AKIPRESS.COM - In May, Copenhagen (Denmark) will host the 59th annual Eurovision Song Contest, Mirror TV reported.

Copenhagen will be the host city after Emmelie de Forest took first place for Denmark last year with her song Only Teardrops.

The competition will begin with the Jury final on Monday 5 May 2014, with shows continuing up until the Grand Final which will take place on Saturday May 10.

Tickets for the competition are already on sale. One third of all the tickets were released back in November with the next third made available on 31 January 2014. The remaining tickets go on sale in April.

The event will be held in a former shipyard at the B&W Hallerne at the Refshaleøen which is being extensively renovated to host the 59th annual competition.

Copenhagen last hosted the contest in 2001.

There are 37 countries hoping to reach the final of this year's Eurovision song contest. 16 of those will take part in the first semi final while a further 15 will go head to head in the second.

Six countries are automatically guaranteed entry into the grand final. Of these six, the previous winner – Denmark this year – is given an automatic pass alongside the so-called Big Five.

These countries – who are the five largest financial contributors to the contest – are rewarded for that with automatic entry, but of the remaining 31 countries, only 20 will be able to reach the live final.