General: Eurovision Song Contest 2013 to be held in Malmö

In a surprise announcement, it has just been revealed that Sweden’s third-largest city Malmö and the 15,500 seat Malmö Arena will play host to the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. The city, which has hosted both the Eurovision Song Contest in 1992 and several shows of the Swedish national final Melodifestivalen, has demonstrated experience in the hosting of large scale events.

The hosting of next year’s Eurovision will be a big item on the calendar of the city, which is located in the populous Öresund region, and located close to the Danish capital Copenhagen. It has been said that the decision was confirmed last night in meetings with Swedish broadcaster SVT, who were said to be concerned that front-runner, the Friends Arena in Stockholm would simply be too big for the contest. The arena, which was cleared of bookings, and thousands of hotel bookings in the Swedish capital will now be cancelled.

The host venue, the Malmö Arena is located in the southern district of Hyllievång, and is well connected to the centre of the city only 10 minutes via train, and also to Copenhagen Airport, which is a mere 15 minutes away from the arena by public transport.