42 countries competed in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest including Romania and Portugal returned to the competition after a year’s absence. The 2017 contest was a special one for Austria, Denmark and the United Kingdom which are celebrating the 60th anniversary of their first participation in 1957. Kyiv was announced as Host City in September 2016 following a competitive city bid process. The decision was made after six candidate cities originally presented their bids to the Organising Committee of the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest; Kharkiv, Kherson and Lviv, Kyiv, Dnipro and Odesa. The committee and representatives from the EBU then reviewed and inspected the final city hopefuls and declared Kyiv the winner. The International Exhibition Centre, the venue for the contest, has capacity for up to 11,000 spectators.