The Hague

The Hague, seat of government of the Netherlands and a city on the North Sea coast, was the European Capital of Sport 2022, in a handover from Lisbon. The title came as a fortunate rebound: the city first bid for the 2021 designation and narrowly lost it to Lisbon, so ACES recognised it the following year. It received the flag at the Annual Gala in Turin in March 2022 and opened its calendar with the tennis Davis Cup. Its year was marked by two highlights: a Sport Congress in September and, above all, the 2020 Invictus Games — the competition for wounded servicemembers and veterans founded by Prince Harry — finally held in April 2022 at the Sportcampus Zuiderpark with around 500 athletes from 17 nations. The project's philosophy, captured in the 'Go Go The Hague' programme, was to use the title to get more residents moving and keep them active, reinforcing its identity as a sports city by the sea.