ACES Europe - Sport Federation of European Capitals and Cities granted Batumi City this honorary title for the year of 2019. The title will be given to the city of Batumi during an honorary ceremony in the European Union Parliament. The delegation of Batumi City Hall is headed by Mayor Lasha Komakhidze to the award ceremony. The title and flag of the European sports city was handed over to the Mayor of Batumi by the head of the European Capital of Cities and Cities Sports Federation ACES Europe, Jan Francesco Lupatel.

ACES Europe is a Brussels-based organization that grants annual European cities to the "European Sports Capital", "European Sport City", "European Sports Community" and "Small Sport City".

Prior to winning the title of the European sports city, The President of ACES Europe and a specially created Appraisal Commission arrived in Batumi where the delegation visited various sports facilities in the city, got acquainted with current and planned projects and learnt different sports achievements of the city throughout the history. According to the report prepared by ACES Europe, Batumi is a good example of a city, which combines rich sporting activities, with education, which ultimately is the main goal of ACES Europe. Exemplary sport policy and infrastructure, in conjunction with interesting projects and activities are also present in the city, according to the report. With this criteria, Batumi was awarded with the title of European sport. This fact confirms that Georgia is considered one of the sporting nations in Europe. In addition, the accepted status in the country will promote healthy lifestyle and popularization of sport amongst the youth. Sport development has been declared as one of the priority directions in Georgia by the Government of Georgia.

The 43rd World Chess Olympiad was held in Batumi, where 4 000 professionals and delegates from 189 countries participated and competed against each other. In addition, mass sports and cultural events will be intensively held in Batumi, coupled with a rich cultural experience which this famous Georgian coastal city provides.