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Will Ukraine really host Eurovision 2023?

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, "We will do our best to one day host the participants and guests of Eurovision in Ukrainian Mariupol."

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A decision will need to be made imminently about whether Ukraine can host Eurovision 2023, due to the logistics around the event.

Kalush Orchestra lead singer Oleh Psiuk told press: “Next year, Ukraine will be happy to host the Eurovision Song Contest, and indeed all of Europe, in the new, integrated, happy Ukraine. It is too soon to talk about our plans, but of course we will do everything possible to make the next Eurovision happen in the new, peaceful Ukraine.”

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy echoed that sentiment in an Instagram post: “Next year Ukraine will host Eurovision! […] We will do our best to one day host the participants and guests of Eurovision in Ukrainian Mariupol. Free, peaceful, rebuilt!”

Martin Österdahl, presented Oksana Skybinska, a representative from Ukrainian broadcaster UA:PBC, with the Eurovision Song Contest Welcome Pack, which is handed to the prospective host country to enable them to begin planning the event the following year.

“I know that you and your team knows what it takes and what it involves to be the organisers of this great event,” Österdahl said as he handed it over. He did not stay to take questions.

If Ukraine is not in a position to host, the current favourites to take over are thought to be Poland, which neighbours Ukraine, and the U.K., given the close relationship between the two countries since the war began as well as the fact that the U.K.’s entry, Sam Ryder, came second to Ukraine.

Source: Variety

2 Responses

  1. Really hope they can push through and host it in Ukraine next year. That would be a historic moment, right up Eurovision’s charter. Mariupol does seem ambitious though.

  2. It’s not happened for about 40 years but the precedent for when a country can’t host is it is offered to 2nd place, and then down the leaderboard, until someone accepts. It just so happens that most times it happened in the past, mainly in the 60s or 70s, it was the UK that ended up stepping in – we’ve hosted 8 times but only as a regular of winning 4 times.

    The reality is the EBU need a secure safe host and even if a ceasefire was declared today it is questionable how long it would hold and whether Ukraine could rebuild sufficiently within a year to host things – plus of course there are far greater priorities than an arena to host Eurovision. It’s a real shame, but the least of their worries at the moment.

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