It’s been only two weeks since Netta’s victory at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018, but the rumour mill has gone in overdrive regarding the host city and even country of next year’s competition. Following the EBU’s post which was asking the fans not to book tickets at the moment, yet another piece of news which is making the rounds today, creates further concern on the issue.

Runners-up to host in 2019?

From the words of both Eurovision 2018 winner Netta and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it is understood that the proposed city to host the contest is Jerusalem. However, this has not been officially confirmed by both the European Broadcasting Union and the host broadcaster IPBC.

However, according to reports from the Spanish TV channel Formula TV, there are rumours that the EBU is currently considering a potential movement of the contest even outside the proposed host country of Israel, if there are participating countries which will opt for boycotting the event. Regarding the issue, it is also mentioned that the EBU has already informed the Israeli national broadcaster IPBC that they might not host Eurovision on home ground next year.

In such a case, two candidate countries for hosting the 64th Eurovision Song Contest would be Cyprus and Austria, as they came 2nd and 3rd respectively in Lisbon.

The news have been reproduced via the Athens News Agency in Greece, which also reports that according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz there are several countries that have already expressed their dissatisfaction with the possibility of the city of Jerusalem to become home to the event in 2019, due to its long-term political conflict with Palestine. These particular countries stated that they have been under strong political pressure to withdraw from the contest in case that it happens.

What will finally happen? Stay tuned for all the future developments…