European has been named European City of Sport 2012, a title awarded to the cities that encourage their inhabitants to get involved in sport.

The City Council of the capital of Bizkaia has revealed that the award was announced in Brussels by the Federation for the Association of the European Capital and Cities of Support, ACES Europe.

As part of the selection process, an ACES assessment team visited Bilbao on 27 October 2011 to inspect the city’s sports facilities, which were recently refurbished with the new Miribilla sports halls (basketball), the Basque pelota court and the future San Mamés stadium.