Most years it's so straightforward. A country wins Eurovision then its capital city begins preparing to welcome allcomers in 12 months' time.

But this time it's a little different. Germany, one of Europe's wealthiest and most populous nations - thus justifying its status among the 'Big Four' countries - has won Eurovision 2010 and preparations have begun for the 56th Contest to be welcomed by Deutschland in just over 11 months from now.

But with Germany being such a huge country with so many large cities capable of staging international events with relative ease (the 2006 World Cup being a prime example) the choice of host city for 2011 hasn't been so up in the air since the UK last staged Eurovision in 1998.

Eight cities have already thrown their hat into the ring: Hamburg, Hannover, Berlin, Gelsenkirchen, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Frankfurt Am Main and Munich.

Two of these have Eurovision form, with Frankfurt hosting the second Contest in 1957 - although that was just 10 songs being performed in a large studio - whereas Munich hosted a far bigger affair in 1983 under the unforgettable hostess skills of Marlene Charell.

But this is the first German Eurovision since reunification, so surely Berlin is the only choice? The last major European capital (apart from Lisbon, which nobody can do anything about until Portugal actually wins) to have never hosted Eurovision must surely be top of German telly's wishlist - or would the event be swallowed up in such a huge metropolitan city to the extent that most locals don't even know it's taking place? That's one reason the BBC moved Eurovision 1998 out of London to the second city of Birmingham.

Then there is the fact that 2010 champ Lena hails from Hannover - and that is where her flight home from Oslo brought her on May 30, where she was welcomed by 40,000 cheering fans. Perhaps they feel the Contest is theirs to host by right?

Gelsenkirchen is a leftfield name to many non-Germans, although the city did play host to group matches during the last World Cup and is understood to have an excellent infrastructure. Not so sure about an arena, though...

But with so many variable coming into play, the process to find the host city for Eurovision 2011 looks set to play out like a mini Olympic Bid. But Boom Bang a Blog is nailing its colours to the mast early. It'll be Berlin that's announced as next year's capital of European pop in the coming months. At least, I think so.

What do you think?