Liverpool has made it onto the shortlist to host next year's Eurovision Song Contest.
The city officially put its bid forward earlier this week to host the huge event next year. Leading city figures have been campaigning for the city for several weeks. Today it was confirmed Liverpool is through to the next stage, with the city making it to the shortlist stage.
The world famous song contest will be held in the UK next year after UK entrant Sam Ryder came second in this year's contest with his song Spaceman. The winner of this year's contest was Ukraine and its rap-folk ban Kalush Orechstra, but it was decided that the ongoing invasion of the country by Russia would make it impossible to hold next year's event there, so the UK will host.
READ MORE: Liverpool officially submits bid to host Eurovision Song Contest 2023
Since it was announced that the UK would be the home of Eurovision in 2023, a number of cities have thrown their names into the hat. Liverpool was joined by London, Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds, Newcastle, Sheffield, Belfast, Aberdeen, Birmingham and Darlington in submitting bids.
Today, that list of areas was whittled down as the shortlist was revealed on BBC Radio 2 by the European Broadcasting Union. The areas making the shortlist are: Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield.
The BBC will now analyse the detail of the bids from each city and a final decision on who will host the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest is expected in the autumn.
Reacting to the news today, Mayor of Liverpool Joanne Anderson said: “Eurovision is made for this city and I’m so pleased Liverpool has been shortlisted.
“When we heard the sad announcement that Ukraine would be unable to host, Liverpool stepped forward and offered to stage the event in solidarity with, and in tribute to, this amazing country and its people.
“A huge amount of work is already going on behind the scenes to make Liverpool’s vision and ambition a reality. There are a number of complexities in staging a show of this scale, but we have one of the best event teams in the world, and one of the best cities in the world to act as a backdrop to Eurovision 2023 – let’s do this Liverpool!”
Claire McColgan CBE, Director of Culture Liverpool, said: “We are so excited to be shortlisted and now we have the chance to fully demonstrate this city’s culture credentials, our enviable creativity and our passion and expertise in staging large-scale, major events.
“As a city our award-winning events team opened up the nation’s first music events as we emerged out of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This is our moment to show everyone what we can deliver. We are a city of music and a champion for social justice, so in this unique situation for Eurovision we feel like there is nowhere better than Liverpool to host Eurovision 2023.”
Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: "The Liverpool City Region is the UK's cultural capital - home to a flourishing music scene that has been entertaining and inspiring the world for decades. It is a massive part of our identity, and we are a proud UNESCO City of Music. It's safe to say that Liverpool wouldn't be Liverpool without music - and music wouldn't be music without Liverpool.
"No region in the UK has had more number one hits - and nowhere can throw a party quite like us. I can think of nowhere more qualified, more experienced or more fitting to host the Eurovision than the Liverpool City Region."
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