The city of Vienna has revealed that official handover ceremony and Semi-Final allocation draw for the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 will take place on January 12.
🇦🇹 Vienna will officially begin its host city duties on January 12
Early next years marks the start of Vienna’s time as the official host city of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026. Two key events will take place on January 12. The main event is of course, the allocation draw. This will be conducted in two phases. Firstly, the 4 automatic qualifiers (France, Germany, Italy and UK) along with the host nation Austria, will be drawn into the Semi-Finals they will broadcast and vote in. Afterwards, the draw will continue with the Semi-Finalists drawn into their respective Semi-Finals and which half they will perform in. At a later date, the producers will determine the exact running order for each of the two Semi-Finals.
During the official handover ceremony, previous host Basel will present Vienna with a ‘Friendship Gift’. This is a change to previous ceremonies which saw a handover of the Host City Insignia from 2007 to 2024.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2026 will take place next May. With two Semi-Finals on May 12 and 14. The Grand Final will conclude on May 16.
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