Eurovision 2023: Glasgow makes shortlist for hosting

Glasgow has made the shortlist to host next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, the only Scottish city to do so.

It goes up against Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield.

The BBC will announce the winning bid in the autumn, with the contest to be held in May.

The UK was confirmed as the next host as this year’s winner, Ukraine, is unable to do so given the ongoing conflict.

The country’s Kalush Orchestra swept to victory this year after audiences across Europe had voted.

Sam Ryder came second, the best the UK has performed in several years by some margin, and even came on top in the jury vote.

To win, the shortlisted cities must be able to showcase Ukrainian culture and music, in addition to pushing its own cultural offering.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon welcomed the news, tweeting: “It’s got to be Glasgow!”

And Scottish secretary Alistair Jack said: “It’s a great privilege for the UK to honour Ukraine by hosting Eurovision 2023. I'm backing Glasgow all the way to bring the contest to Scotland.”

Aberdeen and Edinburgh had submitted bids to host the contest but were unsuccessful.

The BBC and the European Broadcasting Union will now measure the seven shortlisted cities against a set of criteria.

Kate Phillips, BBC’s director of unscripted content said: “We would like to thank all of the cities and regions that submitted bids to host next year’s Eurovision Song Contest. We have seven fantastic cities who we are taking through to the next round."