Eurovision

Eurovision 2022: What we know so far

The Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 was two weeks ago, but the rumor mill for the 2022 Eurovision season is already in full swing. The reason for this enormous interest is because the 2021 edition in Rotterdam (the Netherlands) was such a huge success with a worldwide TV audience of 183 million. Eurovision fans cannot wait for the 2022 season to start. In this post you read all about what we know up to now about the 66th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Italy.

During the 2021 edition of the contest the rock band Måneskin won the Eurovision Song Contest with their song “Zitti e buoni”, bringing the contest to Italy for the third time since the first edition of the contest in 1956. Previously the contest was held on Italian grounds in Naples (1965) and Rome (1991).

The concept

Hereby we can tell you some more about the concept of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022. Just like in previous years there will be two semi-finals and Grand Final. From both semi-finals 10 countries will progress to the Grand Final.

The voting procedure

Just like every year the semi-finals will take place on a Tuesday and Thursday, before the Grand Final on Saturday. Both semi-finals as well as the Grand Final will be judged by a professional jury as well as the public of the participating countries. Just like every year participating countries cannot vote for their own country. The professional juries will cast their votes during the dress rehearsal the day before the live shows of the semi-finals and the Grand Final. The end result of the voting procedure will consist for 50% out of the votes of the professional juries and 50% of the public votes. The public at home can cast their votes by the special Eurovision app, by phone, and by SMS. The public voting will happen during the interval act(s) of each show.

The Big Five

The “Big Five” consists out of Germany, France, Spain, United Kingdom, and Italy; all these countries are automatically in the Grand Final every year. In 2022 Italy will also be the host country, because of their win in 2021. Because Italy is the host country as well as part of the Big Five countries there will be 25 countries in the Grand Final in 2022 instead of the regular 26 countries.

Possible Italian host cities

One of the following 12 Italian cities, and their respective venues, in the list below will be the host city and venue of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022. In the upcoming months we will know more about which of these will be the actual host city of the 2022 edition of the contest.

  • Bologna
  • Unipol Arena
Unipol Arena – Source: bolognaindiretta.it
  • Bari
  • Fiera del Levante
  • Studio San Nicola (needs a roof to cover the arena) 
  • PalaFlorio
  • Milan
  • Mediolanum Forum (MTV European Music Awards 1998 and 2015)
  • Palazzo delle Scintille (needs to be renovated)
  • Napels
  • PalaBarbuto (does not meet the requirements of the EBU at the moment)
PalaBarbuto Napels – Source: commons.wikimedia.org
  • Pesaro
  • Vitrifrigo Arena
  • Scavolini Auditorium
  • Reggio Emilia
  • RCF Arena
  • Rimini
  • Rimini Fiera
Rimini Fiera – Source: hotelcontinentalrimini.it
  • Rome
  • PalaLottomatica
  • Turin
  • Pala Alpitour
  • Florence
  • Nelson Mandela Forum
Nelson Mandela Forum Florence – Source: feelflorence.it
  • San Remo
  • Teatro Ariston (hosts the annual San Remo Festival)
  • Verona
  • Verona Arena (will host the Closign Ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics, but still needs a roof to cover the arena)

The bids for the host city

On 23 May 2021, the day after Måneskin’s win, representatives from the cities of Bologna, Milan, Pesaro, Naples and Turin already expressed their interest in hosting the contest. On that very same day, the Mayor of Reggio Emilia, Luca Vecchi, expressed interest in hosting the contest in the all-new RCF Arena, the largest open-air arena of Europe. This arena has a capacity of 100,000 spectators, and is located in the Campovolo area in Emilia. Also the Mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi, expressed interest in hosting the contest of 2022.

They day after, on 24 May 2021, the Mayor of Rimini, Andrea Gnassi, expressed interest in hosting the 66th edition of the contest, proposing the Rimini Fiera as a venue. And on the same day, the Mayor of Florence, Dario Nardella, and the cities of San Remo and Verona expressed interest in hosting the event.

A couple of days later, on 28 May 2021 to be precise, the Mayor of Bari, Antonio Decaro, expressed potential interest in hosting the 2022 contest. And on the same day, Marco Di Maio, also reported that if Rimini were to host the contest, it would be in collaboration with RTV, San Marino’s national broadcaster.

Which city gets the honor will be revealed in the Fall or end of the Summer of 2021. Up to that day, the possible host cities can show why the contest needs to come their way.

Participants

On the 6th of June 2021 we know that the following list of countries has “officially” said that they will be participating in the 2022 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest.

  • Australia
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Israel
  • Italy
  • The Netherlands
  • Norway
  • San Marino
  • Serbia
  • Switzerland

Other countries that can participate

  • Andorra: In 2020 Susanne Georgi had a meeting with the Andorran Prime Minister, Xavier Espot Zamora, during which they discussed a possible return of Andorra to the contest in 2022. They did not want to participate in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Belarus: On May 28th 2021 the EBU suspended the membership of the Belarussian broadcaster BTRC. Now this broadcaster has two weeks to respond in order for the suspension becomes final.
  • Greece: The national Greek broadcaster ERT said that it wants to organize a national selection again. They made this statement in January of 2021. They still need to make an official statement on their 2022 participation.
  • Ireland: On May 27th 2021 the Irish national broadcaster RTÉ announced that they want to have a national search for a new representative again. An official statement about the 2022 participation of Ireland still needs to be made.

When there is more information, we will let you know. So, stay tuned for more updates on ESCplus about the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Italy.

Eurovision

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