Originally known as the Ennia Challenge Cup, the first installment of this competition was held in November 1976 at the Thialf in Heerenveen. It was sponsored by the Heerenveen Figure Skating Club and the Ennia insurance company, and was a competition only for women. Eleven women representing Australia, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, West Germany, as well as the Netherlands, competed. Jel Geldof, secretary of the Heerenveen Figure Skating Club, explained that Ennia wanted to sponsor the competition in order to give figure skating more prominence in the Netherlands. However, as planning began late, it was not included on the calendar of the International Skating Union, and it was too late for many nations, especially those in the Eastern Bloc, to schedule their skaters.^[1] Though the competition was considered a success, Ennia made certain demands in exchange for their continued sponsorship: the competition in 1997 had to be expanded to include the men's and pairs events, be placed on the official ISU calendar and scheduled such that it didn't conflict with the Richmond Trophy in Great Britain, and it had to attract top-tier skaters, including those from Eastern Europe.^[2]

In 1977, the Ennia Challenge Cup was relocated to The Hague. Herman van Laer, chairman of the Royal Dutch Skating Federation, cited Dianne de Leeuw as the source of inspiration for a resurgence of interest in skating in the Netherlands, and hoped to capitalize on that with an international skating competition. It was the first such competition in Dutch history. In addition to events in men's singles, women's singles, and ice dance, a special event was staged on the last day of the competition, where team members from the different disciplines competed together to accumulate points based on their performances.^[3]

Due to a request from the ISU, the Ennia Challenge Cup omitted compulsory figures and compulsory dances from the competition beginning in 1978. The ISU explained that the omission was a trial experiment to help guide future decision-making.^[4] Compulsory figures were discontinued internationally after the 1990 World Figure Skating Championships.^[5] At the 1978 competition, Denise Biellmann of Switzerland, winner of the women's event, had her name given to a new strain of tulip, and a bouquet of her namesake tulips was presented to her by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands.^[6]

In 1983, Ennia announced a merger with AGO to form Aegon; the competition was renamed the Aegon Challenge Cup.^[7] However, the 1984 event was the last for several years. The competition – now called the International Challenge Cup – returned in 2007, and instead of being held in the fall, it was now held in the spring. It also featured events for junior-level skaters, but did not include the team event.^[8] Since 2017, the Dutch Figure Skating Championships have been held in conjunction with the International Challenge Cup, and the top Dutch competitors are recognized as the Dutch national champions.^[9] In 2023, the competition was relocated to Tilburg.^[10]