Malmö is Swedish city chosen to host Eurovision next year

The city of Malmö is to host next year's 68th Eurovision song contest, it was announced on Friday, following Sweden's victory in Liverpool in May.

The coastal town in the south of the country was selected ahead of the capital Stockholm after "dialogue with several cities", organisers said.

The Malmö Arena will stage the semi-finals on 7 and 9 May 2024, as well as the final on 11 May .

Sweden's Loreen won Eurovision 2023 with her soaring pop anthem Tattoo.

The star, who also won the competition in 2012, saw off competition from Finland's Käärijä in a nail-biting vote.

Malmö has been chosen to host the follow-up for a joint record third time - only Stockholm and Copenhagen have done it three times before - after a city bidding process that examined venue facilities and the ability to accommodate thousands of visiting delegations, crews and fans.

It will be the seventh time that Sweden, home to Eurovision legends Abba, will have hosted overall.

Martin Österdahl, executive supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest said the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) was "thrilled" that Sweden's third-largest city had been chosen once again.

"Malmö holds a special place in the history of the contest, having successfully hosted it firstly in 1992 and then in 2013 - following Loreen's last win," he said.

"We're excited to be returning to this vibrant and dynamic city which has demonstrated it has the venues and infrastructure that are perfect for staging the world's largest live music event."

He added that the city's bid "demonstrated a huge passion" for the contest.

The UK hosted this year's event as the 2022 winners Ukraine were unable to host, as is tradition, due to the invasion by Russia.

An estimated half a million people visited the host city Liverpool in connection with the event.

The UK's Mae Muller failed to replicate runner-up Sam Ryder's success last year, however, coming in 25th place - one above bottom.