In 2015 Vienna had Eurovision fans \u201cBuilding Bridges.\u201d And in 2026 the Viennese will welcome us once more under the banner of \u201cUnited by Music.\u201d That\u2019s after Austria\u2019s state broadcaster ORF confirmed Vienna as host city of Eurovision 2026.<\/p>\n
The 70th edition of the song contest will take place inside Wiener Stadthalle, which hosted ten years ago when M\u00e5ns Zelmerl\u00f6w won for Sweden.<\/p>\n
The first semi-final will take place on May 12, with the second semi-final on May 14 and the grand final on May 16.<\/strong><\/p>\n Vienna named host city of Eurovision 2026 \u00a0<\/p>\n Eurovision 2026 dates and host city confirmed (EBU PRESS RELEASE)<\/p>\n We are re-publishing the EBU\u2019s press release in full below.<\/p>\n Austria\u2019s capital Vienna has been selected by Host Broadcaster ORF and the EBU to host the 70th Eurovision Song Contest in May 2026.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n ORF will stage next year\u2019s competition following JJ\u2019s win in Basel on 17 May with \u201cWasted Love\u201d, giving his country its third Eurovision Song Contest win.<\/p>\n The Grand Final of the 70th Eurovision Song Contest will be held on\u00a0Saturday 16 May<\/strong>\u00a0at the Wiener Stadthalle, Austria\u2019s largest indoor arena, with Semi-Finals earlier the same week on\u00a0Tuesday 12 May<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Thursday 14 May<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n A whole week of activities will take place around the Contest in Vienna with more details of the location of the Eurovision Village, Euroclub and much more to be revealed in the coming weeks and months.<\/p>\n THIRD VISIT TO VIENNA<\/p>\n Vienna hosted the first Contest to\u00a0be held in Austria in 1967 following Udo J\u00fcrgens\u2019 win with \u201cMerci\u00a0Ch\u00e9rie\u201d in 1966.<\/p>\n It\u00a0also hosted the 60th Eurovision Song Contest in 2015, following Conchita Wurst\u2019s victory in 2014, and will now host the 70th edition in 2026.<\/p>\n Austria\u2019s capital was chosen to welcome delegations from participating public broadcasters following a competitive city bid process that examined facilities at the venue, local infrastructure and the ability to accommodate thousands of visiting delegations, crew, fans and journalists from around the world, amongst other criteria.<\/p>\n \u201cHEART OF EUROPE\u201d<\/p>\n Martin Green CBE, Director of the Eurovision Song Contest said: \u201cThe EBU is thrilled that Vienna has been selected as the Host City for the Eurovision Song Contest 2026.<\/p>\n \u201cVienna\u2019s reputation as one of the most musical cities in the world, and its location in the heart of Europe, makes it the perfect Host City for the 70th Eurovision Song Contest.<\/p>\n \u201cThe city\u2019s exceptional Stadthalle was a great\u00a0venue\u00a0for the 60th Contest in 2015 and we\u2019re very much looking forward to welcoming delegations, artists and fans alike back there next May as the world\u2019s largest live music event celebrates 70 glorious years of being United by Music.<\/p>\n \u201cTogether with Host Broadcaster ORF and the city of Vienna we will create a spectacular celebration of music that will reverberate across the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Roland Wei\u00dfmann, Director General of Host Broadcaster ORF added: \u201cAfter thorough examination and based on a unanimous jury assessment, ORF concluded that Vienna\u2019s offer is not only the most attractive in terms of infrastructure and logistics but also economically. The Contest is a celebration for all of Austria, which we will all be proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n ACCESSIBLE TO EVERYONE<\/p>\n Vienna\u2019s Mayor Michael Ludwig is excited to welcome the world to the Austrian capital in 2026: \u201cIn Vienna, we can be proud that our city has been selected by the EBU and ORF as the most suitable Host City for one of the world\u2019s largest events.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe submitted a convincing overall package with enormous accommodation capacities, excellent infrastructure, and a lot of experience in hosting international events. Additionally, we placed great emphasis on offering numerous Eurovision Song Contest events in public spaces that can be visited free of charge.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAs the Mayor of Vienna, it is very important to me that cultural events are accessible to everyone, regardless of the size of their wallet. As the Mayor of Vienna, I am, of course, pleased that Vienna was able to prevail and that Austria can represent itself again next year. We will have a great May together; I am convinced of that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Vienna Tourism Director Norbert Kettner added: \u201cVienna and the Eurovision Song Contest are a perfect match: the cosmopolitan capital of music and the world\u2019s largest music show. Vienna and Europe will be United by Music again in 2026. We look forward to the proven partnership with ORF and EBU and are working with great energy to build on the great success of 2015 next year. Vienna offers ideal conditions for this: over 80,000 hotel beds, excellent connections by plane and train, and a proven event infrastructure. This gives ORF the freedom to focus entirely on what matters \u2013 an unforgettable show.\u201d<\/p>\n HOSTING BENEFITS<\/p>\n Recent Host Cities have all reported\u00a0huge gains from welcoming the Eurovision Song Contest.<\/p>\n Liverpool (2023), Malmo (2024) and Basel (2025) received global promotion, hundreds of thousands of extra visitors, both during and following the event, and\u00a0reported significant economic benefits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2015 Vienna had Eurovision fans \u201cBuilding Bridges.\u201d And in 2026 the Viennese will welcome us once more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":[18,117,10677,19,17,128,10678,10679],"class_list":{"0":"post-11062","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-eurovision-dates","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-tv","14":"tag-vienna","15":"tag-wiener-stadthalle"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}