The United Kingdom, second ranked country this year after Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest, will host the next edition of the contest due to the impossibility of holding it in Ukrainian lands due to the war, confirmed today the organizers on their official website.

The selection process for a British city to host the festival will begin this week, added the organizers, who also announced that Ukraine will automatically qualify for the 2023 grand final, in the same way as the “Big 5” group (Germany). , France, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom). The United Kingdom achieved second position in 2022 with Sam Ryder and his song “Space Man”, one position behind “Stefania”, by the Ukrainian group “Kalush Orchestra”, and one ahead of the Spanish Chanel with his “SloMo”.

The British public television BBC will be the host channel for the event, which the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the organization responsible for the festival, already announced on June 24 that it could not be held in Ukraine for security reasons.

“The BBC is committed to making the event a true reflection of Ukrainian culture as well as projecting the diversity of British music and creativity,” the British channel said in a statement today. Although the Eurovision tradition states that the winner of one edition must celebrate the next, there have been six occasions in which this has not been the case, until now always for financial or organizational reasons, and in four of them (1960, 1963, 1972 and 1974 ) were the United Kingdom and the BBC in charge of hosting the event.

“Continuing the solidarity tradition of the BBC, we are sure that next year’s contest will show the creativity and good work of one of the most experienced public television channels in Europe,” the organizers highlighted on the official website.

The United Kingdom has hosted the most famous song festival on the Old Continent eight times, making it the country with the most experience hosting the event: four of them in London and once in Edinburgh, Brighton, Birmingham and Harrogate. For the 2023 edition, which had already been negotiated with the United Kingdom for weeks, applications have been submitted from 17 British cities from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Eurovision requires that the chosen one have facilities for at least 10,000 spectators, an adequate press center, quick access to international airports and ample hotel rooms.

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