Breaking News: Steering Group’s meeting takes place in Madrid without the presence of Martin Österdahl!

The Steering Group for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2024 visited Madrid to supervise the competition’s preparations, which will be held in the Spanish capital, as seen in pictures posted on social media by Alexandra Redde-Amiel, the head of France’s delegation in both Eurovision and Junior Eurovision. The notable thing, though, is that Martin Österdahl—who serves as Junior Eurovision’s Executive Supervisor to this day—is conspicuously absent from the pictures.

Inspiring Meeting ! Thank you my dear friends for your welcome and all the steering group @rtve
Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Madrid will be full of joy and talents✨ @anabordas✨
Hasta Luego España! pic.twitter.com/eAyTQblM6X

— Alexandra Redde-Amiel (@AlexRedde) June 19, 2024

The aforementioned development supports the rumor that the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is seeking to remove Martin Österdahl from his position due to his poor handling of this year’s Eurovision and crisis that emerged, which brought about an abundance of negative publicity to the competition. This was also evident during the live broadcast of the Final, when he was the target of numerous and strong criticism as well as booing from the audience.

The 22nd Junior Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Caja Mágica, Madrid on November 16, following France’s refusal to host the contest for the third time in four years.

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the news!