Eurovision 2023: National broadcaster participation window closing today!

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The national broadcasters from the countries having an active EBU membership, have a deadline until today (15/9), in order to confirm their participation in the 67th Eurovision Song Contest.

We might not know the city at United Kingdom that we are going to travel to for Eurovision 2023 yet, but today is the deadline for the national broadcasters-EBU members to confirm their participation in the contest.

Until October 11th, according to the rules, the possibility of withdrawal is provided without the imposition of a fine. From this date on, the broadcasters that applied for participating and are willing to withdraw, are going to face the imposition of a fine, which is varying, depending on the time of withdrawal (before or after the semi-finals draw etc.).

31 countries, with one way or another, have announced their will to participate in Eurovision 2023. Among them there’s Greece, and Cyprus too. Those countries are:

  • Albania
  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Cyprus
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • France
  • Georgia
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Iceland
  • Ireland
  • Israel
  • Italy
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • Malta
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Romania
  • San Marino
  • Serbia
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • The Netherlands
  • Ukraine
  • United Kingdom

The number from the countries above is expected to grow, because nine countries that participated in this year’s contest, haven’t clarified their intentions yet. Those are:

  • Armenia
  • Azerbaijan
  • Bulgaria
  • Croatia
  • Czech Republic
  • Moldova
  • Montenegro
  • North Macedonia
  • Slovenia

There’s always a chance, although slight, for a country to return or for another one to debut. The participating countries and their exact number will be confirmed through EBU’s official announcement. The respective announcement for Eurovision 2022 was made on October 20th.

 

Eurovision 2023: The new season has just started!

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For many, including us on Eurovisionfun, Eurovision never ends! However, September 1st is a special date. Any song that is released after that date is eligible to be chosen to take part in the next years contest. Therefore, any song from now on can be a potential Eurovision 2o23 entry!

What we know so far

After the landslide victory of Ukraine and Kalush Orchestra in Turin, EBU has already announced that due to the ongoing war since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the contest will be held in the United Kingdom instead, to ensure safety of everyone involved in the production.

During August, BBC announced a shortlist of seven cities that will compete to host the contest next year, while the deadline to submit the finalized bids is set for September 8th. BBC and EBU representatives will visit these cities to inspect the facilities and discuss with local authorities on the proposed bids.

Around late September/early October and after there is potentially a dialogue with the British government, BBC and EBU will announce the Eurovision 2023 hosting city.

The shortlisted cities are:

  • Birmingham
  • Glasgow
  • Leeds
  • Liverpool
  • Manchester
  • Newcastle
  • Sheffield

Betting odds are every year a topic of discussion within and outside the Eurovision fandom. As of the time of writing, the odds about which city will host Eurovision 2023 predict Glasgow as the hosting city, with 65% chances, indicating a one-horse race for the hosting of the contest next year.

Participating countries

As of now, 27 countries have officially or unofficially confirmed that they will take part in Eurovision 2023. These are:

  • Albania
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Cyprus
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • France
  • Georgia
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Iceland
  • Israel
  • Italy
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Romania
  • San Marino
  • Serbia
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Ukraine
  • United Kingdom

Within the next months more countries are expected to confirm their participation, with the goal to have 40 countries as in 2022. Russia and Belarus are not eligible to take part in the contest, since their broadcasters are not EBU members anymore.

Certain countries have already announced that they will not take part in Eurovision 2023, with some of them extending their long-lasting absence from the contest. Andorra, Monaco, Luxemburg, Liechtenstein, Slovakia, Maroco and Hungary will not be present in the 67th Eurovision Song Contest, while Turkey and Bosnia-Herzegovina are yet to announce their plans but the chances to see them returning are low for various reasons.

Until March 14th the announcement of all the entries

It won’t be before March 14th until we know all competing artists and entries for 2023, since on that day is the meeting of the Head of Delegations where all entries will be officially submitted. However, Israel has already selected its artist and its Noa Kirel, a local superstar with many of her songs conquering the charts.

Albania and Ukraine will be the next to select their entries before the end of 2022, unless there is a surprise as with Czech Republic last year.

Join us on the road to Eurovision 2023!

Eurovisionfun will bring you Eurofun-tastic news throughout the season, while you should be ready for exclusives and surprises! Our 24/7 coverage in Greek and English includes articles, reactions, discussions and many more!

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Let the Eurovision 2023 season begin! Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun!

 

 

 

The most successful Eurovision countries in the 20s!

