Switzerland confirms participation in Eurovision 2027, search for song begins in August
The Swiss public broadcasting company SRG SSR has confirmed its participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2027, which is planned to be held in Bulgaria after the victory of Bulgarian representative DARA at the 2026 contest in Vienna. According to SRF's announcement of 11 June 2026, the Swiss delegation will once again compete with its own song, and the project will be carried out in cooperation with the four regional units of the public service: RSI, RTR, RTS and SRF. This places Switzerland among the countries that have already confirmed, at an early stage, their intention to take part in the next edition of Europe's largest televised music competition. The confirmation comes at a time when the host-city selection process is only just developing in Bulgaria, so alongside the Swiss song selection, the organisational preparations for the contest are also being closely followed. According to the rules of the Eurovision Song Contest, the contest is generally organised by the public broadcaster of the country that won the previous edition, with the approval and supervision of the European Broadcasting Union.
Song submissions open from 20 August to 7 September
According to SRF, the open song-submission procedure will remain the basis of the Swiss selection for 2027. Interested authors, producers and performers will be able to submit songs via the official platform srf.ch/eurovision from 20 August 2026 at 10:00 to 7 September 2026 at 23:00. In this way, SRG SSR is retaining the model that in recent years has combined broad collection of proposals with internal evaluation and a multi-stage selection process. Although the final representative will not be chosen through a public televised final, submissions will be open to all interested authors, giving the Swiss process a broader initial pool of songs. SRF states that the goal is to find a song and performer who can compete on the international stage while at the same time remaining connected to Swiss musical identity.
In the announced selection model, SRG SSR continues to rely on a combination of expert and audience assessments. According to SRF, a national and international expert jury and an international jury made up of Eurovision fans will take part in the process, and both bodies will be somewhat rejuvenated in order to align with the current requirements of the European Broadcasting Union. The process, SRF states, will be supplemented by analyses supported by artificial intelligence, while the research component will in future be carried out by a new partner, puls Marktforschung. Such an approach shows that Switzerland does not treat the song selection solely as a musical selection, but also as a process of testing international comprehensibility, stage potential and market recognisability. SRF also points out that the adapted rulebook for selecting the Swiss song for 2027 is already available to the public.
Yves Schifferle, head of the Swiss delegation, said in SRF's announcement that the goal remains the same: to find songs and performers who can convince an international audience while authentically representing Switzerland. According to his words, the process is developing on the basis of previous experience, new ideas and modern instruments. That statement is important because it confirms the continuity of the strategy that has returned Switzerland to the top of the contest in recent years. After a period of fluctuations, the Swiss delegation has built a reputation for a highly selective, internally led process in which songs are tested before the final decision. The confirmation of participation for 2027 is therefore not only an administrative decision, but also an announcement of the continuation of a model that the public service has assessed as successful.
Two songwriting camps and a new musical director
In the summer of 2026, SRG SSR will organise two special songwriting camps dedicated to finding songs and performers for Eurovision. According to SRF, one camp will be held in Switzerland and the other in an international setting, with the aim of connecting Swiss creatives with international authors, producers and performers. This move is linked to the strategic redirection of the SUISA Songwriting Camp, which in future will no longer deal exclusively with Eurovision projects. The number of places at the new camps will be limited, and alongside targeted invitations there will also be an opportunity to apply for participation. SRF states that this is intended to open up space for new, lesser-known names as well, which is important in a contest in which success is often built on a combination of experience, freshness and a clear stage identity.
A special role in the expanded search for performers and songs will be held by Lasse Nymann, who has been appointed the new musical director of the Swiss Eurovision team. SRF states that Nymann is an author, producer and multi-instrumentalist and that he was part of the international songwriting and production team behind the song The Code, with which Nemo brought Switzerland victory in Malmö in 2024. According to SRF, the 32-year-old Norwegian has taken part in Eurovision or national final projects for several countries, including Switzerland, Norway, Germany, Cyprus, Moldova and the United Kingdom. He has also worked on more than 130 international releases and in recent years has regularly collaborated with Swiss authors. His appointment shows that SRG SSR wants to further professionalise the musical part of the process and maintain contact with Eurovision trends beyond the domestic market.
Nymann takes over the role from Pele Loriano, who after twelve years decided to devote more time to international projects. In its announcement, SRF emphasises that Loriano was one of the key figures in the development of the Swiss Eurovision strategy, including Nemo's victory in 2024 and the organisational period that followed. Such a change at the head of the musical segment does not mean a break with the previous direction, but an attempt to expand it. Switzerland's approach in recent years has rested on the precise alignment of the song, performer, stage performance and international communication. In the context of Eurovision 2027, this will be especially important because the contest is moving to Bulgaria, in a year in which the host will for the first time carry the burden of organising a major Eurovision edition.
