The World Capital of Sport will be awarded to Abu Dhabi and the American Capital of Sport will be given to Santiago de Cali in a ceremony on 5 December 2018 jointly organized by ACES Europe in collaboration with UNESCO.

ACES Europe awarded the World Capital of Sport recognition to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, that has developed a sports policy which includes an important annual budget allocation to its Sport Council. Public programmes of high quality and innovation include the transformation of the Formula One circuit of Yasmarina as a bicycle path for the public, the organization of popular sport competitions in public areas and construction of multi-purpose facilities.

Santiago de Cali in Colombia will receive the award of the American Capital of Sport, a new award of ACES Europe. Mayor Maurice Armitage leads the city’s advocacy for using sport and physical activity as a tool for inclusion. Currently implementing 14 social programmes, Cali allocates 6% of its total annual budget to sport, twice the average in Europe. The city is developing a 10-year Master Plan linked to national policies that guarantee the right to sport and recreation.

ACES Europe is a non-profit association based in Brussels which assigns every year the recognitions of European Capital, City, Community and Town of Sport. The allocation of these recognitions is done by ACES Europe, according to the principles of responsibility and ethics, being aware that sport is a factor of aggregation of the society, improvement in the quality of life, psycho-physical well-being and complete integration within social classes in the community. ACES Europe awards the European Capital of Sport title, an initiative that has received the recognition of the European Commission in the White Paper (Art. 50). In addition, ACES Europe is an official partner of the European Commission in the European Week of Sport.

On this occasion, ACES Europe will sign a Letter of Agreement with UNESCO to pursue join efforts to enhance sports programmes for social inclusion.