List of host cities of the Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual international song competition, held every year by the Eurovision broadcasting organisation since 1956. This page is a list of cities and venues that have hosted the contest, one or more times. Since 1958, the host city has customarily been in the country that won the contest the previous year. There have been exceptions, however, when certain issues (usually financial) have prevented the winner from hosting the following year's contest. These exceptions occurred in 1960, 1963, 1972, 1974 and 1980.[1] In all but one of those exceptions, the United Kingdom hosted Eurovision. The custom of having the winning country host the Eurovision the following year has now been observed for 39 consecutive years.

Countries which have hosted the Eurovision Song Contest [lower-alpha 1]

Having hosted the contest six times, Dublin holds the record for having hosted the contest most often. It is followed by London and Luxembourg (each hosted 4 contests), then Copenhagen[2] and Stockholm (each hosted 3 contests).

BBC Television Centre in London hosted the 1963 Contest.
The Scandinavium in Gothenburg: venue for the 1985 Contest.
The film studios at Cinecittà in Rome played host to the 1991 Contest.
Oslo Spektrum was the venue for the 1996 Contest.
The Athens Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens hosted the 2006 Contest.
The Belgrade Arena hosted the 2008 Contest.
The Wiener Stadthalle hosted the 2015 Contest.
Rotterdam Ahoy was the planned host of the 2020 Contest, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will host the 2021 contest.

Eurovision Song Contest
Contests Country City Venue Years Ref.
8  United Kingdom London Royal Festival Hall 1960 [3]
BBC Television Centre 1963 [4]
Royal Albert Hall 1968 [5]
Wembley Conference Centre 1977 [6]
Edinburgh Usher Hall 1972 [7]
Brighton Brighton Dome 1974 [8]
Harrogate Harrogate International Centre 1982 [9]
Birmingham National Indoor Arena 1998 [10]
7  Ireland Dublin Gaiety Theatre 1971 [11]
RDS Simmonscourt Pavilion 1981, 1988 [12][13]
Point Theatre 1994, 1995, 1997 [14][15][16]
Millstreet Green Glens Arena 1993 [17]
6  Sweden Stockholm Stockholm International Fairs 1975 [18]
Ericsson Globe 2000, 2016 [19][20]
Gothenburg Scandinavium 1985 [21]
Malmö Malmö Isstadion 1992 [22][23]
Malmö Arena 2013 [24]
5  Netherlands Hilversum AVRO Studio 1958 [25]
Amsterdam RAI Congrescentrum 1970 [26]
The Hague Nederlands Congresgebouw 1976, 1980 [27][28]
Rotterdam Rotterdam Ahoy 2020[lower-alpha 2], 2021 [29][30]
4  Luxembourg Luxembourg City Villa Louvigny 1962, 1966 [31][32]
Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg 1973, 1984 [33][34]
3  France Cannes Palais des Festivals 1959, 1961 [35][36]
Paris Palais des Congrès 1978 [37]
 Norway Bergen Grieghallen 1986 [38]
Oslo Oslo Spektrum 1996 [39]
Telenor Arena 2010 [40]
 Germany[lower-alpha 3] Frankfurt-am-Main Großer Sendesaal 1957 [41]
Munich Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle 1983 [42]
Düsseldorf Esprit Arena 2011 [43]
 Denmark Copenhagen Tivolis Koncertsal 1964 [44]
Parken Stadium 2001 [45]
B&W Hallerne 2014 [46]
 Israel Jerusalem International Convention Centre 1979, 1999 [47][48]
Tel Aviv Expo Tel Aviv 2019 [49]
2   Switzerland Lugano Teatro Kursaal 1956 [50]
Lausanne Palais de Beaulieu 1989 [51]
 Italy Naples Sala di Concerto della RAI 1965 [52]
Rome Studio 15 di Cinecittà 1991 [53]
 Austria Vienna Hofburg Imperial Palace 1967 [54]
Wiener Stadthalle 2015 [55]
 Ukraine Kyiv Palace of Sports 2005 [56]
International Exhibition Centre 2017 [57]
1 Spain Madrid Teatro Real 1969 [58]
 Belgium Brussels Centenary Palace 1987 [59]
 Yugoslavia Zagreb[lower-alpha 4] Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall 1990 [60]
 Estonia Tallinn Saku Suurhall 2002 [61]
 Latvia Riga Skonto Hall 2003 [62]
 Turkey Istanbul Abdi İpekçi Arena 2004 [63]
 Greece Athens Olympic Indoor Hall 2006 [64]
 Finland Helsinki Hartwall Arena 2007 [65]
 Serbia Belgrade Belgrade Arena 2008 [66]
 Russia Moscow Olympic Stadium 2009 [67]
 Azerbaijan Baku Baku Crystal Hall 2012 [68]
 Portugal Lisbon Altice Arena 2018 [69]

