Portuguese and Israeli teams meet at EBU headquarters in Geneva

19 June 2018 at 16:15 CEST

Portuguese delegation meets Reference Group in Geneva Stijn Smulders

While the eyes of the world are focused on the football World Cup in Russia, representatives from EBU Members gathered in Geneva at the headquarters of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to conclude on the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest and to officially kick off the preparations for the 2019 contest in Israel.

Yesterday (Monday), the Reference Group and representatives of Host Broadcaster RTP came together for a debrief of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon. The Reference Group is the governing body of the Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of all participating broadcasters.

Today, representatives of the Israeli public broadcaster KAN met with the EBU, its event partners and the Reference Group in Geneva, Switzerland, for initial talks regarding the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Israel and to establish a timetable of key milestones.

Not only did the Israeli team receive a wealth of information from the EBU, RTP also provided an extensive handover from RTP (Portuguese broadcaster) to KAN.

As planning for next year's contest begins, a decision on which city will host the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest will traditionally be made following a bid process. The Host City is due to be announced, along with the official dates of the two Semi-Finals and the Grand Final, by September this year.