As we reported earlier this month, Switzerland is spoiled for choice when it comes to potential host cities for Eurovision 2025. Geneva, Zürich, Basel and St. Gallen have already expressed their interest in hosting — and now the OLBG betting site have listed Zürich as the massive favourite to win.
| City | Odds | Probability |
| Zürich | 1/1 | 50% |
| Basel | 3/1 | 25% |
| Geneva | 3/1 | 25% |
| St. Gallen | 4/1 | 20% |
Eurovision 2025: Host city odds list Zürich as favourite
Any host city needs to meet certain requirements: making a substantial financial contribution to host the event, having a venue that can accommodate around 10,000 spectators, an international airport with a large number of European flight connections, an efficient transport system, and a large hotel accommodation capacity of at least 2,000 rooms. Additionally, the host city needs the infrastructure and venues to host the Press Centre, Delegation Bubble, Eurovision Village, EuroClub, and side events.
Zürich meets all of the requirements without breaking a sweat.
One of their many advantages is having the biggest concert hall in Switzerland, the Hallenstadion, with a capacity of around 15,000 spectators. Furthermore, the Zürich World Trade Centre is very close, providing a perfect place for additional events and press activities. It’s also extremely close to Zürich Airport and the base of Swiss broadcaster SRF, making the Hallenstadion a perfect venue that is both accessible for Eurovision fans and suitable for the Press Centre, Delegation Bubble, Eurovision Village, EuroClub, and all other side events. The city also meets the required hotel capacity.
You can read more about the potential host cities in our earlier post, “Welcome to the show: Venues in Geneva, Zürich, Basel and St. Gallen express interest in hosting Eurovision 2025.”
OLB’s top-level analysis of potential host cities
The Hallenstadion in Zürich is the biggest arena in the race with a max capacity of 15,000, with 13,000 usually available for concerts. Zürich is the largest city in Switzerland which may well put it as the frontrunner to host the massive event next year.
Basel‘s St. Jakobshalle is joint-second favourite to host Eurovision next year. Besides its massive arena there are also five halls that are suitable for press events and other Eurovision spaces.
It’s likely that Geneva will push the International Exhibition and Convention Center Palexpo as their host venue for next year’s Eurovision. The arena has seven halls, and 102,000 square metres of exhibition space. The arena is also close to Geneva International Airport which helps their chances further.
St. Gallen‘s Kantonalbank Hall is the outsider to host Eurovision. Although the venue is more than good enough to host, the small airport in the city may not be big enough to put it as a frontrunner.
So where do you want to go for Eurovision 2025? And which city do you think will win? Let us know down below…
Any chance for Interlaken?…. (such a beautiful scenery)
Their Kursaal Hall has a capacity for 1500 persons
😀
I doubt the hotels in that area have the capacity either
Zurich please… best infrastructure in Switzerland (incl. transport)
Why not Bern?
Because the major doesn’t like eurovision. He said that in his opinion it’s a corrupted show. That’s what he tweeted right after Nemos win.
I’ve been to Bern several times and I can say that it is a cute City. However Zürich is much better for eurovision. There is wy more to do in Zürich and nice Bars. The only thing that is better in Bern is the alpine panorama around the City.
Israel confirms participation in ESC 2025.
They will keep competing until the EBU says no.
There’s still time
I think that countries know now they have a bit more leverage over EBU and will push for Israel ban. Especially since the public narrative is shifting more and more after Rafah massa*cre.
The EBU is clearly determined to be on the wrong side of history, just like they were with Russia in 2022.
Bye, EBU.
I’ll be damned if we send anyone from Norway again.
We confirm we don’t want them to participate :-
I broke the code, that’s why I know it’s going to be Zürich! It’s all in the song, guys. IT IS ALL IN THE SONG: “Somewhere between the O’s and ones That’s where I found my kingdom come” So you know where Zürich Hallenstadion is, right?! – In the district Zürich-OERLIKON ! And which district is Oerlikon?! The 11th! Shock!!! Between Oerlikon and 11 – right in the Hallenstadion (!) he will find his kingdom come!!! He was telling it to us in the song guys! And the signs go on!-> You know the street address of Hallenstadion Zürich? It’s… Read more »
P.s.: In his music video there is one shot where you can see a map of europe in the train. It is showing a train connection between Malmö and Zürich! So if you play the video backwards, it is showing that the tracks are leading from Malmö to Zürich!
