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It’s that time of the week again. OnEurope scans the horizon and brings you all the bits of news that didn’t make the full story cut.
First up, let’s talk about the big show in May. With tickets sold out in 14 minutes, ORF held its official ‘kick off’ meeting in Vienna, hosted by Director General Roland Weißmann. Head of Contest Marvin Dietmann talked timelines. Florian Wieder tried to kid on this year’s stage will look any different from his other creations.Tim Routledge babbled on about the lighting production – tl;dr: there will be lots of them. The broadcaster also outlined casting for Austrian Sign Language performers.
Bulgaria kicks off Natsionalnata selektsiya with the first of three shows tomorrow evening. 15 artists get to perform songs from their back catalogues, with seven going through to a second heat on 31 January.
Croatian HRT has decided you can never have enough hosts for a national final. Dora 2026 will be in the hands of four presenters. Returning hosts Barbara Kolar and Duško Ćurlić are joined by Iva Šulentić and Ivan Vukušić.
Denmark’s Melodi Grand Prix 2026 lineup has been confirmed, with eight acts competing on Saturday 14 February at Arena Nord in Frederikshavn. The contenders are Emil Otto (Copenhagen Noir), Ericka Jane (Death of Me), Lasse Skriver (Roaring Heart), Late Runner (Can U Feel It?), Sander Sanchez (Two Spirits), Sissal (Infinity), Søren Torpegaard Lund (Før Vi Går Hjem) and Myrkur (Touch My Love and Die). Notably, Sissal returns after representing Denmark in Basel 2025, where she reached the Grand Final and delivered the country’s best Eurovision result since 2019.
More songs have come our way from YLE Finland as they drip feed UMK 2026 entries. In ‘broad hint of who’s likely to win’ news, hits for Liekinheitin topped 430,000 views within the first 24 hours of going live. Here’s the playlist so far:
The 14 songs competing in Sing for Greece 2026’s second semi-final have been released, to positive reception in fanland. The semi-finals will take place on 11 and 13 February, with the contest’s final taking place on 15 February.
LRT Lithuania has officially released the eight songs competing in the first heat of Eurovizija.LT 2026. Songs from the 2026 series of preselection shows have been posted by performers over recent weeks, but this is the first official playlist. Here’s where to go if you want to listen.
Norway’s NRK is running an “MGP Cup” series of head-to-head duels (20–27 January) to decide the last finalist for MGP 2026, with daily public voting via NRK’s platform. Early results show Skrellex winning duel one and GOTHMINISTER winning duel two and Sander Silva & Victorjus going through from the third head-to-head.
RTP Portugal has revealed the 16 competing songs for Festival da Canção 2026, confirming the full lineup of performers and titles ahead of the semi-finals. Keep in mind only three acts have shown any sign of being willing to go to Vienna if they win. Thankfully the early odds suggest these three are the only ones in with a cat in hell’s chance of winning anyway.
RTS Serbia has confirmed key details for Pesma za Evroviziju 2026. All competing songs will be released on 2 February at 13:00 CET, with semi-finals on 24 and 26 February. Fourteen acts will advance to the final on 28 February, where the winner will be decided by a 50/50 split between jury and public voting.
Spain: RTVE has published the running orders for the Benidorm Fest 2026 semi-finals.
If you’re following the Ukrainian Vidbir this year, you’ll probably like to know who’ll be hosting events. Suspilne today named Lesya Nikityuk and Timur Miroshnychenko as the 2026 hosts.
Social media activity this week largely consisted of artist reposts and broadcaster reminders, with no additional format, rule or participation updates announced.
And that’s it for another week. Mr Phil will be your host for the Bulgarian back catalogue show, the first Lithuanian semifinal and the Luxembourg Song Contest 2026 this weekend. Prepare your ears.
