Europe 1 with AFP 9:19 p.m., October 07, 2022
The city of Liverpool, in the north of England, will host the 2023 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in May, organized by the United Kingdom on behalf of Ukraine due to the war.
The United Kingdom has hosted the competition eight times, but has not hosted it since 1998, an edition which was held in Birmingham.
The city of Liverpool, in the north of England, will host the 2023 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in May, organized by the United Kingdom on behalf of Ukraine because of the war, the BBC announced on Friday.
"It's Liverpool, May 13," said BBC Eurovision presenter Graham Norton.
Liverpool won against the Scottish city of Glasgow.
Liverpool chosen to host the first Eurovision Song Contest to be held in the UK for 25 yearshttps://t.co/JsvWl85A0qpic.twitter.com/a0kjpZ1yap
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) October 7, 2022
The semi-finals will take place on May 9 and 11, followed by the final on May 13.
The extravagant contest, which is in its 67th edition, is followed by tens of millions of viewers, in Europe but also in Israel, Australia etc.
"We did it!" Said Joanne Anderson, the mayor of Liverpool, the city of the Beatles, on Twitter.
We did it!
Liverpool is honored to be hosting #Eurovision 2023 on behalf of Ukraine.
Huge well done to the bid team and thanks to everyone who has supported us – now begins the work on organizing the party.
#AllYouNeedIsLove@EBU_HQ@Eurovision@BBCTheOneShow@CultureLpoolpic.twitter.com/4VNIxjMmS9
— Joanne Anderson (@MayorLpool) October 7, 2022
A city that ticks all the boxes
"We're going to have the biggest party ever," said singer Sonia Evans, from Liverpool, who represented the UK at Eurovision in 1993. "Liverpool have musical history all over the world. It ticks all the boxes!".
The UK has hosted the competition eight times but has not hosted it since 1998, when it was held in Birmingham, central England.
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After its symbolic first place in Turin, Italy, last May, Ukraine was deprived of the right to host Eurovision in June by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which considered that the security conditions were not met due to the invasion of the country by Russia.
About 10,000 people are involved in the production of Eurovision, which also attracts thousands of fans.
An agreement had been announced on July 25 by the EBU and the British government for the BBC to stage the contest in the United Kingdom, which came second behind Ukraine, in a version that will feature the country still at war.
Defending champion Ukraine
Twenty British cities had applied to host Eurovision on behalf of Ukraine.
A first selection of seven cities (Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield) was unveiled in August.
Since the start of the Russian invasion at the end of February, the United Kingdom has shown strong political and military support for kyiv, notably imposing unprecedented economic sanctions on Moscow.
The favorite, the Kalush Orchestra won the final of the competition in May with the song "Stefania" mixing hip-hop and traditional music, a victory symbolizing Ukrainian resilience in the war and European popular solidarity.
The Briton Sam Ryder and his title "Space Man" had obtained second place, an unexpected result for the British accustomed to the bottom of the table in recent years, with even zero points in 2021.