The 2026 Eurovision Song Contest Semi-final Allocation Draw and Host Insignia Handover Ceremony is set to take place at Vienna’s City Council Chamber at the iconic City Hall on Monday 12 January.
Vienna’s Rathaus aka City Hall, one of the most iconic landmarks of the majestic Austrian capital city will host the forthcoming Eurovision 2026 Semi-final Allocation Draw and the Host City Handover Ceremony on Monday 12th January. The event will be broadcast live on ORF 1 and the Eurovision Song Contest’s Official YouTube channel at 18:25 CET.
Vienna’s City Hall is located in the heart of the Austrian capital city and will be also playing host to the Eurovision 2026 Opening Ceremony and Welcome Reception next May. The City Hall was also the venue for the Eurovision 2015 Host City Insigna Ceremony, Semi-final Allocation Draw and Welcome Reception.
Host City Handover Ceremony
The Mayor of Basel will officially handhover the Eurovision hosting to the Mayor of Vienna. A grand ceremony will be organized for the ocassion where Vienna will officially take over from Basel as the Eurovision host city. The ceremony will carried out in the presence of ORF and EBU officials.
Semi-final Allocation Draw
The semi-finalist countries will be divided into several pots and distributed equally into each of the 2 semi-finals by a draw. The distribution of the countries in the pots will be based on the voting pattern in each country in the past years. This mechanism is used in order to avoid neighbourly voting and countries that tend to vote for each another ending up competing in the same semi-final.
The first draw will determine which country will compete in which semi-final. The semi-finals are scheduled to be held on 12 and 14 May.
First/Second Half of Semifinal Allocation Draw
Another draw will determine the appearance of the country in its respective semi- final (1st half or 2nd half of the semi-final).
BIG 4 and Austria voting in Semi-finals
The BIG 4 countries and hosts Austria will vote in the semi-finals too. A draw will also determine which country will vote in which semi-final.
The draw will also determine in which of the 2 semi-finals the BIG 4 and host country will showcase their respective Eurovision entries.
How many countries will compete in each semi- final?
A total of 35 countries will compete at the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna next May. 30 of countries will compete in the 2 semi-finals which are scheduled to be held on 10 and 12 May (15 countries in each semi-final).
The exact running order of the countries competing in the 2 Semi-finals on 12 and 14 May, will be determined by late March.
The BIG 4 and Austria (the host country) are automatically qualified to compete in the grand final on Saturday 16 May.
The 2026 Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to be held on 12, 14 and 16 May at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria.
