The national public broadcaster of Ukraine, NTU, officially confirmed to esctoday.com that 19 and 21 May 2005 are the dates for the 50th Eurovision Song Contest.

The qualifier round of the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest takes place Thursday 19th May, the final Saturday 21st May. This year, the qualifier round took place on Wednesday. The UEFA Cup final that is played on 18th May is most likely the reason for scheduling the qualifier round one day later.

NTU explained to esctoday.com that the selection of a venue is still ongoing. Logo applications and theme designs will be made public 15th of September. This year, TRT used the Istanbul skyline as theme.