There are currently two front-runners for an alternative location for next year’s Eurovision song contest
Ukraine won the 2022 Eurovision song contest, storming the competition following the reveal of the public votes, ending with 631 points, followed by the UK in second place with 466 points and Spain a close third with 459 points.
It resulted in this very emotional moment with Timur Miroshnychenko – basically Ukraine’s answer to Graham Norton – who was commenting on this year’s Eurovision Final from inside a bomb shelter at an undisclosed location:
Тимур Мірошниченко, який коментує Євробачення багато років, цього року коментував його із бомбосховища і ледве стримав сльози. «Ми перемагаємо на музичному фронті і переможемо на тому самому фронті» 🇺🇦 #Ukraine #EUROVISION pic.twitter.com/IKjFwCBqMQ
— Kristina Berdynskykh (@berdynskykh_k) May 14, 2022
Following the win, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to Telegram and Instagram to celebrate:
“Our courage impresses the world, our music conquers Europe! Next year Ukraine will host the Eurovision! For the third time in its history. And I believe – not for the last time. […] Sure, our winning chord in the battle with the enemy is not far away!”
The European Broadcasting Union, who produce the Eurovision event – and revealed there were “irregular voting patterns” during Saturday night’s final – also released a statement directly following Ukraine’s win:
“We congratulate Ukraine and Kalush Orchestra on their win and superb performance. Now we will begin planning for 2023 with winning broadcaster UA:PBC (the public broadcaster in Ukraine). Obviously, there are unique challenges involved in hosting next year’s competition.
“However, as in any other year, we look forward to discussing all the requirements and responsibilities involved in hosting the competition with UA:PBC and all other stakeholders to ensure we have the most suitable setup for the 67th Eurovision Song Contest.”
With the current situation in Ukraine, they may be unable to physically host the 2023 Eurovision song contest and there are already two front-runners for the alternative location.
One is to request this year’s runner-up to host, which would mean next year’s event could be held somewhere within the UK.
The second is for a volunteer to come forward to host the event. This has only ever happened once before, for the 25th Eurovision song contest in 1980. Israel won two years in a row, and then hosting in 1978 and 1979, that year they won yet again but declined to host a third time.
The Netherlands volunteered to host in their place, with the final being held in The Hague, ending with Ireland’s Johnny Logan taking the win.
Already this week, Stockholm’s mayor Anna Konig Jerlmyr has contacted the Ukrainian ambassador to Sweden to offer her city as an alternative.
Other countries are also sure to volunteer following Ukraine’s win, but at the moment, all eyes are on Sweden or the UK as potentially being the 2023 Eurovision location.
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