Eurovision Battles 2022

The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 is the upcoming 66th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It is set to take place in Turin, Italy, following the country's victory at the 2021 contest with the song "Zitti e buoni" by Måneskin. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI), the contest will be held at the PalaOlimpico, and will consist of two semi-finals on 10 and 12 May, and a final on 14 May 2022. The three live shows will be hosted by Italian television presenter Alessandro Cattelan, singer Laura Pausini and Lebanese-British singer Mika.

This will be the third time that Italy hosts the contest (having previously hosted the 1965 edition in Naples and the 1991 edition in Rome), as well as the first EBU event to be held in the country since the last edition of Jeux sans frontières in 1999.

Forty countries will take part in the contest, with Armenia and Montenegro returning after their absences from the previous edition. Russia had originally planned to participate, but has been excluded because of its invasion of Ukraine.

The 2022 contest will take place in Turin, Italy, following the country's victory at the 2021 edition with the song "Zitti e buoni", performed by Måneskin. It will be the third time that Italy hosts the contest, having previously done so for the 1965 and 1991 contests, held in Naples and Rome respectively. The selected venue is the 13,300-seat PalaOlimpico, a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the Santa Rita district, which serves as a venue for events including concerts, exhibitions, trade fairs, conferences, and sports (mainly those requiring an ice rink, such as ice hockey and curling). PalaOlimpico has previously hosted the ice hockey events at the 2006 Winter Olympics, and the opening ceremonies of the 2007 Winter Universiade and will host the same event in 2025. The venue is expected to return to its full capacity for the contest, after the previous edition in Rotterdam saw a limited audience of 3,500 people as a precaution against the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to the main venue, the host city will also organise side events in tandem with the contest. The Eurovision Village is the official Eurovision Song Contest fan and sponsors area during the event weeks, where it will be possible to watch performances by contest participants and local artists, as well as the live shows broadcast from the main venue. It is set to be located at Parco del Valentino and open from 6 to 15 May 2022. The "Turquoise Carpet" and Opening Ceremony events, where the contestants and their delegations are presented before the accredited press and fans, will take place at the Palace of Venaria on 8 May 2022.

Location of the selected host city (in blue), shortlisted cities (in green), other bidding cities (in red) and cities that expressed interest but ultimately did not bid (in grey) Between 23 and 28 May 2021, many cities across Italy expressed interest in hosting the contest. Representatives from the cities of Bologna, Milan, Pesaro, Naples and Turin voiced their interest, as well as the Mayor of Reggio Emilia, Luca Vecchi, who hoped to host the contest in the new RCF Arena, the largest open-air arena in Europe with a capacity of 100,000 spectators. The mayors of Rome, Rimini and Florence soon after also expressed interest in hosting the contest and were joined by Sanremo, Verona and Bari. Marco Di Maio [it], member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, also suggested that if Rimini were to host the contest, it should be a co-production with San Marino RTV.

Semi-final 1
The first semi-final will take place on 10 May 2022 at 21:00 (CEST). Seventeen countries will participate in the first semi-final. Those countries plus France and Italy will vote in this semi-final. Russia was originally allocated to participate in the second half of the semi-final, but was excluded from the contest due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.