Eurovision Song Contest: ESC 2026: For the third time in Vienna

Austria’s capital Vienna will be host of the Eurovision Song Contest for the third time. The final of the world’s largest music event is scheduled to take place on May 16 in the Vienna Stadthalle, as the public broadcaster ORF announced as organizer. The city government wants to make the ESC tangible in public space for people with lower income.

“Vienna’s call as one of the most musical cities in the world and its location in the heart of Europe make it the perfect host city for the 70th Eurovision Song Contest,” said Martin Green, General Director of the European Radio Union (EBU).

The second largest German-speaking metropolis with around two million inhabitants prevailed in the race for the execution just before the competitor Innsbruck, explained ORF general director Roland Weißmann in a radio show. The ORF came to the conclusion that “the offer of Vienna is not only infrastructural and logistically, but also economically the most attractive.”

The ESC is considered the largest music spectacle in the world. Around 166 million people followed this year’s event in Basel in May. There the Austrian countertenor JJ won with his pop arie “Wasted Love”. That is why the pop competition will be hiking from Switzerland to neighboring Alpine country next year.

JJ, Conchita and Udo Jürgens brought song contests to Vienna

Previously, the song contest had been a guest in Vienna in 2015 and 1967. This was thanks to the victories of Conchita Wurst with “Rise Like a Phoenix” and Udo Jürgens with “Merci, Chérie”.

This year the federal capital had again applied as a host – under the motto “Europe, Shall We dance?” (“Europe, should we dance?”). Vienna relied on his ESC experience, its major city infrastructure, its many hotel beds and his image as a cosmopolitan metropolis.

City plans many free events

The city also attaches great importance to offering numerous ESC events in public space that can be visited free of charge, said Mayor Michael Ludwig. “As a Viennese mayor, it is very important to me that cultural events can be experienced for everyone, regardless of the size of your wallet,” said the Social Democrat. The municipality wants to relax up to 22.6 million euros for the ESC.

But the ESC is not a local event, but an event of global importance. Around the competition in Basel, the participation of Israel was debated because of the Gaza War. Also shortly after the announcement of Vienna as a host city, some Israel-critical postings on the Instagram channels of the EBU and the Viennese tourism agency were seen.

New ESC logo in criticism

But the much more present excitement topic among the Eurovision fans is currently the new ESC logo. It was provided with a red-blue heart for the 70th edition. The symbol triggered a lot of criticism with its curved lines and reminds some of a creamy mass. A user on Instagram, for example, commented very positively about the selection of Vienna and added: “But my god, this logo. It is the world’s largest music festival, and not a yogurt.”