Vienna announced as the Eurovision 2026 host city
- Kiel Egging
- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
Pack your bags, book your flights and start sorting your accommodation, the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 will be held in the Austrian capital of Vienna.
The European Broadcasting Union and Austrian broadcaster ORF made the announcement this afternoon AEST via a video post on the official Eurovision YouTube channel. You can watch the video below.
The Grand Final will be held on Saturday 16 May at the Wiener Stadthalle with Semi-Finals earlier the same week on Tuesday 12 May and Thursday 14 May.
A whole week of activities will take place around the Contest in Vienna with more details to be revealed in the coming months.
Martin Green CBE, Director of the Eurovision Song Contest said:
“The EBU is thrilled that Vienna has been selected as the Host City for the Eurovision Song Contest 2026.
“Vienna’s reputation as one of the most musical cities in the world, and its location in the heart of Europe, makes it the perfect Host City for the 70th Eurovision Song Contest.
“The city's exceptional Stadthalle was a great venue for the 60th Contest in 2015 and we’re very much looking forward to welcoming delegations, artists and fans alike back there next May as the world’s largest live music event celebrates 70 glorious years of being United by Music.
"Together with Host Broadcaster ORF and the city of Vienna we will create a spectacular celebration of music that will reverberate across the world."
Roland Weißmann Director General of Host Broadcaster ORF added:
"After thorough examination and based on a unanimous jury assessment, ORF concluded that Vienna's offer is not only the most attractive in terms of infrastructure and logistics but also economically. The Contest is a celebration for all of Austria, which we will all be proud of."
Vienna's Mayor Michael Ludwig is excited to welcome the world to the Austrian capital in 2026:
"In Vienna, we can be proud that our city has been selected by the EBU and ORF as the most suitable Host City for one of the world’s largest events.
“We submitted a convincing overall package with enormous accommodation capacities, excellent infrastructure, and a lot of experience in hosting international events. Additionally, we placed great emphasis on offering numerous Eurovision Song Contest events in public spaces that can be visited free of charge.
“As the Mayor of Vienna, it is very important to me that cultural events are accessible to everyone, regardless of the size of their wallet. As the Mayor of Vienna, I am, of course, pleased that Vienna was able to prevail and that Austria can represent itself again next year. We will have a great May together; I am convinced of that."
The Road to Vienna
Austria won the right to host Eurovision 2026 following JJ's triumph at this year's contest in Basel, Switzerland in May with his song Wasted Love.
It will be the third time Eurovision has been held in Vienna, with the Austrian capital also staging the contest in 1967 and 2015 on the back of Austria's wins the year before. Wiener Stadthalle was also the venue for the 2015 contest, which was won by Sweden's Måns Zelmerlöw with his song Heroes. It was also the scene of Australia's debut in the competition, with Guy Sebastian finishing fifth that year with Tonight Again.
Aussievision fans were split very much down the middle in our poll on which city should host the contest. As of this afternoon, 52 per cent preferred Vienna to 48 per cent for Innsbruck with more than 120 votes cast.
Where is Vienna?
Vienna is Austria's primate city with 2 million of the country's 9 million inhabitants living there. It also has Austria's largest international airport.
Wiener Stadthalle, with a capacity 16 000, has already hosted Eurovision 2015. Annually it also hosts the Erste Bank Open, which is an ATP 500 tennis tournament.
The city has a population of over 2 million and transport links by rail, air and other methods to many cities in Europe. Visitors could even stay in Bratislava in Slovakia, which is just 45 minutes away by train.
Other Things We Know About Eurovision 2026:
The full list of participating counties will be revealed in September, while tickets for all events including the live shows, jury shows and rehearsals will go on sale in December.
And, like most other years, the semi-final draw will take place in January.
For continued updates on all Eurovision Song Contest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram. All the links can be found at: https://linktr.ee/aussievisionnet