List of Eurovision Song Contest host cities

Contests	Country	City	Venue	Year	Ref.
9	United Kingdom	London	Royal Festival Hall	1960	[1]
			BBC Television Centre	1963	[2]
			Royal Albert Hall	1968	[3]
			Wembley Conference Centre	1977	[4]
		Edinburgh	Usher Hall	1972	[5]
		Brighton	Brighton Dome	1974	[6]
		Harrogate	Harrogate Conference Centre	1982	[7]
		Birmingham	National Indoor Arena	1998	[8]
		Liverpool	Liverpool Arena	2023	[9]
7	Ireland	Dublin	Gaiety Theatre	1971	[10]
			RDS Simmonscourt Pavilion	1981	[11]
				1988	[12]
			Point Theatre	1994	[13]
				1995	[14]
				1997	[15]
		Millstreet	Green Glens Arena	1993	[16]
	Sweden	Stockholm	St. Eriks Mässan	1975	[17]
			Globe Arena	2000	[18]
				2016	[19]
		Gothenburg	Scandinavium	1985	[20]
		Malmö	Malmö Isstadion	1992	[21][22]
			Malmö Arena	2013	[23]
				2024	[24]
5	Netherlands	Hilversum	AVRO Studios	1958	[25]
		Amsterdam	RAI Congrescentrum	1970	[26]
		The Hague	Nederlands Congresgebouw	1976	[27]
				1980	[28]
		Rotterdam	Rotterdam Ahoy	2020[a]	[29]
				2021	[30]
4	Luxembourg	Luxembourg City	Villa Louvigny	1962	[31]
				1966	[32]
			Théâtre Municipal	1973	[33]
				1984	[34]
3	France	Cannes	Palais des Festivals	1959	[35]
				1961	[36]
		Paris	Palais des Congrès	1978	[37]
	Norway	Bergen	Grieghallen	1986	[38]
		Oslo	Oslo Spektrum	1996	[39]
			Telenor Arena	2010	[40]
	Germany[b]	Frankfurt am Main	Großer Sendesaal des Hessischen Rundfunks	1957	[41]
		Munich	Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle	1983	[42]
		Düsseldorf	Düsseldorf Arena	2011	[43]
	Denmark	Copenhagen	Tivolis Koncertsal	1964	[44]
			Parken Stadium	2001	[45]
			B&W Hallerne	2014	[46]
	Israel	Jerusalem	International Convention Center	1979	[47]
				1999	[48]
		Tel Aviv	Expo Tel Aviv	2019	[49]
	Italy	Naples	Sala di Concerto della RAI	1965	[50]
		Rome	Studio 15 di Cinecittà	1991	[51]
		Turin	PalaOlimpico	2022	[52]
	Switzerland	Lugano	Teatro Kursaal	1956	[53]
		Lausanne	Palais de Beaulieu	1989	[54]
		TBA		2025	[55]
2	Austria	Vienna	Großer Festsaal der Wiener Hofburg	1967	[56]
			Wiener Stadthalle	2015	[57]
	Ukraine	Kyiv	Palace of Sports	2005	[58]
			International Exhibition Centre	2017	[59]
1	Spain	Madrid	Teatro Real	1969	[60]
	Belgium	Brussels	Centenary Palace	1987	[61]
	Yugoslavia	Zagreb[c]	Koncertna Dvorana Vatroslav Lisinski	1990	[62]
	Estonia	Tallinn	Saku Suurhall	2002	[63]
	Latvia	Riga	Skonto Olympic Hall	2003	[64]
	Turkey	Istanbul	Abdi İpekçi Arena	2004	[65]
	Greece	Athens	Olympic Indoor Hall	2006	[66]
	Finland	Helsinki	Hartwall Arena	2007	[67]
	Serbia	Belgrade	Belgrade Arena	2008	[68]
	Russia	Moscow	Olimpiysky Arena	2009	[69]
	Azerbaijan	Baku	Baku Crystal Hall	2012	[70]
	Portugal	Lisbon	Lisbon Arena	2018	[71]

