VIENNA (AP) — Eurovision’s final competition roster has been set after Thursday’s second semifinal eliminated five additional nations from the international singing competition.
Thursday’s semifinal featured 15 nations competing for the remaining 10 spots in Saturday’s grand finale of the continent-wide music contest, with winners determined through combined voting from national panels and global television audiences.
Advancing to the final round are Denmark’s Søren Torpegaard Lund performing the sultry “Før Vi Går Hjem” (“Before We Go Home”), Australia’s Delta Goodrem with her power ballad “Eclipse,” and Bulgaria’s Dara singing the infectious “Bangaranga.”
Additional qualifiers include Daniel Žižka representing Czechia, Ukraine’s Leléka, Albania’s Alis, Malta’s Aidan, Cyprus performer Antigoni, Romania’s Alexandra Căpitănescu, and Norway’s Jonas Lovv. Countries from Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Armenia, Switzerland and Latvia failed to advance.
Tuesday’s earlier semifinal had already secured spots for 10 other performers, including Finland’s Pete Parkkonen and Linda Lampenius, Greece’s rapper Akylas, Serbia’s goth metal group Lavina, Moldova’s folk-rapper Satoshi, and Israel’s Noam Bettan.
The United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy receive automatic final placement as the competition’s primary financial supporters. Austria earns direct entry as the host nation following last year’s victory.
While Eurovision promotes “United by Music” as its guiding principle and attempts to avoid political controversy, it frequently struggles with such issues. Russia faced expulsion in 2022 following its comprehensive attack on Ukraine.
Both the 2024 competition in Malmo, Sweden, and the previous year’s event in Basel, Switzerland, witnessed pro-Palestinian demonstrations demanding Israel’s removal due to its military actions against Hamas in Gaza. Another protest targeting Israel’s involvement is scheduled before Saturday’s Vienna finale.
Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Iceland have withdrawn from this year’s Eurovision in protest of Israel’s continued participation.
Israel has additionally faced accusations of conducting an unauthorized promotional campaign to secure contestant votes. The European Broadcasting Union, Eurovision’s organizing body, has strengthened voting regulations in response, reducing individual voting limits from 20 to 10 and implementing stricter protections against “suspicious or coordinated voting activity.”
Bettan encountered some protest chanting during his Tuesday semifinal performance. Departing from previous policies, Palestinian flags are now permitted within the venue, and Austrian broadcaster ORF announced it will not silence audience disapproval.
The five-nation withdrawal represents a significant financial and audience setback for an event that organizers report drew 166 million global viewers last year. While Bulgaria, Moldova and Romania have rejoined after recent absences due to artistic or budgetary concerns, total participation remains at its lowest point since 2003.
Nevertheless, Eurovision continues exploring growth opportunities, with a new Eurovision Song Contest Asia scheduled for Bangkok this November.
Contest director Martin Green expressed optimism Thursday that Hungary might rejoin Eurovision for the first time since 2019, now that Prime Minister Péter Magyar has succeeded nationalist-populist leader Viktor Orbán.
Green also indicated that the boycotting nations remain welcome to return.
“We’ve made it very clear to them we can’t wait for them to come back,” Green said.
