The city of Liverpool in the United Kingdom will host the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest, which will celebrate its grand finale next Saturday May 13 at the M&S Bank Arena beside the River Mersey, the European Broadcasting Union reported on Friday. The BBC and EBU will organize the music competition together with the Ukrainian Public Television. Liverpool was selected following a process that examined the city’s facilities, capacity for thousands of visitors, infrastructure and cultural offerings to reflect Ukraine’s victory in 2022.
EBU Eurovision Song Contest Executive Supervisor Martin Österdahl stated that the M&S Bank Arena “exceeds all the necessary requirements to host a world event of this magnitude”. “We are very impressed with the passion the city has shown in hosting the competition and their ideas of putting last year’s winners, Ukraine, front and center,” he said.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and British broadcaster BBC confirmed in July that the Eurovision 2023 competition will be held in the United Kingdom, replacing Ukraine as the festival’s venue. He pointed out that “Ukraine, as last year’s winning country, will automatically move into the final of the next competition with the Big Five” – referring to the countries that contribute most economically to the festival: France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom – and that the decision was taken because the safety of the participants could not be guaranteed. Ukrainian group Kalush Orchstra triumphed at the festival in Turin, Italy this year, but the EBU, which produces the annual event, has decided the event cannot take place in the war-torn country.
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