Governance and citizenship

The search for the 2012 European Capital of Sports is now underway, Dublin, Ireland, being the current title holder for 2010 and Valencia, Spain, having already been designated as such for the year 2011.

The title is awarded annually by the European Capitals of Sport Association (ACES) to a city having promoted sports and pursued innovative municipal sports policies. Madrid, Spain, was the first city to win the title in 2001.

To be eligible, applicants must either be capital cities or have a population superior to 500 000. Applications should be submitted to the City of Stuttgart, Germany, before 30 June, 2010. The winner is to be announced in autumn 2010.

The award-winning cities become a part of a European network allowing for an exchange of good-practices and experiences and the development of joint initiatives for the advancement of sport. The sports capital of the year must also host an international sports congress, with the participation of ACES.

The European Commission strongly supports the European Capital of Sports award and helps ACES in its efforts to promote and advance sports in all European cities. This support has become all the more pertinent with the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. Indeed, Article 6 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union provides the EU with the right to carry out 'actions to support, coordinate or supplement the actions of member states" in the area of sports.

The ACES, founded in 1999 in Milan, Italy, aims at promoting and expanding the universal Olympic values at the municipal level with five objectives in mind: (1) exercise as fun, (2) willingness to achieve, (3) feeling of community, (4) fair play, and (5) health improvement.