With the Decree 2021-1824 of December 24, 2021, the French government has formally opened the manifestation of interest for the cities that want to participate in this competition.
At the moment these are the cities that have officially expressed interest in applying: Reims, Rouen, Bourges, Clermont-Ferrand, Banlieue, Saint Denis, Amiens. Certainly many more will be added. Time is not lacking.

Here is the link to the decree.