Kaleen in the midfield

Switzerland scales the ESC summit according to betting agencies

Kaleen is predicted to make it through to the final.

(Bild: APA/EVA MANHART)

The good news first: if the international gamblers are right, Austria's Song Contest candidate this year, Kaleen, will secure a ticket to the grand final of the music competition on May 11 with "We Will Rave" in her semi-final on May 9. The 29-year-old is consistently ranked 8th in her semi-final, with the top 10 advancing to the final. This is the result of a comparison of 13 bookmakers.

Quite a respectable position when you consider that Kaleen not only has to compete in one of the two semi-finals, which with 16 countries has one more than round 1. The 2nd semi-final with top favorites such as the Swiss act "The Code" by Nemo or the Dutch candidate Joost Klein with "Europapa" is also considered the tougher of the two preliminary rounds.

Switzerland and the Netherlands are also ranked ex aequo in the Austrian semi-final. According to the bookmakers, Greece, Armenia and Norway are likely to follow.

Austria's rave queen Kaleen is predicted to advance to the final - where the bookies see her in the midfield.

(Bild: APA/EVA MANHART)

In 6th place, the predictions see the entry from Israel, the now rewritten "Hurricane" by Eden Golan, which was hotly debated beforehand due to the Gaza war and a lyric that initially alluded to the Hamas massacre. Belgium's Mustii is also ranked ahead of Kaleen.

Nemo at number 1 according to predictions
And what about the predictions for the final? As things stand at the moment, the non-binary Nemo (Switzerland) with "The Code" is in first place with a 23% probability of victory when comparing 16 betting providers. Close on his heels is the Rammstein paraphrase "Rim Tim Tag Dim" by Croatian Baby Lasagna with 17 percent. Dutchman Joost Klein comes in at 14 percent and completes the leading trio.

Kaleen in clear midfield in the final
Where is Kaleen seen here? In the clear midfield, the bookmakers now rank the red-white-red representative in 14th place, after she was long seen in 12th place and thus just in the top half of the 26-strong field. Austria's candidate has therefore slipped a little recently.

However, the betting agencies' predictions are expected to change when the rehearsals in the Malmö Arena begin, which is this Monday. The ESC experts will then have the opportunity to get a direct impression of the acts on the big stage - a litmus test that experience has shown to be a failure for many, while one or the other secret candidate pushes themselves to the fore.