The 2023 edition of Eurovision will take place in either Glasgow or Liverpool. Among the seven candidate cities to host the international teleconnection, these are the two that have been selected, as announced by the organizers of the event in a press release released this Tuesday:
“Thank you to the seven UK cities that have shown the country’s enthusiasm and passion for Eurovision,” said Phil Harrold, director of the BBC’s host cities selection committee. “The Eurovision Song Contest is a very complex event and Liverpool and Glasgow have the strongest bids.”
Glasgow and Liverpool thus beat Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield, the other five locations announced as candidates last August. “We will continue our discussions with (the two finalists) to determine who will host the competition,” continues Phil Harrold. The decision should be made in the coming weeks.
program change
The Eurovision Song Contest, in which around forty countries compete each year, has the tradition of being organized in the country that emerged victorious from the previous edition. But the 2022 vintage was won by Ukraine, thanks to the group Kalush Orchestra and their song Stephaniein full Russian offensive (the country led by Vladimir Putin was persona non grata for this edition).
The president of Ukraine, Volodomyr Zelensky, immediately came out in favor of his country hosting Eurovision in 2023. After a few months of uncertainty, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which oversees the competition, officially announced that the The 67th edition of Eurovision would take place in 2023. The United Kingdom, which came second in 2022 with the song space man by Sam Ryder. The organizers had explained their decision by evoking the impossibility of meeting all the security conditions in a country at war.
“We are determined to make the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest (an evening) that honors Ukraine’s winning status, while also offering an event that the whole of the UK can take part in,” promises Phil Harrold on Tuesday.
The exact dates for the 2023 edition have yet to be announced. The two semi-finals and the final will certainly take place in May, as they do every year.
Source: BFM TV
