Vienna will host the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest, the Austrian public broadcaster ORF announced Wednesday. The global music competition is scheduled for next May, and Vienna was selected over Innsbruck, Tyrol, the only other city in contention.
The 2026 contest will mark Eurovision’s 70th anniversary. In celebration, the European Broadcasting Union unveiled a refreshed logo for the first time in a decade. Details on how Israel will select its representative have not yet been released.
Austria earned the right to host after its representative, J.J., won Eurovision 2025 in Basel with Wasted Love, a song combining pop and opera. Israel’s Yuval Raphael finished second in the same contest, the country’s best result since Netta Barzilai’s win in 2018.
Vienna has hosted Eurovision twice before, in 1967 and 2015, following Conchita Wurst’s historic victory. The city, home to about 1.9 million people, is Austria’s largest.
This will be Israel’s third time finishing as runner-up at Eurovision, after Avi Toledano’s Hora in 1982 and Ofra Haza’s Chai in 1983, marking its best achievements in over 40 years.