Icelandic broadcaster RÚV has confirmed that Iceland will not participate at Eurovision 2026.
RÚV confirm non-participation
After saying previously that they would consider withdrawing from Eurovision should Israel compete, a statement from RÚV today has confirmed that Iceland will withdraw from Eurovision 2026. This is following the EBU general assembly meeting where the topic of Israel’s participation was discussed.
RÚV’s official statement says:
The Icelandic National Broadcasting Corporation has decided not to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, Austria next year.
The participation of the Israeli national broadcaster, KAN, in the contest has recently caused disunity, both among the member stations of the European Broadcasting Union, EBU, and the public. KAN’s participation was discussed in detail at EBU meetings earlier this year, first in London this summer and in Geneva last week. At the meeting in Geneva, a large majority of EBU member stations agreed that various changes that have been made to the rules and implementation of the contest were satisfactory, and therefore there was no vote on KAN’s participation in the contest.The director-general explained at the meeting in Geneva that although the changes met many of the comments that RÚV representatives had made at various stages of the EBU cooperation in recent years, RÚV still had doubts about their usefulness. It had been repeatedly stated that stakeholders in this country, for example artists’ associations, and the Icelandic public were opposed to participation in the contest. The RÚV board had then requested that the EBU remove KAN from the contest, taking into account precedents. The issue was complex to resolve and had already damaged the reputation of the contest and the EBU. It was important to find a solution for all parties involved.
It is clear from the public debate in this country and the reaction to the EBU’s decision made last week that there will be neither joy nor peace regarding RÚV’s participation in Eurovision. It is therefore RÚV’s conclusion to inform the EBU today that RÚV will not participate in Eurovision next year.
The Song Contest and Eurovision have always had the goal of uniting the Icelandic people, but it is now clear that this goal will not be achieved and this decision has been made on the basis of these programmatic considerations.
Iceland joins Slovenia, Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands to announce their withdrawal from the 2026 contest following the EBU general assembly meeting where the topic of Israel’s participation was discussed.
They also confirmed that Iceland’s National Final Söngvakeppnin will go ahead as usual. / They have also confirmed that Iceland’s National Final Söngvakeppnin will not happen this year. / They have made no statement on the future of Iceland’s National Final Söngvakeppnin.
Iceland’s Eurovision journey
Iceland made its debut on the Eurovision stage in 1986, finishing 16th with the song “Gleðibankinn” (Bank of Fun) by ICY. In their 35 appearances, Iceland has finished in top 10 an impressive 7 times. Their best result to date is second place, which they have achieved twice. The first time was in 1999, where Selma Björnsdóttir received 146 points for her performance of “All Out of Luck”. The second time was in 2009, with Yohanna singing “Is It True” and receiving 218 points.
VÆB represented Iceland in Basel in 2025 with their song “RÓA”. The duo qualified for the final, bringing Iceland back into the final for the first time since 2022. In the final, they would eventually finish in 25th place with 33 points; all of these were awarded by the televote.
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News Source: RÚV
Photo Credit: Sarah Louise Bennett / EBU
Rory Gannon