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Eurovision is heading to the third decade of the 21st century and it has clearly changed not only in comparison with the past, but also with the recent years. In this article we investigate how countries scored during the first 2 years of the 20s, as well as their average score.

As you can see below, we cannot identify a group of 5-6 performing performing always well, as it used to happen the last years. Only a few countries are consistently doing well, despite the fact that the scores studied are only of the last 2 years. Tougher competition, the success of the contest on social media (TikTok had a business partnership with the contest this year featuring exclusive clips of the first rehearsals on the platform), as well as the high interest by record labels are only some of the reasons why it is harder to perform consistently well, since entries are of higher lever than the past.

Lets see in detail the average score of the countries during this decade:

Country        2022   2021    Average

  1. Ukraine           1          5             3
  2. Italy                 6          1            3,5
  3. Greece             8         10            9
  4. Sweden           4         14             9
  5. Russia             –           9             9
  6. Switzerland    17        3             10
  7. Moldova          7        13            10
  8. Serbia              5         15            10
  9. Portugal          9         12           10.5
  10. Lithuania       14         8             11
  11. France            24         2             13
  12. Spain               3         24           13.5
  13. Iceland          23          4            13.5
  14. Finland          21          6            13.5
  15. United Kingdom 2     26           14
  16. Norway           10         18            14
  17. The Netherlands 11     23          17
  18. Azerbaijan     16          20            18
  19. Belgium          19         19             19
  20. Armenia         20          –              20
  21. Malta               35          7             21
  22. Estonia           13         31             22
  23. Poland            12         33            22.5
  24. Cyprus            29         16            22.5
  25. Romania        18          28            23
  26. Israel              30          17           23.5
  27. Albania          28          21           24.5
  28. Australia        15          34           24.5
  29. Bulgaria         38          11           24.5
  30. Germany        25          25            25
  31. Croatia           26          27           26.5
  32. St. Marino     33          22           27.5
  33. Czech Republic 22     36             29
  34. Denmark        31         29             30
  35. North Macedonia 27 35             31
  36. Austria           36         30             33
  37. Ireland           34         37            35.5
  38. Latvia             32         39            35.5
  39. Slovenia         40        32              36
  40. Montenegro   37         –                37
  41. Georgia           39       38             38.5

As you can see in the table above, there are very few countries where the average of their positions in these two years is below 10. This proves how difficult it has become to be in the top ten. It is even more difficult to have continuous results within top 10, since only three countries have achieved this, Ukraine, Italy and Greece!

It is evident that Italy and Ukraine are the two powerhouses of the competition for this decade (so far). Sweden remains high on the list, but far from the first place it was in the last decade. Greece is recovering dynamically since it is in third place, when in the previous decade it was out of the 20s. Cyprus gets lower scores year by year, unfortunately making us believe that 2018 was just a coincidence and is currently in 24th place!

Regardless of personal taste and opinions, the numbers speak themselves and is clear that Ukraine, Italy and Greece are doing great during this decade. The new strategy of the management of ERT to chose the artist and the song internally, is proven to be successful, after years of bad results and 2 NQ (2016,2018).

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun because the journey to Eurovision 2023 has already begun!

Montenegro: Watch the live on tape video of “Breathe”!

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The live on-tape appearance of Montenegro’s participation for Eurovision 2022 has been released!

The representative of Montenegro, Vladana Vucinic, revealed the live on-tape appearance of “Breathe” , the song that represented the country at Eurovision 2023. This appearance was essentially a backup and would be presented if Vladana or the Montenegrin delegation did not managed to attend the live shows in Turin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsJs3dqvP_Q

The show was recorded at RTS studios in Belgrade. Vladana failed to qualify for the grand final, but her participation marks Montenegro’s return to the contest.

Montenegro: RTCG’s answer to the EBU about the voting irregularities!

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A few hours after EBU’s announcement about the irregularities in the jury voting in the second semi-final, the Montenegrin broadcaster, RTCG is the first broadcaster to share their thoughts on the announcement!

The official announcement by EBU on voting irregularities during Semi-Final 2

The RTCG states the following:

Following EBU’s announcement about the alleged irregular voting of the jury of experts in up to 6 countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, we want to emphasize that it has nothing to do with Montenegro and that it is only speculation that is not true and unverified information.

