The UK will host the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest because the show cannot be held in Ukraine due to the ongoing war.
As the winner of this year’s contest, Ukraine will still qualify for the 2023 Grand Final alongside the “Big 5” countries who make the largest monetary contributions to the contest: UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
This will mark the ninth occasion on which the UK has hosted the event, including in Edinburgh in 1972.
Traditionally, the winner of the contest becomes the next host city. However, when it was decided that it would not be practical for Ukraine to host the contest, the European Broadcasting Union started searching for another host country last month.
The UK was runner-up to Ukraine in this year’s contest. TikTok artist Sam Ryder secured second place with the song Space Man, which later secured a spot in the UK’s Top 10 music chart.
The process by which cities can bid to host the song contest is yet to open and will do so next week.
However, social media posts have already started to suggest locations in the UK which would have the required infrastructure to host the event.
Glasgow and Manchester have been suggested as possible locations, whilst Sheffield City Council has confirmed its intention to place a bid with the local authority tweeting: “We’ve told Eurovision we’d love to host… watch this space.”
Commenting on the announcement, the BBC said:
We are honoured that we have been asked to take on hosting duties for the 67th Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ukraine. Clearly the set of circumstances our colleagues find themselves in is not what we wanted but we will work with UA: PBC and the other participating broadcasters to deliver a special event that has glorious Ukraine at its heart
Katie Philips, Director of Unscripted, BBC
Eurovision 2023 will be held in May next year and will be available to watch on the BBC.
Featured Image Credit: EBU / Sarah Louise Bennett
[…] As Brig has previously reported the decision to host Eurovision in the UK was made after it was deemed not to be practical for Ukraine , which won this year’s Eurovision to host the c… […]
[…] Brig previously reported how next year’s Eurovision will be held in the UK , after Ukraine, which won this year’s contest was not deemed as a practical option due to the ongoing conflict with Russia. […]