Experience

Eurovision Song Contest 2025 on 13, 15 and 17 May in Basel in Switzerland

Posted by Timothy on

Switzerland will host the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest. But which city in the Helvetic Confederation will welcome the thousands of artists, media people and fans? Geneva, Sankt Gallen, Basel and Fribourg have already expressed their interest. Other obvious options are Zurich and Bern. And why not Lausanne? Swiss broadcaster Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) also sees Biel/Bienne and Lucerne as viable options. Combined, Danny and I have visited almost all of them. So let us introduce them. 

The decision has been made: The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 will be held in Basel in the canton of Basel City or Basel-Stadt. The city at the elbow of the Rhine was selected by the Swiss organiser of the Eurovision Song Contest, the SRG, yesterday evening and confirmed this morning by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

Three and a half months after Nemo‘s victory for Switzerland in the Swedish city of Malmö on 11 May 2024, the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) has found its next home in Switzerland: Basel will host the world’s largest music event as the so-called Host City and prevailed in the final sprint against Geneva. After submitting outstanding bids, the two cities were in a neck-to-neck race.

Refinement of the bid books

In the last few weeks since the shortlist was announced on 19 July, the cities Basel and Geneva that made it to the next round have had the opportunity to refine their bid books and provide additional information. 

The ESC core team visited both cities again, inspected the main and side event venues and assessed them according to an extensive criteria catalogue. The audit and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) acted as an independent party in both the preparation of these evaluation specifications and the assessment itself, thereby ensuring transparency, objectivity and traceability. 

The best bid for the ESC 2025 

The aim of this second round was to further assess the two best bids based on the additional information and new findings and to determine the most attractive overall bid for the ESC in Switzerland. 

For example, the suitability of the hall for the show-specific requirements, the creative ideas for the side events, the funds made available, the cultural programme as well as sustainability and safety concepts were all evaluated. The potential risks during the preparation and realisation were weighed up and expectations regarding added value in Switzerland were defined for the two border cities of Basel and Geneva. 

Close to 100 criteria were checked in total.  

Let’s meet in Basel for the Grand Final on 17 May 2025 

The SRG core team in charge of the ESC made a recommendation to the steering committee this week, and on Thursday evening the committee decided to follow their recommendation. 

This morning, the EBU, the responsible body for the event, also confirmed this choice: the ESC 2025 will take place in Basel. 

The date of the music event has now also been set: the Grand Final will take place on Saturday 17 May 2025, coincidently the International Dah Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT, IDAHOBIT). 

The selected Host City was announced today at 10 AM on the official ESC channels. 

Reto Peritz and Moritz Stadler, the co-executive producers of the ESC said: “We were impressed by the quality of the cities’ applications! All four cities, and especially Basel and Geneva in the final round, fought for the title of Host City by submitting creative ideas and following a very constructive approach. Because such commitment is not taken for granted, we would like to thank all the cities that applied. And congratulations to Basel! We look forward to working with you to make the ESC an unforgettable experience for everyone.”

The aim of the SRG is to organise not only a big party in Basel, but also a positive event full of diversity, creativity and openness, bringing people in Switzerland and abroad together.

After italophone Lugano in 1956 and francophone Lausanne in 1989, it’s now the turn of a germanophone city. Basel is very near to France and Germany and is very well connected by rail, by motorway and by air. The hotel sector in France and Germany will be very pleased. 

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Eurovision Song Contest 2025 in Switzerland