BBC confirms the UK is in talks to host the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in place of Ukraine
17.06.2022 - 18:33
/ officialcharts.com
The BBC have confirmed that talks are currently underway for the UK to host the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023, in place of Ukraine.
Ukraine act Kalush Orchestra won this year's contest with the song Stefania, gaining a mammoth 489 public votes in the process, an all-time best.
Normally, each year's winning country becomes the host for the next annual instalment of Eurovision, but ongoing issues over Russia's invasion of Ukraine mean that Eurovision body the EBU has started talks with the BBC for the UK to become the 2023 host country, since our act Sam Ryder placed second.
In a statement, the EBU said: "In accordance with the rules and to ensure the continuity [of Eurovision], the EBU will now begin discussions with the BBC, as this year's runner-up, to potentially host."
This was followed up a statement from the BBC itself, confirming that "these aren't a set of circumstances that anyone would want. We will of course discuss the BBC hosting Eurovision."
If it does come to fruition, it would be the first time since 1998, where Birmingham became the Eurovision host city following the triumph of Katrina and the Waves' Love Shine A Light in the 1997 competition.
And already there are calls from up and down the country to decide which city would host the event - the most prominent voice of all being Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who has recommended Glasgow and its 14,000 capacity OVO Hydro arena as the perfect venue.
This follows an almost overwhelming change in the homegrown support for Eurovision in the UK after Sam Ryder placed second in the competition with SPACE MAN, scoring the most points of any UK entrant, ever.
SPACE MAN's success also translated to the Official Charts - where the week after the