Basel To Host Eurovision 2025
Faizan Hashmi Published August 30, 2024 | 02:30 PM
Geneva, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Aug, 2024) Basel will host the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest after being chosen ahead of Geneva on Friday to stage the 69th edition of the glitzy tv extravaganza.
Swiss singer Nemo's 2024 Eurovision victory gave Switzerland the right to host next year's edition of the kitsch annual spectacle on May 17.
Basel, which lies on the River Rhine or the border with France and Germany, was given the nod by the European Broadcasting Union.
"The EBU is thrilled that Basel has been selected as the host city for the Eurovision Song Contest 2025. The contest was born in Switzerland in Lugano back in 1956 and it's great to be bringing it back to its birthplace almost 70 years later," said the contest's executive supervisor Martin Osterdahl.
From its earnest 1950s beginnings, Eurovision has ballooned into a colourful giant annual celebration that never takes itself too seriously.
The contest puts host cities in the spotlight, with 163 million viewers worldwide watching this year's event in Malmo, Sweden, where Nemo triumphed with the highly personal song "The Code".
Hosting also has a knock-on boost for the hotel and tourism industries as Eurovision fanatics, artists and country delegations flock in.
The contest will be staged at St. Jakobshalle in the Munchenstein district on the edge of Basel.
Opened in 1976, it calls itself Switzerland's top multi-purpose arena and can hold more than 12,000 spectators.
It hosts the Swiss Indoors men's annual tennis tournament, an event won a record 10 times by hometown hero Roger Federer.
It has also hosted world and European handball championships, world curling championships and matches in the 1998 ice hockey world championships.
Later this year it will host Canadian singer Bryan Adams and a leg of the PDC European darts tour.