Special events

Country	City	Venue	Event	Occasion	Year	Ref.
Norway	Mysen	Momarken	Songs of Europe	Commemorating the 25th anniversary of the contest	1981	[72]
Slovenia	Ljubljana	TV SLO Studio 1	Kvalifikacija za Millstreet	Pre-qualification round held for the 1993 contest between eastern European countries	1993	[73]
Denmark	Copenhagen	Forum Copenhagen	Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest	Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the contest	2005	[74]
United Kingdom	London	Eventim Apollo	Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits	Commemorating the 60th anniversary of the contest	2015	[75]
Netherlands	Hilversum	Studio 21	Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light	Replacement show for the 2020 contest, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic	2020	[76]

Amsterdam's RAI Congrescentrum, Edinburgh's Usher Hall, and the Liverpool Arena

The tradition of the winning country hosting the following year's event was established in 1958, held in the Netherlands.^[77][78][79] A number of exceptions to this rule have occurred since, typically when the winning country had already hosted the event in the recent past. These exceptions are listed below:

• 1960—hosted by the BBC in London when the Netherlands' NTS declined due to expense, having previously hosted the 1958 contest. The United Kingdom was chosen to host after finishing in second place in 1959.^[80]
• 1963—hosted by the BBC in London when France's RTF declined due to expense, having previously hosted the contest in 1959 and 1961. The second- and third-placed Monaco and Luxembourg also declined when offered hosting duties.^[81]
• 1970—hosted by the NOS in Amsterdam following a ballot to determine the host country, after the 1969 contest produced four winning countries.^[26][82]
• 1972—hosted by the BBC in Edinburgh when Monaco's Télé Monte Carlo was unable to provide a suitable venue. The Monégasque broadcaster invited the BBC to host the event due to their previous experience.^[83]
• 1974—hosted by the BBC in Brighton when Luxembourg's RTL declined due to expense after staging the 1973 contest.^[6]
• 1980—hosted by the NOS in the Hague when Israel's IBA declined due to expense after staging the 1979 contest. The Dutch offered to host the contest after several other broadcasters, reportedly including runner-up Spain's RTVE and the BBC, were unwilling to do so.^[84]
• 2023—hosted by the BBC in Liverpool on behalf of Ukraine's UA:PBC, after the EBU decided that Ukraine would not be able to host the event due to security concerns caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[85] The United Kingdom was chosen to host after finishing in second place in 2022.^[86]

With Australia's invitation to participate in the contest in 2015, it was announced that should it win the contest, Australian broadcaster SBS would co-host the following year's contest in a European city in collaboration with an EBU member broadcaster of its choice.^[87][88]

The host city insignia is a rotating trophy awarded to cities hosting the Eurovision Song Contest, proposed jointly by the city of Helsinki, the Finnish broadcaster Yle and the EBU in conjunction with the 2007 edition.

The insignia takes the form of a large key ring to which the host cities can attach their city key or other symbol representing the city. The insignia exchange usually takes place in conjuction with the semi-final allocation draw. The insignia is then traditionally put on display in a public place, such as the city hall or another venue of local significance, for the remainder of the year.^[89]

The insignia's concept and fob were designed by the Anteeksi group, while the key ring was designed by jewellery designer Taru Tonder. Hand-engraved on the ring are the following texts: "Eurovision Song Contest Host City", all host cities up until 2006, and a "Helsinki 2007" stamp with the initials of the insignia designers. Additionally, the fob has a picture of the Helsinki Senate Square attached to the ring.^[90][91][92]

Since the introduction of the two semi-finals system in 2008, a draw 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 the United Kingdom) 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 exempt countries as a special guest contestant.

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

Previously, the running order has been determined at a dedicated event. This has been made redundant following the implementation of producer-created running orders in 2013.

An official opening ceremony with a red carpet procession has been held since 2009 at a venue in the host city. Prior to that, a welcome reception was typically held for all participating artists and hosted by the mayor of the host city.^[117]

Table key

• List of ABU Song Festivals host cities
• List of Junior Eurovision Song Contest host cities

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Venues of the Eurovision Song Contest.

• The picture of the insignia on the page of the Eurovision Song Contest Moscow 2009
• A photo on the web pages of the biggest newspaper Helsingin Sanomat with description "Helsinki Mayor Jussi Pajunen (left) and cultural director Pekka Timonen were in Belgrade on Friday to hand over the Helsinki Insignia to the city that will host next year's Eurovision Song Contest." (Helsingin Sanomat)