What Happens if 🇦🇺 Australia Wins Eurovision?

With Delta Goodrem second with the bookmakers, many are asking what would happen if Australia wins the Eurovision Song Contest?

Unlike nearly every participating country in the Eurovision Song Contest, we know for certain that the contest would not be heading to Australia should they win the contest. With the distances and time zone differences, the complexities are just too high for the Eurovision Song Contest to be held on the other side of the world.

What would likely occur is that SBS, the Australian broadcaster that organises the country’s Eurovision participation, would partner with a European broadcaster to co-host the competition. The only time that a Eurovision Song Contest has been held in co-operation with another broadcaster was when the United Kingdom and the BBC hosted on behalf of Ukraine and Suspilne due to the war in Ukraine, meaning Ukraine could not host the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest.

It has been reported in European media that SBS has, during its 11-year participation in the contest, had discussions with a number of different broadcasters about potentially co-hosting the contest should Australia win the contest. Germany and Iceland have both been mentioned previously as countries that have had agreements to host on Australia’s behalf.

 Iceland

In 2020, Viðskiptablaðið reported that an agreement had been signed between the Icelandic broadcaster RUV and the Australian broadcaster SBS, regarding hosting the competition should Australia ever win. The report states that since at least May 2018, an agreement has been in place between the Icelandic and Australian public broadcasters. The agreement is reported to have been discussed at both the municipal and national government level, who are in favour of the agreement. Should Australia win the contest, Iceland would be expected to contribute 2 million Euro towards the hosting of the competition, with the remainder being funded by the EBU and SBS.

However, as Iceland has opted to boycott the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 due to the ongoing participation of Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest, it is not known whether the agreement remains in place.

 Germany

In the early years following Australia’s debut in the Eurovision Song Contest, it was widely speculated that SBS had signed an agreement with the German broadcaster NDR to organise the contest. Since then the organisation of German participation in the Eurovision Song Contest has moved from NDR to SWR, as a result it is unknown whether SWR and the wider ARD would wish to host the contest.

Bidding Process?

Should an agreement not be in place, the European Broadcasting Union could opt to follow a bidding process, which has been held to determine the hosts of other Eurovision contest formats, including the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. In the event that the winner of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest opts not to host the following year, the European Broadcasting Union invites interested broadcasters to submit bids, with the EBU ultimately choosing the host. This is what has happened in 2026, with France opting not to host the contest and Malta, San Marino and North Macedonia all bidding to host, with Malta being announced as the host.

They may also choose to follow the process used to determine the 2023 co-host. The European Broadcasting Union worked its way down the results of the contest, starting with the United Kingdom who placed second, to determine whether they would wish to host on Ukraine’s behalf. Ultimately, the BBC agreed, but Belgium, Spain, Poland and the Netherlands all publicly offered to host as well.

Delta Goodrem was internally selected to represent Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2026. The song that Delta will perform in Vienna is called “Eclipse”. It was written and composed by Michael Fatkin, Jonas Myrin, Ferras Alqaisi and Delta herself. She has qualified for the final and will compete in slot eight on Saturday night.