Bulgaria’s Ruse has been granted one of the European City of Sport 2016 awards at a gala ceremony in the European Parliament in Brussels.

Wednesday's ceremony was attended by representatives of European cities and towns, MEPs from different political groups, as well as high-level officials and guests from the European Commission, the organisers - the European Capitals and Cities of Sport Federation (ACES Europe) - said.

A total of 31 cities collected the award for City, Community and European Town of Sport 2016 with Prague as the main protagonist of the day to receive the award from Turin as European Capital of Sport 2016.

The event was also attended by Capital of Sport Marseille 2017, Sofia 2018, Budapest 2019 and Malaga 2020.

Ruse Mayor Plamen Stoilov collected the award on behalf of the city located on the Danube River, in northeastern Bulgaria.

ACES Europe has been awarding European cities and towns for their contribution to the development of sports at local, national and international level every year since 2001.

In 2020 ACES Europe will start to grant a new award, World Capital of Sport, in order to extend the initiative outside Europe and to promote sports at local government level via global communication.