As they point out, it is statistically impossible to avoid certain repetitions, as evidenced by the fact that the group of countries participating in the second semi-final night, as in Sweden, Australia, Belgium, Estonia…

These are, according to RTCG, examples of mutual exchange of points between the countries in the second semi-final:

Australia
12 points for Sweden
10 points for Israel
8 points for Belgium
7 points for North Macedonia
6 points for Ireland

12 points from Sweden
10 points from Israel
8 points from Belgium
5 points from North Macedonia
5 points from Ireland

Sweden
12 points for Australia
10 points for Estonia
8 points for Belgium
7 points for Malta
6 points for the Czech Republic

12 points from Australia
12 points from Estonia
10 points from Belgium
12 points from Malta
12 points from the Czech Republic

Belgium
10 points for Sweden
8 points for Australia
7 points for Israel

8 points from Sweden
8 points from Australia
7 points from Israel

So, with such a small number of countries in the semi-finals, it is impossible to avoid certain repetitions.

It is not for us to judge why these countries did not raise suspicions, whereas there were 6 countries where it was impractical to have repetitions. On the other hand, in some of the countries on the EBU list, the organiser almost completely changed the votes.

Montenegro’s votes were announced by the artist Zombijana and, as you could see in the live stream, the jury’s vote coincided almost perfectly with the final results.

As you can see on the Eurovision website, among the countries that received Montenegro’s jury votes in the final, there were none of the entries from the semi-final night.

Finally, the Eurovision Song Contest is a contest that has its regular and large audience and is almost always accompanied by various intrigues, which, we are sure, also contribute to its popularity

Vladana represented Montenegro in Turin and with “Breathe” she ended up 17th in the second semi-final. You can see her performance here:

https://youtu.be/L-ViRVRiGl0

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Source: RTCG

The official announcement by EBU on voting irregularities during Semi-Final 2

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Moments ago EBU released an official announcement on “irregular voting patterns” during the second Semi-Final 2022, naming for the fist time the juries of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, San Marino.

Below is the full announcement:

This year’s Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) was an enormous success in bringing hundreds of millions of people across the world together in unity and celebration.

As communicated on Saturday 14 May, the European Broadcasting Union’s (EBU) independent pan-European Voting Partner detected irregular voting patterns in the jury votes of six countries taking part in the Second Semi-Final: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, San Marino.

The integrity of the voting, both by the national juries in each country and the viewers voting by phone or SMS, is essential to the show’s success. It is the EBU’s duty to all stakeholders, not least all 40 participating public service broadcasters, to ensure we can deliver a valid result at the end of each of the Live Shows. Any breach in the rules is consequently taken very seriously.

In the Second Semi-Final, it was observed that four of the six juries all placed five of the other countries in their Top Five (taking into account they could not vote for themselves); one jury voted for the same five countries in their Top 6; and the last of the six juries placed four of the others in the Top 4 and the fifth in their Top 7. Four of the six received at least one set of 12 points which is the maximum that can be awarded.

The pattern in question was detected as irregular by the pan-European Voting Partner and acknowledged by the Independent Voting Monitor, as five of these six countries were ranked outside the Top 8 by the juries in the 15 other countries voting in the same Semi-Final (which included three of the Big Five: Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom). Additionally, four of the six countries were ranked in the Bottom 6 of the other 15 countries voting in this Semi-Final. A jury voting pattern irregularity of such a scale is unprecedented.

 

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As stated in the Eurovision Song Contest Rules and in the Official Voting instructions of the Contest, if votes by National Juries present irregular voting patterns (as may be detected by the pan-European Voting Partner and acknowledged by the Independent Voting Monitor), the ESC Executive Supervisor has the right to remove the votes concerned for allocating the ranks and to replace them with a substitute aggregated result calculated automatically to determine the final country result of these countries in the Second Semi-Final.

Given the unprecedented nature of the irregularity detected in the Second Semi Final, the EBU in consultation with the pan-European Voting Partner and the Independent Voting Monitor decided, in accordance with the Voting Instructions of the Contest, to exercise its right to remove the votes cast by the six juries in question from the ranking allocation in the Grand Final to preserve the integrity of the voting system. Consequently, the same procedure was followed and the automatically calculated substitute aggregate result has been used to determine the final jury results of the six countries involved, in the Grand Final.

These decisions were approved by the Chair of the ESC Reference Group, the Contest’s governing board, and the Deputy Director General of the EBU in line with the requirements of the Voting Instructions of the Contest.

The EBU has since discussed the jury patterns with the relevant broadcasters and given them the opportunity to further investigate the jury voting in their countries.

The EBU reconfirms its decision to replace the jury votes for these six countries with a substitute aggregate result in both the Second Semi-Final and the Grand Final.

