the 2014 World Championships in Caen, France, where Jeroen Dubbeldam, sport director of The Dutch Masters, won gold with SFN Zenith.

Unique for sport and fans

HeadFirst Group is a leading, international HR tech services provider and boasts the largest platform for professionals in the Benelux, operating in 15 European countries. The organisation offers a diversity of HR solutions, such as Managed Service Providing, Recruitment Process Outsourcing, intermediary services (matchmaking, contracting) and HR consultancy. It employs more than 25 thousand professionals at over five hundred clients in Europe, with which HeadFirst Group realises an annual turnover of over EUR 2.5 billion. 

Marion van Happen, CEO at HeadFirst Group: ‘We are extremely happy with the cooperation with The Dutch Masters. Sport has the unique power to bring people together. At HeadFirst Group, we believe in the power of collaboration and connection. We ‘dare to lead’ by pushing the boundaries and creating new opportunities together with The Dutch Masters. With the return of Best of Champions, together we are doing something unique for the sport and its fans.’

Only the very best

Sport director Jeroen Dubbeldam is the initiator of this new interpretation of the Thursday night programme. ‘We are very happy that this Best of Champions competition has gone down so well with people,’ he said. Dubbeldam is delighted that a suitable partner has been found. ‘I have been to the company myself. It is a company that is very professional. When you walk in there, you immediately understand why they want to commit to the Best of Champions. They really want the best of the best. They dare to be bold and ambitious. You can see that - when you walk through the company - you can smell it and taste it. That's where the best riders in our sport fit in very well. We are very happy that HeadFirst Group is going to commit to Best of Champions. And I hope that in the future, if this class catches on as well as we think it will, we will be able to expand it.’