FILE - Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest JJ from Austria performs the winning song "Wasted Love" during the Grand Final of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest, in Basel, Switzerland, early Sunday, May 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)
FILE - Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest JJ from Austria performs the winning song "Wasted Love" during the Grand Final of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest, in Basel, Switzerland, early Sunday, May 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)
MM AG
FILE - Tourists enjoy the sunny weather in front of Vienna's Belvedere Palace Austria, on Thursday, June 24, 2010. (AP Photo/Hans Punz, File)
VIENNA (AP) — The Eurovision Song Contest 2026 will take place in Vienna.
Austria's public broadcaster ORF, which will organize the world's largest live music event, announced the location Wednesday morning.
Following Austrian singer this spring, the music competition will be held in May 2026 at the Wiener Stadthalle.
“After thorough examination and based on a unanimous jury assessment, ORF has concluded that Vienna’s bid is the most attractive not only in terms of infrastructure and logistics, but also economically," ORF Director General Roland Weißmann said.
Innsbruck also applied to host the event. It will be Vienna's third time as host, following 1967 and 2015.
“As mayor of Vienna, I am naturally delighted that Vienna has prevailed and will once again represent Austria next year. I am convinced that we will have a wonderful May together,†Mayor Michael Ludwig wrote on X.
Eurovision's finale will take place May 16 after the semi-finals are held May 12 and 14, 2026.
JJ, whose winning song combined operatic, multi-octave vocals with a techno twist, and who also sings at the Vienna State Opera, won the contest in May.
, was Austria’s third Eurovision winner, after Conchita Wurst in 2014 and Udo Jürgens in 1966. The song contest is always held in the country whose singer won the competition.
The last Eurovision song contest, which has been uniting and dividing Europeans since 1956, was watched by .