The signs are endless! The kingdom will come in Zürich!
Sorry, I of course mean “they”. It was no bad intention to use “he”.
Are you all right?
I hope Moldova wins next year just so my wallet can recover a bit. (And always wanted to visit Kishinev)
I doubt Moldova would have the money to be a host. Still wondering why they even have money to participate, when more than half of the Balkan states can’t.
I think balkan nations are afraid of budget bombs from paying so much on ESC participation and then have a low viewership.
I think their participation fee is maybe 20k euros a year. Compared to spain’s 350k.
yes the richer you are, the more you pay (and the big 5 are the ones indeed that pay the most)
so the poorest countries in the competition have to pay the least
Bosnia & Herzegovina want to take part, but they got their debts to clear out before they can rejoin according to official ebu rules, if u have debts you cannot participate, same how romania got dq in 2016 before the contest began
Always wondered how Moldova can afford to take part when countries like Montenegro and North Macedonia find it to expensive
Hoping for Rykka to perform The Last Of Our Kind”
hoping for a Celine Dion medley performed by various swiss artists + a special cameo guest appearance by the queen herself of course
By dj bobó
It’s gotta be Michael von der Heide surely??
Michael could do her french songs, especially dans un autre monde i can see him doing that very well
Rykka could do ”Love Me Back to Life” or ”Ashes”
Remo could do his own version of her more recent song ”Love Again”
It’s always good when a country hosts the contest in its main city, so rooting for Zurich.
Even if you like going to the more obscure cities, isn’t it time for a main city to host again, last time was Lisbon, 7 years before.
The main city is Bern 😉 not Zurich
Main City =/= capital city necessarily
Istanbul not Ankara etc
All host cities have been major: Tel Aviv (largest metro area in Israel), Roterdam (2nd largest in the Netherlands, main port), Turin (3rd largest in Italy, largest arena in the country), Liverpool (among largest cities in the UK) and finally Malmo (largest city in southern Sweden). Nothing obscure on this list.
None of those are the main city in their countries they all B tier.
A tier would have been Jerusalem, Amsterdam, Rome, London, Stockholm.
I don’t think it’s “always good” for a country to host the contest in its biggest city. Capital/biggest cities already get plenty of attention, tourists, etc. and I think it’s great for secondary cities to get some time in the spotlight. And while they’re smaller, we’re not exactly taking hamlets here, there’s plenty hotel rooms etc. in these cities. The days of a town like Harrogate or Millstreet hosting are long gone. As well as that, most countries are actively trying to take attention away from their main city. I guarantee you that we will NEVER see Eurovision in London… Read more »
Yeah, when the Netherlands won, they did not push Amsterdam forward as a host city because they wanted to reduce tourist overload.
Manchester be a great option next time or Leeds 🙂
I personally think that it should be in Lugano
There is no arena… they already said it’s not possible….
Lack of infrastructure and venue.
Did anyone ask Netta? So at least we know which city we can eliminate from this betting odds ?
She usually goes for capitals, so we can eliminate Bern haha
Nana banana
Just to add a know-it all comment: Bern is NOT the capital of switzerland. Switzerland has NO official capital. It’s just the seat of the parliment, functioning as a in between solution (Zürich/Geneva) and highliting the flat or non existing hiearchy in Switzerland.
A capital city is where the parliament sits, so yes it is Bern, what you are referring to is the fact Bern is not mentioned in the constitution as being the capital.
No one is like Zürich You have lot of things to see and do in Zürich…Wellcome in Zürich EUROVISION
I didn’t realize we did betting odds for host cities.
Lol trust me, this is even more hardcore than the competition itself
more exciting than the actual contest honestly
First time they hosted it in Lugano, the Italian part.
Second time in Lausanne, the French part.
I’m sure they will go with the German part tbis time, they have the biggest venues in Zürich, Bern and Basel.
