Eurovision 2027 in Bulgaria just acquired a new contestant from the far side of the Atlantic. The European Broadcasting Union and its newest member, Canada's public broadcaster CBC/Radio-Canada, announced on Wednesday that Canada will make its Eurovision debut at the 2027 contest, which Bulgaria hosts after winning the 70th anniversary edition. It is the first time a new country has joined since Australia in 2015. "Although the contest was born in Europe, it continues to welcome the whole world," Eurovision director Martin Green said of the expansion.
For Bulgaria, the announcement lands on top of a hosting project that is already very real: an adopted government Action Plan, a €20 million allocation this year, and, still conspicuously missing, a host city.
The Party Canada Is Joining
Bulgaria earned the hosting rights the hard way. DARA's "Bangaranga" took the trophy in Vienna at the contest's 70th anniversary edition, and has since topped Eurovision's seasonal streaming charts on Spotify, a fact that will surprise nobody who has shared a taxi or a beach bar with a radio in Bulgaria lately. It was the country's first win in 15 appearances stretching back to its 2005 debut, a record that included nine semi-final exits and a string of near misses: fifth in 2007 with Elitsa and Stoyan's "Water", fourth in 2016 with Poli Genova, and an agonising second in 2017 with Kristian Kostov's "Beautiful Mess". There is more on how the country's pop tradition got here in our Bulgarian music guide.
A Canadian Has Won This Thing Before
Canada arrives with better Eurovision pedigree than most debutants, on a technicality. In 1988, a 20-year-old Céline Dion won the contest in Dublin singing "Ne partez pas sans moi", for Switzerland. For British readers there is a familiar sting in that year's scoreboard: the United Kingdom finished second, its eleventh runner-up placing. So Canada has, in a sense, already won Eurovision 39 years before officially entering it; the flag on the scoreboard was simply Swiss.
The Host City Question, and the Bill
The announcement came alongside confirmation that the Bulgarian government has adopted an Action Plan for Eurovision 2027, drawn up by an organising committee led by Deputy Prime Minister for Human Resources Ivo Hristov, setting out tasks, deadlines, responsible institutions and expected outcomes. What the authorities have not yet revealed is which city gets the show. As we reported after the win, Sofia has been treated as the frontrunner while Burgas has lodged an official bid of its own, so the race is live.
The money is moving either way. The state budget has set aside €20 million this year for hosting preparations, according to government information. That sits alongside the wider cost debate we covered earlier: former finance ministers warning of a total bill north of €30 million, against a preliminary analysis projecting Bulgaria could net €45 to €70 million from the event if visitor numbers and infrastructure hold up.
What This Means for British Expats
For once, the practical angle is pure upside: one of the biggest live television events in Europe is coming to the country you live in, and the UK will be on the bill, since it is one of the contest's automatically qualified finalists. The single most useful thing to watch now is the host city announcement. The moment it lands, accommodation in that city for the contest window will start disappearing, so if you fancy being in the hall, or even just in the host city's fan zone, that is your starting gun. And if the venue race goes the way of the coast rather than the capital, a fair few readers will find the party rather closer than they expected.