Finnish broadcaster Yle has announced that UMK25 will take place at the Nokia Arena in Tampere, as well as providing a host of other details about the upcoming contest.
Date announced as 8 February
Just one date for your diary will be the day of the show itself, taking place on 8th February 2025 at Nokia Arena in Tampere. Tickets of the event will be available on ticketing site lippu at 9am local time this coming Thursday, 3rd October.
The participating artists will be announced on 8th January, with the now traditional staggered release of the songs and music videos occurring between the weekdays between the 9th and 17th of the same month.
Record number of submissions
Yle received 485 submissions for the upcoming edition, which is a record number under the current format. These selections have been judged not only by an expert jury chaired by Yle’s head of music, Tapio Hakanen, but five audience juries will also have their say on the submissions.
Speaking about the songs submitted, Hakanen said:
“This year, it was particularly emotional to go through the huge number of great songs that showed the passion, skill and creativity of Finnish music creators. This season, UMK will see both a great continuation of Finnish pop tradition and a star of the future, waiting for their opportunity to shine bright. We will get to witness energetic band energy, hear German language in an UMK song, dance to the beat of an epic dance banger and be moved by one of the finest ballads in UMK’s history. The line-up is crowned by a song that makes you dance and cry at the same time.”
What is UMK?
Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK for short) has been the method of selection for Finland since 2012. The national selection has seen a variety of different formats over the years. We have had semi-finals, we have had a song selection for internally choosen artists, Yle have really given us it all in terms of this national final.
Currently UMK takes place over one night, with seven acts taking part. Thanks to high production value, an international focus. and fan favourite songs, UMK has grown in popularity over the years and is now one of the most anticipated on the national final calendar.
Finland’s Eurovision Journey
Finland debuted in the 1961 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing 10th with Laila Kunnunen’s “Valoa ikkunassa.” Since then they have competed 56 times, and appeared in the final 48 times. Finland has finished in the top 10 an impressive 14 times. They have won the contest once in 2006, with Lordi’s performance of “Hard Rock Hallelujah” getting 292 points.
Finland’s most recent entry was “No Rules” by Windows95man. They came in 7th place in the semi-final in Malmö, thus qualifying for the final. At the close of voting, he gained a total of 38 points, earning them 19th place. Windows95man received 31 points from the televote, and an extra 7 points from the juries.
Are you excited for UMK25? Who do you think should represent Finland in Switzerland? As always, let us know what you think by commenting below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads and Bluesky as we start our preparations for Eurovision 2025!
News Source – Yle
Photo Credit – Sarah Louise Bennett/EBU
Giwrgos Oiko 
Samantha