The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 is the 53rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, which will be hosted by Serbia. The semi-finals will be held on 20 and 22 May respectively and the final on 24 May 2008 in the capital, Belgrade. The Belgrade Arena, venue for the Contest, is among the largest indoor arenas in Europe, with a total capacity of more than 20,000 seats. Serbia gained the right to host the Contest after Marija Šerifović won the 2007 Contest in Helsinki, Finland. The host broadcaster will be RTS.
At a press conference in Helsinki in May 2007, Svante Stockselius, executive supervisor of the Contest for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced that the competition's format may be expanded to two semi-finals in 2008 or 2009. On 28 September 2007 it was announced that the EBU had approved the plan of hosting two semi-finals in 2008. The 2008 contest's official website opened on 15 January 2008. For the first time ever, Eurovision.tv will stream national finals on ESCTV with broadcasters' permission. On 30 January 2008, Eurovision.tv revealed the theme of the Contest: "The Confluence of Sound".
On 14 September 2007, the Mayor of Helsinki handed over the "Eurovision keys" to the Deputy of Belgrade. This ceremony is meant to be a tradition from now, and the ring contains a key from every city that has ever hosted the competition. Cosmetics supplier Wella will become the official partner of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008.
Due to problems and riots in Belgrade, regarding the independence of Kosovo, on 22 February 2008 the EBU held a phone conference to decide if the contest should be moved to a different city. Ukraine was considered an option since they came second in Eurovision Song Contest 2007. YLE were another option, as they hosted last years competition in Helsinki, Finland. ERT also offered the EBU to host the contest in Athens, Greece again. It was later decided that the contest will stay in Belgrade, with the EBU giving support. RTS will gain a guarantee of safety and security from the government of Serbia for all visitors and participants of the contest.
The hosts of the show will be Jovana Janković and Željko Joksimović.
