Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR has named the core team that will oversee the country's hosting of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest in 2025.

Immediately after Nemo’s victory in Malmö, Sweden, on 11 May, an SRG task force began preparing for the 2025 Contest in Switzerland.

A month ago, Reto Peritz from SRF and Moritz Stadler from RTS were announced as the Executive Producers who will share overall responsibility. Now the core team for the project, which will replace the current task force, is in place.

Meet the team

Yves Schifferle has been Head of the Show desk in SRF’s Entertainment department since 2021 and was also Switzerland’s Head of Delegation at the Eurovision Song Contest. Now that he and Nemo and the team have brought Switzerland victory in 2024, he is taking on the role of Head of Show for the Swiss Contest in 2025. He will be responsible for creating and realising the content for all three Eurovision shows (e.g. moderating the shows, the opening and interval acts, the flag parade, postcards and voting procedure). For one year only, his role as Swiss Head of Delegation will be taken over by Daniel Meister .

Christer Björkman is a Swedish TV producer. He has had a very strong influence on the Eurovision Song Contest over the past 10 years, particularly as Head of Contest in 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2024, when he and his team were responsible for coordinating and producing the contributions from all participating nations. Björkman will once again take on the role of Head of Contest in 2025 and will be working closely with Yves Schifferle.

Bernhard Spahni has had an impressive career as an event organiser: he has been Head of Events at Farner Emotions, Global Head of Event Marketing with Red Bull and, since 2022, Head of Experience & Festival on the International Olympic Committee. Spahni is to be Head of PMO for the ESC.

Tobias Åberg from Sweden is a Eurovision pro by now: he was Executive in Charge of Production in Malmö and was also a member of the core team for the Contests in 2013 and 2016. Over the last 8 years, he has served as either Head of Production or a technical expert. He will be Head of Production for the 2025 Contest. In that role, he will be responsible for technical production, stage construction, infrastructure and IT.

Nadja Burkhardt-Tracol worked for many years with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) as Event Supervisor for the Eurovision Song Contest. She is the Special Event Manager for the Concours Hippique International in Geneva, co-founder of Cosykitchen and, as Head of Event in 2025, will be the primary point of contact for the host city.

Also on the team are Manfred Winz (Head of Finance), Aurore Chatard (Head of Security), Kevin Stuber (Head of Legal), Thomas Pittino (Head of Marketing & Funding), Vassilis Donikian (Head of HR), Nicole Beutler (Head of Public Affairs), Henriette Engbersen (in her capacity of Head of the Public Value team at SRG) and Till Jendly (Assistant).

From left to right: Nicole Beutler (Head of Public Affairs), Thomas Pittino (Head of Marketing & Funding), Aurore Chatard (Head of Security), Till Jendly (Assistant), Moritz Stadler (Co-Executive Producer), Yves Schifferle (Head of Show), Reto Peritz (Co-Executive Producer), Bernhard Spahni (Head of PMO), Kevin Stuber (Head of Legal), Manfred Winz (Head of Finance), Henriette Engbersen (Responsible Public Value), Edi Estermann (Head of Communication), Vassilis Donikian (Head of HR), Nadja Burkhardt-Tracol (Head of Event). Christer Björkman (Head of Contest) and Tobias Åberg (Head of Production) are missing from the picture.

Now the project core team will gradually set up the teams for the various areas of work and press ahead with organising the world’s biggest music event at the same rapid tempo.

The Host City bidding process enters deciding phase

Those cities interested in hosting the 69th Eurovision Song Contest could submit their bids up until the end of the week ending 28 June.

Over the next few weeks, the bids that have been received will be studied and evaluated by a working group set up by the project team and with the assistance of the auditing and consulting company PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

In the end, an SRG steering committee led by SRG Director General Gilles Marchand, with the support of the EBU, will decide on the Host City. PwC will monitor the process and ensure that the decision is based on objective criteria. The other members of the steering committee are Nathalie Wappler, Director of SRF, Mario Timbal, Director of RSI, Beat Grossenbacher, Head of Finance at SRG and Bakel Walden, Director of Development & Offering at SRG.

It is hoped that the Host City will be announced by the end of August.