Today, the finance minister of Sweden, Anna König Jerlmyr, has expressed the wish that if Ukraine win on Saturday night, that Sweden would step in and host the 2023 contest in Stockholm. “We of course hope that Sweden takes home the win on Saturday, but have also noted that Ukraine are favourites and that there is a high probability that they will take home the victory,” she says, translated into English, “Then the question has hung in the air whether, for example, Kyiv will really have the opportunity to host Eurovision 2023. It is a big commitment and given the war and the strained situation, it is important that other countries now step forward and offer to help.”
Previously it has been indicated that Italy would again host, next year, if Ukraine were to win, but that isn’t necessarily going to be the case, it seems. Other parties that have shown an (unofficial) interest, according to rumour, are TVP in Poland, the BBC in the United Kingdom and KAN in Israel. Sweden are the first country to say anything formal on the matter. Ukraine hope to host themselves, in Kyiv, if they win, however.
Additionally, Stockholm does seem like a likely choice, as it is twinned with the city of Kyiv, and therefore has a legitimate claim to hosting, if Sweden fail to come 2nd place to Ukraine’s hypothetical 1st place.
Every year since 1981, the previous winner has hosted the following contest, however, before that, there were several occasions where this wasn’t the case. Most of the time the BBC, in the UK, stepped into hosting duties, however this was nearly 50 years ago, and things have changed a lot in Europe and at the BBC.
If Ukraine do win, we can likely expect a bidding process for the host city, on a much larger, Europe-wide scale, in the summer, where cities from across the continent bid to host the 2023 contest. Whether this goes to Sweden isn’t certain, but it seems they are more than happy to do it.
