The 67th Eurovision Song Contest was hosted in Liverpool, United Kingdom, on behalf of Ukraine due to the security situation in the country.
The Italian city of Turin played host to the 66th Eurovision Song Contest, having won the previous year with Mäneskin - a rock band on the brink of global superstardom - and their entry Zitti E Buoni.
On the night of the Grand Final, in the PalaOlimpico, the international juries announced their points first, awarding the most to the United Kingdom’s Sam Ryder with SPACE MAN (283 in total - enough to set up a second place finish overall).
Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra were triumphant with their song Stefania; an ode to a mother, which became the first Eurovision winning song to feature a rap.
Traditionally, the winning country hosts the following Contest, but hasn’t always been possible (as was the case for the winning broadcasters in 1956, 1959, 1962, 1971, 1973 and 1979), and there are no hard and fast rules dictating who should host in these circumstances.
Ukrainian broadcaster UA:PBC naturally wanted to host the 67th Eurovision Song Contest but on July 25, after weeks of exploring the feasibility of a Ukrainian Contest, it was announced that regrettably, for safety and security reasons, this was not possible.
