Music

Eurovision 2023: These are the seven UK cities named as potential hosts

By Kira Richards

12th August 2022

After more than 20 years, the Eurovision Song Contest is returning to the UK.

This morning, it was finally announced which areas made the shortlist.

Cities across the UK put forward their bids to host the music extravaganza.

Eurovision comes to the UK in unprecedented circumstances.

Organisers decided Ukraine would not be able to host next year despite winning the competition.

This is due to Ukraine being invaded by Russia.

UK singer Sam Ryder came second, so the competition has made its way to the home nations.

Twenty cities showed interest in hosting the contest, including London and Belfast.

However, neither of those cities made the shortlisted seven.

According to the BBC, the shortlisted cities were said to reflect “the capacity, capability and experience to host an event of this scale and complexity”.

Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield will now battle it out to host Eurovision.

The song contest is one of the biggest music competitions in the world and has created iconic queer moments.

It’s garnered around 160,000,000 TV viewers globally.

Glasgow and Manchester have proved popular with fans in online polls.

However, bookmakers predict either Birmingham and Glasgow will win the bids.