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 St. Pölten has expressed a desire to host.
St. Pölten throws it hat in the ring
The Lower Austrian city of St. Pölten is the next to express a desire to host Eurovision. Unlike some other cities that have expressed interest, the State government is vehemently behind St. Pölten’s bid with the governor stating “[Eurovision] should take place in Lower Austria”. The city is banking on its experiences with hosting large events as a strong factor in its bid. Should this city win the right to host next year’s contest it would be one of the smallest to ever do so.
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 formally addressed its plans for how it intends to host. Those are expected to come in July. Though cities across Austria have already begun discussing their thoughts on hosting or not.
The cities that have expressed wishes to host:
- Vienna
- Innsbruck
- Graz
- Oberwart
- Wels and Linz (joint bid)
- St. Pölten
The cities that have ruled out hosting:
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.
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News Source: ORF
Photo Credit: Wikimedia / Peter Knorr
