It may be coincidence, but there seems to be a close relationship between European or national capital of culture and European youth capital. In 2012 it was the city of Braga that was European Youth Capital, the same city that will be Portuguese Capital of Culture in 2025. In 2019 it was Novi Sad's turn, which will then be European Capital of Culture in 2022.

In 2023 the European Youth Capital was Lublin, which is currently in the running to become European Capital of Culture in 2029 (on the short list together with Bielsko-Biała, Katowice, Kołobrzeg). In 2024, the European Youth Capital is Ghent, which is currently running to become the European Capital of Culture for Belgium in 2030.

In 2025 the city of Lviv will be the European Youth Capital in Ukraina. But everything will depend on the war that is unfortunately still going on. In 2026 it will be Tromsø, Norway, that will hold the title of European Youth Capital. For 2027 the race has only just begun. Five cities have entered the shortlist: Chișinău / Moldova, Fuenlabrada / Spain, Málaga / Spain, Parma / Italy, Skopje / North Macedonia.

These five cities include Parma, which was the Italian Capital of Culture in 2020, and Skopje, which will be European Capital of Culture in 2028 along with Bourges / France and Budweis, Czech Republic.

The 5 cities in shortlist passed the other 6 cities in the running: Aarhus (Denmark), Eskişehir (Turkey), Gratwein-Straßengel (Austria), Nea Smyrni (Greece), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Spain), Tata (Hungary). The European Youth Capital offers a unique platform for young people to actively participate in shaping their communities and have a more significant influence on decisions that impact them. From the initial stages of the application process, cities are encouraged to highlight their collaborative efforts with young people, ensuring that the upcoming title year really reflects their ideas, interests, and perspectives.

Now the finalist cities have time to submit a more detailed application outlining an extensive programme of youth-related cultural, social and political events and activities for the whole year until 11 June 2024.

The finalists will then receive further recommendations on their detailed applications from the independent jury and a focus group. Finally, they will submit their final and updated applications on 1 October 2024.

After that, the finalist cities will have the opportunity to convince the European Youth Capital 2027 selection jury why it should be them who should be awarded the title at the jury meeting which will take place prior to the official Award Ceremony in November 2024 .