Eurovision Song Contest 2025

The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 was the 69th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It consisted of two semi-finals on 13 and 15 May and a final on 17 May 2025, held at St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland, and presented by Hazel Brugger and Sandra Studer, with Michelle Hunziker joining for the final. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR), which staged the event after winning the 2024 contest for Switzerland with the song "The Code" by Nemo.

Broadcasters from 37 countries participated in the contest, the same number as the previous two editions. Montenegro returned after a two-year absence, while Moldova, which had originally planned to participate, later withdrew due to economic reasons and the quality of the songs competing in its national selection. Israel's participation continued to cause controversy in the context of the Gaza war, with some participating broadcasters calling for a discussion on the issue.

The winner was Austria with the song "Wasted Love", performed by JJ and written by him along with Teodora Špirić and Thomas Thurner. Austria won the combined vote and jury vote, and placed fourth in the televote. Israel won the televote and finished in second place, with Estonia, Sweden, and Italy completing the top five. The EBU reported that the contest had a television audience of 166 million viewers in 37 European markets, an increase of three million viewers from the previous edition.

Location

The 2025 contest took place in Basel, Switzerland, following the country's victory at the 2024 contest with the song "The Code", performed by Nemo. It was the third time that Switzerland had hosted the contest, having previously done so for the inaugural contest in 1956 and the 1989 contest, held in Lugano and Lausanne respectively. The selected venue for the contest was the 12,400-seat St. Jakobshalle, which serves as a venue for indoor sports and concert events. The arena is located in the municipality of Münchenstein in Basel-Landschaft, right by the border with Basel-Stadt.

The Messe and Congress Center Basel complex hosted several events related to the contest. It was the location of the Eurovision Village, which hosted performances by contest participants and local artists as well as screenings of the live shows for the general public; and the EuroClub, which organised the official after-parties and private performances by contest participants. The "Turquoise Carpet" event on 11 May 2025 began at the Basel Town Hall and ran through the Middle Bridge, with the contestants and their delegations being presented before accredited press and fans, before ending at Messe Basel, where the opening ceremony was held. The St. Jakob-Park stadium held a screening of the final along with performances by four previous Eurovision entrants, with entry charged for the public; the stadium was also featured on the live broadcast and was referred to as "Arena Plus" for the occasion. The Eurovision Street was located at Steinenvorstadt.

Bidding phase

After Switzerland's win in the 2024 contest, the local authorities of Geneva expressed their interest in hosting the 2025 edition at Palexpo and submitted a formal application. On the same day, the president of the Basel-Stadt government, Conradin Cramer, also expressed interest in Basel hosting the 2025 event. On 12 May, Olma Hall in St. Gallen was proposed as a potential venue.

On 13 May, Lugano, which hosted the inaugural contest in 1956, ruled out a bid to host in 2025. The president of Bern's cantonal government Philippe Müller expressed his reluctance to host the contest in the de facto Swiss capital, but the cantonal government itself later announced its support in organising the event in Bern. Meanwhile, Zurich's city council held a "high priority" meeting to discuss a bid. On 14 May, Lausanne, which hosted the 1989 contest, ruled out a bid to host in 2025, citing a lack of infrastructure. On 15 May, Biel/Bienne declared its interest to be associated with and co-host the event. On 17 May, the local government of Fribourg stated that it was examining a potential bid. On 5 June, the Basel-Stadt government confirmed that it would bid, proposing St. Jakobshalle and St. Jakob-Park as possible venues. On 6 June, Biel/Bienne and Bern's municipalities announced a joint bid. On 12 June, St. Gallen announced that it would not submit a bid due to not meeting the requirements to host the event.

The host broadcaster, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR), launched the bidding process on 27 May 2024, by issuing a list of requirements for interested cities. Basel, Bern, Geneva, and Zurich officially declared their interest and finalised their bids on 28 June. Representatives from the host broadcaster visited the four bidding cities in early July, and shortlisted Basel and Geneva on 19 July. On 30 August, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and SRG SSR announced Basel as the host city, with St. Jakobshalle as the chosen venue. A referendum was held in November 2024 within the Basel-Stadt canton to approve the expenditure for organising the contest, which passed with the support of 66.6% of voters.

Key:
 †  Host city  *  Shortlisted  ^  Submitted a bid

Participants

Eligibility for participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with an EBU membership that is capable of receiving the contest via the Eurovision network and broadcasting it live nationwide. The EBU issues invitations to participate in the contest to all members.

On 12 December 2024, the EBU initially announced that broadcasters from 38 countries would participate in the 2025 contest, including Montenegro, returning after a two-year absence. On 22 January 2025, Moldova announced its withdrawal, citing economic reasons and the quality of its national final, thereby reducing the number of participating countries to 37.

The contest featured two returning artists for the same country: Justyna Steczkowska had previously represented Poland in 1995, and Nina Žižić had appeared with Who See for Montenegro in 2013. Steczkowska's return 30 years after her first appearance broke the record for the longest gap between two participations by the same artist, which was previously held by Anna Vissi with a gap of 24 years between her entries for Cyprus in 1982 and Greece in 2006.

Other countries

The EBU member broadcasters in Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Slovakia confirmed non-participation prior to the announcement of the participants list by the EBU. Macedonian broadcaster MRT discussed a potential return of the country to the contest, in response to an email from Eurovision fans urging the broadcaster to do so in October 2024; North Macedonia ultimately did not appear on the final list of participants for 2025. Kosovar broadcaster RTK's general director Shkumbin Ahmetxhekaj sent a formal letter to the EBU in June 2024, requesting an invitation for Kosovo to debut in the contest in 2025; this was rejected by the EBU's General Assembly in July 2024.

Production and format

The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 was produced by the Swiss national broadcaster SRG SSR. The core team consisted of Reto Peritz and Moritz Stadler as executive producers, and Yves Schifferle as head of show. Repeating their function from the previous edition were Christer Björkman as head of contest, Tobias Åberg as head of production, and Robin Hofwander and Fredrik Bäcklund as multi-camera directors, with other production personnel including Nadja Burkhardt-Tracol as head of event, Manfred Winz as head of finance, Aurore Chatard as head of security, and Kevin Stuber as head of legal. The theme art and background music's creation are overseen by art director Artur Deyneuve.

The contest's organisation was restructured for 2025; this was announced by the EBU on 1 July 2024, following a review into the controversies of the 2024 contest. Two new positions were created: the ESC director and the commercial director, filled by Martin Green (managing director of the 2023 contest) and Jurian van der Meer, respectively; Green would oversee the work of executive supervisor Martin Österdahl and Van der Meer. In response to the circumstances that led to the disqualification of the 2024 Dutch entrant Joost Klein from that year's final, from 2025 onwards, no behind-the-scenes filming of the artists would be permitted without prior approval from their delegations' head of press. A set of conduct rules and duty of care guidelines was codified and made mandatory for all personnel working in the event.

The allocated budget was CHF 61 million (€65.2 million), with the Executive Council of Basel-Stadt contributing CHF 35 million (€37.3 million), SRG SSR contributing CHF 20 million (€21.4 million), and the EBU contributing CHF 6 million (€6.4 million). CHF 1.7 million was ultimately left unspent by the Basel-Stadt canton.