🇦🇱 Road to Basel: Albania

It’s time for another weekly Eurovision update. This week brings news on the 2026 host city race, national final announcements, small-country concerns, leadership changes, and possible voting rule changes. Here’s everything you need to know. 🇦🇹 1. Oberwart and Ebreichsdorf out of the race Two Austrian towns have dropped out of the 2026 Eurovision host city competition. Oberwart confirmed it won’t submit a bid. The local exhibition hall can hold about 4,000 people, which doesn’t meet Eurovision’s requirements. Source Ebreichsdorf has also ended its plans. The proposed venue, Comer City, faced timing issues. City officials didn’t give it the green light. Source Graz is still in the race. The city council will make a decision this Friday. Source Other cities still preparing their bids include Vienna, Linz/Wels, Innsbruck, and St. Pölten. ORF will reveal the host city on August 8. 📷 placesofjuma.com 🇳🇴 🇫🇮 2. Norway and Finland kick off national final season Norway and Finland have started preparing for their Eurovision 2026 entries. In Norway, broadcaster NRK opened submissions for Melodi Grand Prix 2026. Source NRK’s music manager says they want unique songs. Entries should have something special—something people want to hear again and again. Let’s see who follows in the footsteps of Kyle Alessandro. Finland is also moving forward. UMK 2026 opens for submissions on August 18. Source The submission window will close on August 24. The national final takes place on February 28 in Tampere’s Nokia Arena. At that day, we know who will be the Finnish contestant after Erika Vikman. Winners of MGP and UMK will represent their countries in Austria next year. 🇸🇲 3. San Marino talks to the EBU San Marino wants changes before joining Eurovision 2026. RTV director Roberto Sergio says the country will meet with the EBU and other small states. Source He hopes San Marino stays in the contest but only under fairer conditions. Small countries like his often feel overlooked. They usually don’t get a real televote and depend on algorithms. San Marino wants equal chances. Talks with the EBU and possibly with Andorra or Monaco may change things. If not, San Marino could stay out in 2026. 4. Ana María Bordas leads Reference Group Spain’s Ana María Bordas now chairs the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group. Source She began her two-year term in June. Bordas replaces Switzerland’s Bakel Walden. As RTVE’s Head of Delegation, she helped shape Spain’s Benidorm Fest. Bordas says she wants teamwork and unity. Her goal is to support all broadcasters and make Eurovision even stronger. She will help lead the 2026 planning process. 📷 RTVE 5. Voting changes on the table More broadcasters are speaking out about the current voting system. Norway, Spain, Belgium, and Iceland want change. Source NRK says, according to newspaper VG, that the EBU is open to discussion. The Reference Group will address the issue this summer. One major concern is how televoting works. Viewers can vote up to 20 times per device. Some fans use multiple SIM cards to vote more than allowed. Critics say that’s unfair. In 2025, Israel won the public vote despite having low streaming numbers. Many suspect a large, government-funded voting push helped them win. The public and jury votes don’t always align. Broadcasters want more balance and trust in the system. The EBU is expected to review the rules before next year’s contest.   Share