Celebratory events

Anniversary events
Anniversary Country City Venue Event Year
25th  Norway Mysen Momarken Songs of Europe 1981
50th  Denmark Copenhagen Forum Copenhagen Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest 2005
60th  United Kingdom London Eventim Apollo Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits 2015

Replacement events
Year Country Event Replacing Reason
2020 The Netherlands Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light Eurovision Song Contest 2020 COVID-19 outbreak

Host City Insignia
The Host City Insignia on display inside the Rathaus in Vienna, Austria, in May 2015.

Host City Insignia is a rotating trophy awarded to cities hosting the Eurovision Song Contest. The symbol is a large key ring to which the Eurovision Song Contest Host Cities can attach their city key or other symbol representing the city. The Host City Insignia Exchange usually takes place in conjunction with the Semi-Final Allocation Draw. The insignia is traditionally put on display in a public place, such as the City Hall or another venue of local significance.[70] Additionally, there is a fob with a picture of the Helsinki Senate Square attached to the key ring.

The idea of the rotating trophy was proposed jointly by the City of Helsinki, the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE and EBU in connection with the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest. Hand-engraved on the ring are the following texts: "Eurovision Song Contest Host City", all Host Cities up until the year 2006 and a stamp: Helsinki 2007 with the initials of the prize designers. The concept and fob were designed by the ANTEEKSI Team and the ring by jewellery designer Taru Tonder.[71][72][73]

Semi-final allotment drawing venue

Since the introduction in 2008 of the two semi-finals system, a drawing has been held to determine in which semi-final a country would participate, as well as in which semi-final a country would vote in. Each year, either five or six countries are exempt from the drawing for competing in the semi-finals: the big-five (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and UK), and the host country, if the host is not one of the big five. In 2015, the number of countries exempt was seven, as Australia joined the other six countries exempt because the country was considered a special guest contestant. The semi-final allocation draw of the 2020 contest took place as planned on 28 January 2020, less than two months before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the eventual cancellation of that year's contest.

Regardless if a country is exempt from competing in the semi-finals, all participating countries are allotted a semi-final in which to vote.

Table key
X Contest cancelled
Year Venue City
2008 Old Palace Belgrade
2009 Marriott Royal Aurora Hotel Moscow
2010 Euroclub at Smuget Oslo
2011 Esprit Arena Düsseldorf
2012 Buta Palace Baku
2013 Malmö City Hall Malmö
2014 Copenhagen City Hall Copenhagen
2015 Vienna Rathaus Vienna
2016 Stockholm City Hall Stockholm
2017 Column Hall of Kiev City State Administration Kiev
2018 Lisbon City Hall Lisbon
2019 Tel Aviv Museum of Art Tel Aviv
2020 Rotterdam City Hall X Rotterdam

Running order drawing venue

For the 1988 and 1997 contests, both held in Dublin, the running order was announced at a dedicated event.

Year Venue Ref.
1988 Mansion House, Dublin [74]
1997 Clarence Hotel, Dublin [75]

Opening ceremony venue

An opening ceremony, organised by the host country, has taken place since 2007. The event seeks to welcome the participating countries and mark the official start of the contest.

Table key
X Contest cancelled
Year Venue Ref.
2007 Finlandia Hall [76]
2008 Palace of Serbia [77]
2009 Central Manezh Exhibition Center [78]
2010 Oslo City Hall [79]
2011 Tonhalle Düsseldorf [80]
2012 Baku Sports Palace [81]
2013 Malmö Opera [82]
2014 City Hall Square, Copenhagen [83]
2015 Vienna City Hall [84]
2016 Stockholm City Hall [85]
2017 Mariyinsky Palace [86]
2018 Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology [87]
2019 Habima Square [88]
2020 Rotterdam Cruise Terminal X [89]

See also

Notes
  1. In 1990 the former country of Yugoslavia hosted the contest in the City of Zagreb, which is in present day Croatia. Croatia, as an independent country, has not yet hosted the contest. The map shows the six countries that formerly made up the country of Yugoslavia, and cannot also simultaneously show Yugoslavia
  2. Contest cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  3. The 1957 and 1983 contests were held in what was then West Germany. The 2011 contest was in reunified Germany.
  4. Now in present-day Croatia following the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.

References
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