Stockholm, Malmö, Örnsköldsvik and Gothenburg have fought to organize the Eurovision song contest in 2024. On Friday, SVT announced that the host is awarded to Malmö.
“Welcoming all competing countries to Malmö is fantastically fun and meaningful,” says SVT CEO Hanna Stjärne in a press release.
It will be the seventh time that Sweden will be able to organize the Eurovision Song Contest. In the past, the music competition has been organized in Stockholm three times, in Malmö twice and in Gothenburg once.
According to Hanna Stjärne, the competition has a particularly important function right now.
“The Eurovision Song Contest fulfills a particularly important function in these times of war in Europe and it is with great respect that we take on the event. Malmö is a creative city with a rich cultural life that can create a music festival for the whole of Europe in a sustainable way, not least financially, because the arena, communications and logistics are already in place,” she says in the press release.
“Has the best conditions”
According to Ebba Adielsson, program director at SVT entertainment, Malmö was chosen, among other things, because it is believed that the city has the best conditions.
– Malmö is a fantastically beautiful city with an incredibly rich cultural life and they have the best conditions that we land in this time, she says.
– A lot has also happened in Malmö in recent years since 2013 when it last went. There are even more flows and even more modern gathering places. It’s a very, very good city for this event. We are very excited about this.
Susanne Andersson, CEO of Visit Sweden, agrees.
– It’s a fantastic event city, so it’s incredibly fun for Malmö that they get to do this. I think we should all congratulate Malmö above all, but also Sweden as a country that we have won and can be the hosts. We are good at events and Malmö will make it fantastic, she says.
“Not so unexpected”
TV4 Nyheternas reporter and Eurovision fan Filip Stiller Borowicz is not surprised by the news.
– I think it will be quite good. When I think about it, maybe it wasn’t so unexpected – SVT needs to save money. The arrangement that was made in Malmö in 2013 was very budget-friendly and it went very well. Now you can hopefully copy that arrangement and make an equally good arrangement this time, he says.
Semifinals and the final will be held in Malmö Arena on 7, 9 and 11 May next year.