Britain will host the Eurovision Song Contest next year on behalf of Ukraine, organisers confirmed today after concluding that the war-torn country could not hold the event for ‘safety and security reasons’.
The Ukrainian entry, Kalush Orchestra, won the annual competition just over two months ago in Turin, Italy, on May 14 and it is traditional that the winning country hosts the event the following year.
But the European Broadcasting Union said it had concluded after a study that the ‘security and operational guarantees’ required to host the event could not be fulfilled by Ukraine’s public broadcaster UA:PBC.
The BBC, as national broadcaster of the UK, which was the runner-up this year with Sam Ryder’s Space Man, was then invited to act as host – and the corporation confirmed today that it would hold what will be the 67th contest.
The location in the UK is set to be chosen in the coming months, with a bidding process expected to be launched this week. Organisers said the date for…
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