Overview
- The 70th Eurovision final began Saturday at 9 p.m. in Vienna with 25 acts, and Germany’s Sarah Engels performed second with “Fire.”
- Thousands marched in Vienna against Israel’s participation, while Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Iceland and Slovenia boycotted the contest in protest.
- The EBU reinstated national juries for the semifinals and cut each person’s televotes to 10 to limit coordinated cross‑border voting.
- Bookmakers tipped Finland and Australia as leading contenders before the show, and Germany faced long odds from the historically weak second start slot.
- In Germany, ARD aired the final live with SWR producing, and reported EBU fees of about €620,000 for 2026 rekindled debate over public broadcasting costs.