The EBU also confirms the final rankings of the 40 participants in the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest.

The EBU, its Members and the Reference Group will continue to collaborate closely on safeguarding the integrity and success of an event that has been a unique platform for creative talent over 66 years, and looks forward to continuing to entertaining audiences worldwide.

What are your thought on EBU’s announcement? How will the mentioned countries react? Tell us in the comments below!

Reactions continue over the cancellation of the voting of six juries!

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On Saturday night, during the Grand Final, the EBU sent out a vague statement saying it had identified “voting irregularities” in six unnamed countries after the second rehearsals of the Second Semi-Final. Their jury votes were cancelled and replaced with a ” substitute aggregated result for each concerned country for both the Second Semi-Final and the Grand Final (calculated based on the results of other countries with similar voting records)”

Understandably, the above treatment caused a reaction from these countries as there had been no prior information and they ended up seeing a different score from the one they had given themselves.

Romania

On Sunday morning, Romanian television posted a lengthy statement on the official Eurovision page, which among other things said

“Romanian TV is fully committed to participate in Eurovision 2022, paying the participation fee and preparing, together with the WRS team, a project that won the appreciation of the public”

“We were surprised to see that the result of the Romanian jury’s vote was not taken into account in the final ranking, with the organisers assigning a different score on behalf of our country’s jury”

“We clarify that the Romanian jury decided to give the maximum score to the Moldovan representatives”

Furthermore, TVR, asks the EBU for the exact reasons why they made the cancellation of their committee’s score and they are able to make amends in case they made a mistake.

Montenegro

The Montenegrin broadcaster reacted in the same way

“Following the announcements made on the Eurovision website, we would like to inform the public that we have sent a request for clarification to authorised representatives of the EBU”

“Following the submission of our jury’s vote, the relevant officials stated that the RTCG vote was conducted in accordance with the normal procedure, was legally certified by the EBU, and they saw no reason to suspect any form of irregularity. We therefore await a detailed answer to the question of our vote change.”

Georgia

Georgia’s broadcaster, GPB, has issued a statement regarding the removal of the Georgian jury’s votes from Eurovision 2022

“The Public Broadcaster met all the requirements, sent the official document and received the EBU’s consent that there were no possible irregularities”

“The Georgian jury gave its highest score, the 12 points, to Ukraine. However, when the results of the Final were announced, the 12 points from Georgia were given to the United Kingdom”

“The Georgian delegation had no interest in manipulating the results. It was of prime importance for our jury to secure 12 points for a deserving contestant, which in this case was the representative of Ukraine”

The Georgian public broadcaster remains in active communication with the EBU regarding the current situation and hopes that official answers will be provided soon.

To date, the EBU has not yet clarified the exact reason why the votes of the six juries were removed.

What do you think of all this? Could much of the confusion have been cleared up if the EBU had given more specific information from the start? We look forward to reading your views in the comments below!

Source: Wiwibloggs, Eurovoix

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Eurovision 2022: See the results of Press Poll just before the grand final!

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As we informed you in our article, Press Poll 2022 has begun. After all countries have had all technical rehearsals, it is now time for the accredited to vote for the country that believes she will be the winner of the 66th Eurovision Song Contest.

Below are the results of the final of today’s 14/5 at 20:30:

In the vote for the winner, UK leads, Sweden is second, and Spain is third!

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Source: Ogae International

Eurovision 2022: See the results of the fifth day of Press Poll!

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As we informed you in our article, Press Poll 2022 has begun. After all countries have had their three technical rehearsals, it is now time for the accredited to vote for the countries that will advance to the two semifinals, as well as the country that believes she will be the winner of the 66th Eurovision Song Contest.

Below are the results of the semifinals and finals of today’s 13/5 at 21:00:
First Semifinal

Second Semifinal

Grand Final

In the vote for the winner, UK leads, Sweden is second, and Greece is third!

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Source: Ogae International

Eurovision 2022: See the results of the fourth day of Press Poll!

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As we informed you in our article, Press Poll 2022 has begun. After all countries have had their three technical rehearsals, it is now time for the accredited to vote for the countries that will advance to the two semifinals, as well as the country that believes she will be the winner of the 66th Eurovision Song Contest.

Below are the results of the semifinals and finals of today’s 12/5 at 21:00:
First Semifinal

Second Semifinal

Grand Final

In the vote for the winner, UK leads, Sweden is second, and Greece is third! Greece is ranked first among the accredited journalists here in Turin.

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Source: Ogae International