Bulgaria prepares for its first hosting of the main Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest 2027 is expected to be held in Bulgaria after DARA won the 70th edition of the contest in Vienna with the song Bangaranga. According to the official announcement by the Eurovision Song Contest, the Bulgarian representative won a total of 516 points, namely 204 points from the juries and 312 points from the public. The same source states that the song won both the jury vote and the televote, something that had not happened for almost ten years, since the contest in Kyiv in 2017. Bulgaria thereby achieved its first victory in the history of its Eurovision participation, after returning to the contest in 2026 following three missed editions. The victory also had an immediate organisational consequence for BNT: the Bulgarian public broadcaster acquired the right and obligation to prepare the next edition in cooperation with the EBU.
On 8 June 2026, BNT announced that it had launched the host-city selection process for Eurovision 2027. According to that announcement, Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas are taking part in the first phase, and representatives of BNT and the EBU presented the candidates with the basic technical and organisational requirements. Discussions concern infrastructure, accommodation capacity, transport connections, logistics, security and the ability of the city to organise not only the main television broadcasts but also accompanying events. BNT states that the final decision will be made after the submission of full documentation and after visits and on-site assessments carried out by a working group with representatives of BNT and the EBU. According to BNT director Milena Milotinova, the host city will have a key role and great responsibility for the success of the event.
According to the English edition of BNT News, Milotinova stated that the selected city should be known by the end of July 2026, although the EBU generally expects such a decision to be made by August. According to BNT, the process is being accelerated so that the city administration can launch public procurement procedures and other preparatory processes on time. Andreas Schmit of the EBU said, according to BNT News, that BNT will not only be the organiser but also the partner of the host city in developing the complete event. Such wording points to the breadth of the Eurovision project, which includes the arena, press centre, delegation accommodation, security plans, tourism logistics, city programmes and technical infrastructure for live broadcasts. For Bulgaria, this will be the first hosting of the main Eurovision Song Contest, although Sofia hosted the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2015.
Switzerland's participation follows a period of major successes
Switzerland has a special place in Eurovision history because, according to the country's official profile on eurovision.com, it hosted and won the first edition of the contest in 1956 in Lugano. The same official profile states that Switzerland has three victories: Lys Assia won in 1956 with the song Refrain, Céline Dion in 1988 with the song Ne partez pas sans moi, and Nemo in 2024 with the song The Code. After Nemo's victory, the contest was held in Basel in 2025, returning Switzerland to the role of host as well. This historical continuity further increases interest in every new Swiss appearance, especially after the country has once again become one of the more important Eurovision players in recent years. Participation in 2027 is therefore viewed in the context of an attempt to maintain a high level of results, but also the reputation of a country that invests systematic selection work in the contest.
According to official Eurovision Song Contest data, Switzerland was represented in Vienna in 2026 by Veronica Fusaro with the song Alice. That performance was a continuation of Switzerland's Eurovision sequence after the 2024 victory and the 2025 hosting, and now the search for the 2027 song is opening well before all details of the contest itself in Bulgaria are known. Launching the process early gives the Swiss team a longer period to develop the song, stage performance and promotion of the selected performer. In the Eurovision context, this can be important because a successful performance increasingly depends on a combination of musical quality, a clear visual concept and the ability to convey the song's message to audiences of different languages and markets. SRF's announcement shows that for 2027 as well, the aim will be to combine an open call to authors with a controlled, professionally led selection.
What comes next for the Swiss selection
The next concrete step for the Swiss selection will be the opening of the submission window on 20 August 2026. After submissions close on 7 September, an internal selection process will follow, but SRF has not yet announced the exact date for presenting the selected performer and song. According to the announced model, SRG SSR will combine assessments by experts, international fans, the research partner and its own Eurovision team. Such a multi-layered procedure should reduce the risk of choosing a song that works well only in one cultural or linguistic context. On the other hand, the question remains open as to how the new rules, the new musical director and the songwriting camps will influence the final sound of the Swiss song.
For the organisers in Bulgaria, the most important short-term step will be the selection of the host city. BNT has already stressed that hosting is more than a television project and that it includes reputational and economic effects for the country. The EBU's rules provide that each participating public broadcaster chooses its own song and performer, while the contest itself is organised in cooperation between the EBU and the host broadcaster. Within that framework, Switzerland has now opened its national cycle, while Bulgaria is building the organisational structure for an event that will attract thousands of visitors, a large number of international media and a television audience of millions. The final shape of Eurovision 2027 will depend on decisions that will be made over the coming months, but the Swiss confirmation already shows that the new Eurovision season has begun to take shape.
Sources:
- SRF / Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen – announcement on the confirmation of Swiss participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2027, song-submission deadlines, the selection process, songwriting camps and the appointment of Lasse Nymann (link)
- BNT / Bulgarian National Television – announcement on the launch of the host-city selection process for Eurovision 2027, the role of BNT and the EBU and the organisational criteria (link)
- BNT News – English-language report on the candidates Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas and the expected deadline for the host-city decision (link)
- Eurovision Song Contest / EBU – official announcement on DARA's and Bulgaria's victory at the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 in Vienna, the points won and the results context (link)
- Eurovision Song Contest / EBU – public summary of the contest rules, including the role of the EBU, the host broadcaster and participating broadcasters (link)
- Eurovision Song Contest / EBU – official profile of Switzerland at Eurovision with information on victories, hostings and historical participation (link)