When has Eurovision not been hosted by the winning country?
Eurovision has returned to Italy and despite Russia’s invasion, Ukraine is among those in the hopes to win
Here’s all the times the winning country didn’t host the Song Contest.
When has Eurovision not been hosted by the winning country?
Frankfurt: 1957
The first ever Eurovision Song Contest was held in Lugano, Switzerland.
The country ended up being the winners with the song Refrain by Lys Assia.
Germany was then selected to host the second edition in Frankfurt-am-Main.
London: 1960
After coming second place, the United Kingdom was selected to host the contest in London.
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In 1959, The Netherlands had won their second victory.
As The Netherlands had already won the contest very recently in 1957, they rejected the offer to host twice in such a short period of time.
London: 1963
Back in 1962, France had already won the Eurovision Song Contest on three occasions in 1958, 1960 and 1962.
By 1963, France rejected the offer to host the contest after hosting twice.
The United Kingdom was again drafted to host the contest for the second time in London despite never having won the contest.
Amsterdam: 1970
The Netherlands were among the winners in 1969 after four countries split the winning title of the Eurovision Song Contest.
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As a result, the United Kingdom, France and Spain despite all controversially winning the joint first place position were not selected to hosting the following year.
Edinburgh: 1972
In 1971, Monaco won their first Eurovision Song Contest with the song Un banc, un arbre, une rue by Séverine.
However, at that time in history, Monaco did not yet have the capacity and appropriate facilities that the EBU required.
One again, the United Kingdom stepped forward and hosted the contest in Edinburgh.
Brighton: 1974
Luxembourg won the Eurovision contest in both 1972 and 1973.
As they had hosted the contest in 1973, the country declined to host it again
As expected, the United Kingdom offered to host the 1974 contest in the beachy city of Brighton.
The Hague: 1980
Finally, Israel was the last country to decline the opportunity to host the song contest.
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Israel declined the opportunity to host the 1980 contest after winning in Jerusalem in 1979.
It was then agreed that the contest would be hosted by Dutch TV NOS in The Hague.