[9] Following the approval of the Bid Document, it was sent to the 50 NOCs in Europe alongside a letter from EOC President Janez Kocijančič inviting applications.

[12][13] Soon after, Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, Russia expressed its interest in hosting the 2023 Games and its intention to submit an application to the EOC.

[23][24][25] The mayor of Kraków, Jacek Majchrowski, had previously said that the city might decline to run the Games without support from regional and national government.

[32] In July 2019, Hasan Arat, the vice-president of the Turkish Olympic Committee, was named chair of the EOC's Co-ordination Commission for the 2023 Games.

[33] In October the same year, both the city of Kraków and the Małopolska region signed a letter of intent confirming their joint commitment to the hosting of the Games.

A spokesperson of the office of the mayor of Kraków, Jacek Majchrowski, said that the city had agreed to host the Games "only on condition that the government subsidised the necessary infrastructure".

[37] However, Majchrowski said that he would not sign the agreement until the government has introduced legislation supporting the event's organisation, leading to suggestions that Katowice, the original bid city, and the Silesia region could end up hosting the Games.

[37][38] In a statement, the EOC said they were "working closely with the organisers" and remained "confident" that Kraków would sign the host city contract.

[39] In early March 2021, the EOC entered into talks with Silesian officials to explore the possibility of the region co-hosting the event.

[76] In September 2020, a group of European politicians (including Liz Barker, a member of the House of Lords and Terry Reintke and Marc Angel, two MEPs) published a letter addressed to the European Olympic Committees in which they demanded LGBT rights be respected and suggested that the Games should be held in a different location due to the Małopolska region's status.

[81] The Małopolska region revoked its declaration of an LGBT ideology-free zone on 27 September 2021 and instead adopted a resolution to "oppose any discrimination against anyone for any reason".

[82] The Polish government has announced that athletes representing Russia and Belarus would not be allowed to attend the games as a result of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.