The 70th Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Vienna, Austria, with the Grand Final scheduled for Saturday 16 May 2026 at the Wiener Stadthalle. The two Semi-Finals will be held on Tuesday 12 May and Thursday 14 May. Vienna is no stranger to this sort of thing either, having previously hosted Eurovision in 1967 and 2015.
Several Austrian cities expressed interest in staging the contest. Vienna and Innsbruck made it through to the final phase, with Vienna eventually getting the nod in August 2025. A big part of that came down to practicalities: the venue was proven, the infrastructure was already there, and the city could make life a lot easier for ORF.
Hosts
Eurovision 2026 will be hosted by Victoria Swarovski and Michael Ostrowski, with Austrian broadcaster ORF taking charge after JJ won the 2025 contest for Austria with ‘Wasted Love’.
Budget
Hosting Eurovision is never cheap, and Vienna 2026 is no exception. The City of Vienna said it had allocated up to €22.6 million towards staging the event, with the wider cost of putting on Eurovision expected to run higher once broadcaster and production costs are factored in. In other words, nobody is doing this out of loose change found down the back of the sofa.
Tickets
All nine shows are currently sold out.
That said, all hope is not lost if you still fancy your chances. The official Eurovision ticket page says the official re-sale platform, fanSALE via oeticket, is now open. That is the place to look for face-value resales and any legitimate late movement.
As ever, avoid random social posts, mystery links and any site that looks as though it was built in a hurry by a man called Stefan with a printer and a dream. Please check our ticket page for the latest updates.
Confirmed Participants
A total of 35 broadcasters will take part in Eurovision 2026. That makes this the smallest line-up since 2003. Bulgaria, Moldova and Romania are back after recent absences, while the overall field is smaller than last year’s.
The Israel question
The biggest off-stage story of Eurovision 2026 has been Israel’s participation. In December 2025, the EBU decided not to hold a vote on whether Israel should remain in the contest, and instead approved new rules aimed at limiting government and third-party influence over entries and promotion. Israel stayed in. Several broadcasters did not.
Reuters reported that Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland and Slovenia withdrew after that decision, with Iceland following shortly afterwards. Those departures are a major reason the 2026 line-up is down to 35 broadcasters, and they have left the contest facing one of the most serious credibility and messaging problems in its modern history.
The EBU clearly hopes the rule changes draw a line under the whole thing. That has not happened. Instead, Israel’s presence remains the issue hanging over the contest before a note has even been sung in Vienna. For fans, broadcasters and organisers alike, this is the story nobody can really pretend is just background noise.