Last Saturday Måns Zelmerlöw gave Sweden its 6th Eurovision victory with his entry Heroes, thus bringing the coveted grand prix on Swedish soil for the 6th time. The BIG question now is where are we going for the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest?

Sweden will have the honour of hosting the Eurovision Song Contest for the 6th time on home ground. This has sparked massive speculation within the Swedish media. Swedish newspaper Expressen reports that it is more than likely that the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Stockholm’s Tele 2 Arena, which is the hot favorite to host the event.

Stockholm has a total of 4 arenas that could be eligible to host the 61st Eurovision Song Contest; the Globen Arena, the Friends Arena, the Tele 2 Arena and the Stokholm International Fairs Complex. Expressen goes on to report in their article that SVT has already been in contact with Stockholm and the Tele 2 Arena regarding the 2016 ESC host venue/city and informal meetings have been held with the city of Stockholm and other pontential cities.

SVT has already had informal meetings with several cities regarding the Eurovision hosting even before Måns Zelmerlöw won in order to evaluate all possible options if the country were to win the event.

The Tele 2 Arena is a multi- purpose stadium located in the south of Stockholm just next to the Globen Arena at the Globen City in Johanneshov. It can accomodate between 30,000- 40,000 persons and is well communicated.

Swedish media is speculating that the Tele 2 Arena in Stockholm is the frontrunner in the race to host the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest.

Stockholm would be the ideal choice as its the capital city of Sweden and is well connected with numerous direct international flights, has a great hotel capacity and is well connected with a great transport system.

SVT remains tight lipped and is expected to open the 2016 Eurovision host city bidding race in due course.

Whilst the 2016 Eurovision bidding race is set to kick off, the announcement of the 2016 Eurovision host city is not expected to be made until mid summer, early August.

Swedish media speculate that Malmo’s chances to host the event are low as the city hosted the event back in 2013 and Stockholm is the hot favorite with its Tele 2 Arena. It’s early days yet as the bid is open to every city in Sweden and the potential bidding cities will have to comply and fit in with SVT’s and EBU’s requirements.

Sweden has hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 5 times already: twice in Stockholm: 1975, 2000, twice in Malmo: 1992, 2013 and once in Goteborg: 1985.

The preliminary dates for the 2016  Eurovision Song Contest have been set to 10, 12 and 14 May and are subject to change by the host broadcaster.

Stay tuned to ESCToday for the latest news on the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest.