Eurovision 2023 Host City: Liverpool, Glasgow Goes Head to Head After Ukraine Backs Out

Since Ukraine could not accommodate hosting the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest, the responsibility to host the beloved competition was transferred to the United Kingdom, considering Sam Ryder placed second last time.

BBC confirmed that Glasgow and Liverpool are in the running to be the final host city for the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest. They are among the seven shortlisted cities in the United Kingdom that were considered by the European Broadcasting Union.

Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, and New Castle were among the other chosen ones but failed to move forward in the selection committee. Meanwhile, some are confused at the time of the announcement upon finding out that London was not even considered in the first place.

Glasgow, Liverpool as 2023 Eurovision Host Cities?

According to BBC, the European Broadcasting Union is set to release in the coming weeks the final decision on who gets to be the 2023 Eurovision Host city.

'The EBU (European Broadcasting Union) would like to warmly thank all the 7 British cities that put so much effort and enthusiasm into their bids to host next year's Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ukraine. We very much appreciate their cooperation and the quality and creativity of all the bids received," the EBU said in a statement.

So far, Glasgow, Scotland's biggest city is in contention to take the spot.

"Don't agree with Keir Starmer on BBC just now. I obviously wanted Birmingham but I think Glasgow has the edge to host Eurovision," a netizen posted on Twitter.

Meanwhile, others are using a historical approach to defending why it must be Liverpool to host next year's Eurovision.

"The UK first entered the Eurovision Song Contest in 1957. Liverpool twinned with Ukrainian city Odessa in 1957. Ukraine should be holding the event. Seems pretty straight forward," a user posted.

Supposedly, since Ukraine's Kalush Orchestra won this year's Eurovision, the hosting duties automatically go to the winning country. However, because of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, the country remains unavailable to take in guests, especially because of the risk at hand. (via Billboard)

Because of the conflict between the two countries, Russia has been barred from sending its representative to the 2022 contest. However, it is not yet known if the country would be able to send theirs next year.

Tags

Eurovision, Eurovision Song Contest