We’re only a few days since JJ won the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest, and already cities are thinking about hosting next year. The city of Innsbruck has voiced its desire to host the contest.
Innsbruck hopes to succeed this time
Innsbruck has been added to the cities that have expressed a desire to host Eurovision 2026. The city did bid to host the 2015 contest, and was even shortlisted, but lost out alongside Graz to the capital Vienna.
The city’s Mayor Johannes Anzengruber has revealed in an interview with ORF that the city has already begun working on preparations to host the contest; having already liaised with the tourism board, and discussed financing with the state. In addition to contacting venues across the city. Innsbruck is adapting the plans it made for 2015 and updating it. The Mayor has put forth the suggestion of Olympiahalle as a venue to host the contest. Central to the bid is the expertise the city and region has in hosting large international events; particularly winter sports.
The Journey to Eurovision 2026
The journey to the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest kicked off immediately following JJ’s win in Basel, when Austria’s ORF accepted the rights to host the 70th edition of the contest. At present the Alpine nation has not addressed its plans for how it intends to host, but cities have already begun discussing their thoughts on hosting or not.
The cities that have expressed wishes to hosting:
- Vienna
- Innsbruck
The cities that have ruled out host:
Austria’s Eurovision Journey
In 1957, Austria made their debut into the Eurovision Song Contest, where Bob Martin represented the landlocked nation with the song “Wohin, kleines Pony?”. At the close of voting, it managed to place 10th overall. Since their debut, Austria has participated 56 times (being in the final 49 times), and – before 2025 – had won the competition on two occasions in 1966 and 2014.
In 2025, Austria selected JJ internally to represent the nation in Basel with “Wasted Love”. Austria successfully qualified for the final, and went on to win the Contest with a total of 436 points. This gave Austria its third win in the Contest, eleven years after their previous victory.
What do you think about Innsbruck’s desires? As always, please let us know what you think by getting involved in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Threads, tumblr, and Bluesky for more information about Eurovision 2026!
News Source: ORF
Photo Credit: Wikimedia / Michael Aus Halle
Tim J 
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