The FIA had long organised international cross-country rally competition, but the structure underwent a significant reorganisation at the start of the 2011 season. At that point the existing FIA Cross-Country Rally World Cup was merged with the FIA's International Cup for Cross-Country Bajas — a separate series covering shorter, looped baja-format off-road events — to create a single unified competition. This consolidation brought the two primary formats of cross-country rally raiding under one points structure, with the aim of providing a coherent championship pathway for competitors across different event types.
The combined series ran for several years before the baja format was again separated. From the beginning of the 2019 season the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas was established as a standalone competition running alongside the main cross-country rally series, allowing both formats to develop their own championships and to attract participants suited to each type of event.
The series awarded annual championships to the leading driver and co-driver as well as to the leading team. Additional trophies were given to the top finishers in the T2 class, covering production-based cross-country vehicles, and in the T3 class for light prototypes. These supplementary titles recognised that cross-country rally competition attracted a broad range of machinery and competitor types beyond the outright prototype frontrunners.
From 2022, the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies was merged with the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship — the equivalent series administered by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme for motorcycle and quad competitors — to form the World Rally-Raid Championship. This unified series brought four-wheeled and two-wheeled cross-country competition under a single championship umbrella with shared qualifying events, a structure intended to increase the profile and commercial coherence of the discipline.
The World Rally-Raid Championship incorporated major events including the Dakar Rally, the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, the Rallye du Maroc, and other rounds that had long served as qualifying events for the FIA World Cup. The merger effectively ended the FIA World Cup as a standalone entity, with its functions absorbed into the new joint championship.
The FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies provided the primary international regulatory framework for rally raid competition during a period in which the discipline grew significantly in profile and commercial interest. The series gave context and legitimacy to results at major events beyond the Dakar Rally itself, offering a season-long points competition that rewarded consistent performance across multiple rounds rather than single-event results. Its eventual merger into the World Rally-Raid Championship reflected both the maturation of the discipline and a broader FIA strategy to consolidate international motor sport championships.