It’s only a matter of weeks since Liverpool played host to 2023, delivering a spectacular contest – this time with her dance track Tattoo.
All of which means Sweden gets the joy of hosting the event in 2024, and even though there’s still 10 months to go until we get to immerse ourselves in the Eurovision bubble once again, they’ve already named their host city.
– which will take place at the Malmo Arena on Saturday May 11, with the semi-finals being held on Tuesday May 7 and Thursday May 9.
It’s not the first time that Malmo – which fought off competition from Gothenberg, Ornskoldsvik and the capital, Stockholm to take the honour – has played host to the show.
But how many times have they hosted before – and when was the last time?
How many times has Malmo hosted Eurovision?
Malmo has hosted Eurovision on two previous occasions.
The city first played host to Eurovision in 1992, following Carola’s victory in the 1991 contest with her track fangad Av En Stormvind.
Sweden had hosted the contest twice before 1992 – in Stockholm in 1975 following Abba’s 1974 win with Waterloo, and in Gothenberg in 1985 after The Herreys’ song Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley won the 1984 contest.
On this occasion it was won by Ireland’s Linda Martin with Why Me?, kicking off a string of 90s victories for Ireland which also saw them take the trophy in 1993, 1994 and 1996.
The UK also put up a good showing, with Michael Ball’s One Step Out Of Time finishing in the runner-up spot.
Malmo last hosted Eurovision in 2013 – coincidentally after Loreen first won the contest for Sweden with Euphoria in 2012.
That show saw Swedish presenting legend Petra Mede take the hosting reins for the first time, fronting the show alone before returning to host in 2016 accompanied by the previous year’s winner Mans Zelmerlow.
The contest was won by Denmark’s Emmelie de Forest with Only Teardrops – with Azerbaijan finishing in second place, Ukraine third and Norway fourth.
However it wasn’t quite such a good result for the UK – who sent singing legend Bonnie Tyler to the contest with the song Believe In Me, only to finish in a distance 19th place.
Although it was even worse news for Ireland – who, having won in Malmo in 1992, finished bottom of the heap in the final this time around.
Where in Sweden is Malmo?
Malmo, the third largest city in Sweden after Stockholm and Gothenberg, is located in southern Sweden, on the coast.
It lies very close to the Danish capital Copenhagen, with the two cities connected by the Oresund Bridge, a 16km long combined railway and motorway bridge which opened in 2000.
Many of those attending the 2013 Eurovision in Malmo stayed in Copenhagen to take advantage of this, with the train journey between the two cities taking around 30-40 minutes.
However, Denmark’s victory in Malmo that year meant that the contest didn’t move very far from the city at all, hopping over the bridge to Copenhagen in 2014.
In fact, the decision to pick Malmo as the host city means next 2024 will be the fifth conscutive year that the contest has not been held in a capital city.
Tel Aviv hosted in 2019, Rotterdam in 2021 – after the 2020 contest was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic, Turin staged the event in 2022 and Liverpool stepped in this year after last year’s winners Ukraine were unable to host.
The last time Eurovision took place in a capital city was when Lisbon hosted in 2018 following Portugal’s victory at the 2017 contest.
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