Exciting news in today as the official dates and cities for the forthcoming Swedish Eurovision national selection, Melodifestivalen 2018, have been confirmed this morning by the country’s national broadcaster, SVT.

As is tradition with Melodifestivalen, a different city across the nation of Sweden will host each of the national selection shows throughout February and March, with 6 cities hosting the competition in total.

As always, the final of Melodifestivalen will be hosted in the Swedish capital of Stockholm, but which other cities have won the right to host the event next year?

Melodifestivalen 2018 host cities and dates

Kicking off on the 3 February and concluding on the 10 March, Melodifestivalen 2018 will take place in the following locations:

03/02/2018: Semi-final 1 – Karlstad, Löfbergs Arena

Semi-final 1 – Karlstad, Löfbergs Arena 10/02/2018: Semi-final 2 – Gothenburg, Scandinavium

Semi-final 2 – Gothenburg, Scandinavium 17/02/2018: Semi-final 3 – Malmö, Malmö Arena

Semi-final 3 – Malmö, Malmö Arena 24/02/2018: Semi-final 4 – Örnsköldsvik, Fjällräven Center

Semi-final 4 – Örnsköldsvik, Fjällräven Center 03/03/2018: Andra chansen (Second chance) – Kristianstad, Kristianstad Arena

Andra chansen (Second chance) – Kristianstad, Kristianstad Arena 10/03/2018: Final – Stockholm, Friends Arena

Whilst it was confirmed earlier this year that Karlstad would be one of the host cities for the 2018 Melodifestivalen event, we see the return of former Melfest host cities Gothenburg, Malmö and Örnsköldsvik.

Introducing Kristianstad

The 2018 event will see the introduction of a brand new host city which has yet to host a previous Melfest event – Kristianstad.

The Andra chansen stage of Melodifestivalen 2018 is set to be hosted at the Kristianstad Arena; a hall generally used for handball events, the arena holds a capacity of 5,000 spectators for concerts.

Speaking of the brand new host city, Melodifestivalen project manager Anette Helenius revealed:

It’s amazingly fun that after over fifteenth years of tour, we are still able to visit new cities like this year with Kristianstad. We are looking forward to meeting our viewers in arenas from Scania to Ångermanland, and it will be nice with the premiere in Karlstad, where we have received a very good reception.

Tickets for Melodifestivalen 2018 are set to go on sale from the 31 October at 09:00 CET.

And the acts?

Earlier this month, the Swedish national broadcaster, SVT, confirmed that a total of 2,771 submissions had be received by bidding acts for the forthcoming national selection.

Over the coming weeks, a selection jury will gather in order to shortlist the final 28 acts which will be bidding for the right to represent their country at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest.

The full list of acts are expected to be unveiled between the end of October to the start of November.