With high hopes of winning the 2025 ACES World Capital of Sport award, Prince Albert II of Monaco has welcomed a delegation from the non-profit association to the Principality.
Monaco began its candidature for the 2025 World Capital of Sport title back in May, but the Principality has now officially received an ACES Commission, marking the next step in a journey towards gaining international recognition for its dedication to sport and sporting events.
“This small but enormously large city in terms of prestigious international events wants to strengthen with this candidacy not only its commitment to quality for the big sporting events, but also to promote the great work done in encouraging and promoting physical activity among its citizens,” said Hugo Alonso of ACES earlier this year. “A high-level candidacy that, if consummated by obtaining the title, would go on to join the exclusive list of World Sports Capitals along with Abu Dhabi, Guadalajara, Madrid, Konya and Sofia.”
For this most recent meeting in October, Prince Albert was there in person to meet and greet the ACES delegation, which thanked the Monegasque sovereign for his “warm welcome” on social media.
Despite falling well short of the usual 500,000 inhabitant criteria for a city applying for the World Capital of Sport title, Monaco’s status as a candidate is fortified thanks to its reputation as a host of multiple high profile sporting events each year, such as the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, the Monaco Grand Prix, various car rallies, sailing competitions and even a stage of the Tour de France in 2024. It is also home to the AS Monaco football team and the league-topping AS Monaco Basket Roca Team.
Speaking at a conference held in honour of the visiting ACES delegation, Monaco’s Interior Minister, Patrice Cellario, said, “It’s important to try and impress [the delegation] even if we aren’t sure that we have a chance of winning [the award]. The Principality’s has certain strengths… Sport is in the very DNA of the Principality, in the Prince of Monaco, in his family. Sport has always played an important role in the lives of the Princely family.”
About ACES
The non-profit association ACES assigns a number of awards each year that commemorate different cities’ commitment to sport, from World Capital of Sport to Mediterranean Capital of Sport and European Capital of Sport. Monaco, a place where “a fusion of sports, culture and diplomacy are the key ingredients that can lead to a remarkable achievement”, according to ACES, is setting its sights on the top level award.
“The allocation of these recognitions is done… 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,” says a spokesperson for ACES Europe, which maintains various partnerships with high-level organisations, including the European Commission for the European Week of Sport and UNESCO.
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Photo source: ACES Europe / Facebook