Eurovision Song Contest 2023 semi-final draw results, revealed
Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra won Eurovision 2022 with their song ‘Stefania’ (Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty)
The semi-final line-ups for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 have been officially confirmed ahead of the competition’s return to the UK in May.
The countries that will compete in each of the two Semi-Finals scheduled to take place on Tuesday 9 May and Thursday 11 May were announced during the Eurovision Song Contest 2023: Handover and Allocation Draw on BBC Two on Tuesday (31 January).
Competing in semi-final one will be: Serbia, Sweden, Latvia, Ireland, Moldova, Switzerland, Norway, Israel, Portugal, Netherlands, Croatia, Finland, Azerbaijan, Malta, Czech Republic.
Competing in semi-final two will be: Albania, Australia, Armenia, Cyprus, Romania, Austria, Denmark, Lithuania, San Marino, Belgium, Slovenia, Iceland, Georgia, Greece, Poland, Estonia.
Hosts Rylan and AJ Odudu oversaw proceedings as Eurovision was officially handed over from last year’s host city, Turin, to Liverpool, which will become the first UK city to host the contest in 25 years.
Countries were randomly selected for each semi-final from five different shortlists, or ‘pots’. These pots are determined by past voting patterns to prevent neighbouring or friendly countries that traditionally vote for each from being entered into the same Semi-Final.
The 10 countries that receive the most votes in each Semi-Final will make it through to the Eurovision Grand Final on Saturday 13 May, where they will be joined by the ‘Big 5’ countries of the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, as well as last year’s winner, Ukraine.
Eurovision is taking place in the UK this year due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, which won 2022’s competition with its entry “Stefania”, performed by rap group Kalush Orchestra.
Ahead of the semi-final draw the BBC announced this year’s Eurovision slogan will be ‘United By Music’ to highlight the “incredible power of music to bring communities together”.
The contest’s new visual identity is a string of blue, yellow and purple hearts, which the BBC says are ‘inspired by the Ukrainian and UK flags’ and reflect ‘the joy and diversity of the contest’.
“With over 160 million viewers watching last year, the look of the vibrant, wider identity celebrates this shared cultural experience as ‘millions of hearts beat as one’,” the broadcaster said in a statement.