My bet would actually be Basel
Yes but Zurich is way better than Basel
st gallen is where it at
I like Zürich and generally prefer it, but objectively Geneva is a much better choice in just about every aspect, maybe except connectivity (but it’s still pretty good).
In which aspect Geneva is much better?
ZURICH!!!
Zurich has fine restaurants
We will only buy food in supermarkets. It is too expensive.
Stingy
Unless the city decides not to bid, I can’t see it being anywhere but Zurich. I had a work secondment there once, now I’m annoyed I didn’t stay on when I had the chance…it would have been the first time I’d have experienced living in a Eurovision host city (and I wouldn’t have to worry about paying for a hotel room.) It’s a bit ahead of time, but hopefully it’ll be a more efficient production than the 1989 contest, which I believe still holds the record for the longest time between Te Deum and the first postcard, 20 minutes. It… Read more »
I’m hoping for a Balkan or Caucasian win next year – it’s been quite a while since Eurovision was hosted in an affordable city.
Hallenstadion is out! On April 16 there is a concert by Twenty One Pilots
Fingers crossed that it’s going to be Zürich or Basel. Zürich has hostels and I looked it up for Basel: There are trains from Freiburg (Germany) to Basel that travel from the middle of the city to the other middle of the city in 1 hour by train and even just 36minutes with a fast train. So sleeping in Germany (much cheaper) could there then also be an option.
P.s.: Moulhouse (France) only 22minutes by train
It’s gonna be an expensive contest!
That it will be. However a very high quality one to boot.
Sweden is also expensive, Israel, the Netherlands – it’s been a while since the contest was held in a (relatively) cheap country.
To think we almost had Croatia.
Knowing Liverpool booking prices tripled during ESC week, just imagine Zürich that week…
Zurich, if it does host will be the most expensive contest we had since Baku in 2012.
Liverpool prices went down later though. You should never ever ever book a nonrefundable rate for a major event months in advance. The prices are always overhyped. We cancelled our Liverpool booking and then booked the same hotel two weeks before Eurovision and saved over 50%. Similar in Malmö, we had a backup hotel elsewhere in Scania but a month or so before Eurovision we managed to get a very decent rate directly in Malmö, just slightly above what I usually pay there outside of Eurovision.
so what, not my problem poor countries can’t send competitive enough entries LOL
Nemo schooled every other country this year with his worldclass masterclass of The Code, timeless masterpiece
I can understand with Zurich hosting, I do however, Geneva for me is the one that is head and shoulders above the rest. 1. Geneva is extremely accessible, accessible from multiple countries through many different means, by road, by Hugh speed train through France and Italy just to name a few and Geneva International Airport has flights from all over Europe and the World. 2. Palexpo is a very experienced venue capable of hosting the event, it hosted the 2014 Davis Cup (tennis tournament) to great success, it boasts 15,000 capacity for visitors plus an additional 2,000 for press so… Read more »
To make a edit: it’s 14,000 beds not hotels, the true total of hotel rooms available is 7,800
Let’s first address the list of complaints that the delegations made to the EBU during and after Malmö before we proceed to act like it’s business as usual.
And Martin Österdahl and Noel Curran need to go ASAP.
No one’s forcing you to follow Eurovision. It will be better without the drama queens who ruined this year’s contest.
Oh god, bye bye…..
Im here for Zürich! Such a stunning and classy city.
Expensive but would do an excellent hosting job. Plus we haven’t had a countries biggest city host since Lisbon in 2018, they’ve all been secondary/tertiary cities, so would be nice to go major again
The fact that every city that hosted esc (except for this years Malmo) is bigger then Lisbon and had the same or more things to offer then Lisbon had, proves that every city can host it properly even if it isn’t the capital. It was easy for Lisbon to host it because every other portugese city is actually a town or a village, not a city, and it was a historic moment for Portugal so that’s why it had to be in the capital. Every other winning country since then already hosted in the past, all of them for several… Read more »
It’s just a personal preference. Most audience members and delegations will be transiting through the biggest city anyway as that’s usually where the biggest airports and stations are