Austria has decided to go for the safe with its headquarters for choosing, its capital, as the Center for Actions for the 2026 edition, which will be held in mid -May. Thus, contrary to other recent countries, Austria has not chosen a secondary city (Malmö, Liverpool, Basel …) to house the 70th edition of the European Song Contest, which will have its semifinals on May 12 and 14 and the grand finale on 16, as announced on Wednesday the Austrian Radio Orf.
The Austrian capital, which already hosted in the years 1967 and 2015, presented its candidacy under the motto Europe, shall we dance? (Europe, did we dance?) And he had offered the Wiener Stadthalle, a multi -purpose pavilion, with capacity for up to 16,000 people, just three kilometers from the center of the city. Roland Weißmann, general director of the ORF, recalled that the station has analyzed for four weeks two “very passionate” candidates before making this “difficult” decision against Innsbruck.
Vienna, an eternal headquarters of classical music, had defended her candidacy with the argument that the city has a lot of experience by hosting great events, both cultural and political and scientific, and has a wide hotel infrastructure. The capital, defended, has direct air connections with 195 destinations in 65 countries, and is a first -line cultural center, with institutions such as Vienna’s opera, and numerous museums, theaters and concert halls. The manager, who thanked and valued the candidacy of Innsbruck, said that the edition next year will be for all Austria and that he has a positive impact on tourism throughout the country.
with his Wasted Love In the last edition, in Basel, it has returned to place Austria as the seat of a musical event that this year was followed by 166 million viewers. Austria had won Eurovision twice. In 1966 with the song Thank you, darlingplayed by Udo Jürgens, and in 2014 with the subject Rise Like a Phoenix de Conchita sausage.
