“Overcoming borders” is the motto under which Basel is hosting the ESC 2025. This is fitting for a border town in the border triangle of Switzerland, Germany and France.
The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) will take place in 2025, very close to the German border in Basel. Switzerland’s third-largest city has won the race against Geneva, as the organizer, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), announced. The final will take place on May 17th.
Southern Germany also hopes for good business with the ESC
The German border region also wants to benefit from the ESC on the border, for example the small town of Lörrach, less than ten kilometers from Basel. The non-partisan mayor Jörg Lutz campaigned for the ESC on the doorstep in the city’s application video. “With the Eurovision Song Contest, we are turning the three-country corner into the 40-country corner,” he said. In Lörrach, for example, many guests could stay overnight. In Basel, hotel prices had already shot up to several hundred euros per night, even for simple accommodation, before the announcement.
The spectacle will take place in the St. Jakobshalle, which is known for tennis tournaments and other sporting events. It has space for 12,000 people. The show will also be broadcast to the nearby St. Jakob-Park football stadium. There is space for 20,000 people. The city expects the cost to be around 30 to 35 million francs (37 million euros).
Overcoming borders in Basel
The motto is: “Overcoming borders”. Basel has been demonstrating how this works for decades: The city itself borders directly on Germany and France, and the communities in the border triangle work so closely together that residents hardly notice the borders anymore. “The ESC connects and inspires, across all borders,” the city wrote in its application, recommending itself with its “cosmopolitan scene”.
The motto also fits the ESC, which has recently been increasingly reflected in political tensions, for example in connection with the Russian war against Ukraine or Israel’s war against the terrorist organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Nemo brought ESC to Switzerland
It was clear that Switzerland would be the host country ever since Nemo won the 68th ESC in Malmö this year. In the music competition, public media organizations, mainly from Europe, which are EBU members, compete for the highest honours with a song. The winning country usually hosts the next ESC.
Nemo won with the song “The Code”. The non-binary person, who defines himself as neither man nor woman, addressed his own career path in the song. In the overall ranking based on the votes of the juries in the member countries and the audience, Nemo came first, ahead of Croatia. The German singer Isaak came 12th.
Basel, home to pharmaceutical companies such as Roche and Novartis, is culturally known for its legendary carnival, which has roots dating back to the 14th century. It is a world cultural heritage site. The Fondation Beyeler museum for modern and contemporary art in Riehen near Basel is also internationally renowned.
Switzerland won the ESC more often than Germany
This is the third ESC for Switzerland: it hosted the first competition in 1956 in Lugano and won with Lys Assia. The next host, however, was Frankfurt. Canadian Céline Dion won for Switzerland for a second time in 1988, thus launching her international career. The following year the competition took place in Lausanne. Germany has won twice so far: Nicole in 1982 with “Ein bisschen Frieden” and Lena Meyer-Landrut in 2010 with “Satellite”.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
