Eurovision has settled in its rulebook a question it had until now been deciding case by case: winning the contest is not necessarily enough to host it the following year.
The new rules, approved after the 2026 edition in Vienna, provide that a winning country may be excluded from hosting if it is involved in an armed conflict or if the geopolitical situation in its region puts security and stability at risk. In that case, the European Broadcasting Union may commission an independent assessment and hand the event to another broadcaster.
The clearest precedent is Ukraine: in 2022 Kalush Orchestra won Eurovision, but the Russian invasion made it impossible to organise the following edition in Kyiv. It was the BBC that hosted it in Liverpool, working with Ukraine's public broadcaster to keep the winning country's presence visible.
The new rule comes, however, mainly after two years in which Israel remained in the competition despite protests over the war in Gaza. Five broadcasters, including those of Spain and Ireland, announced a boycott after a failed attempt to suspend it. Israel finished second in both 2025 and 2026: the prospect of a contest in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem made explicit the concerns of some participating broadcasters.
The rule does not name Israel, and it applies to Ukraine as well. But it says one precise thing: Eurovision can carry on letting a country at war compete without committing to bringing thousands of delegations, artists and audiences there the following year.
