69th Song Contest

Austria must fight in the 2nd semi-final

Presenter Jennifer Bosshard during the draw for the semi-finals of the ESC 2025 (Eurovision Song Contest) in Basel, Switzerland

(Bild: APA-PictureDesk/GEORGIOS KEFALAS / Keystone)

Austria will start the 69th Eurovision Song Contest in Basel on May 15 in the 2nd semi-final. This was confirmed at the draw for the starting places in the art museum of the Swiss host city on Tuesday.

It has not yet been decided which act Austria will send to the neighboring country, which will then have to compete with 15 countries in the semi-final to get one of ten final tickets for May 17. According to reports, however, the announcement could be made on Thursday. 

37 nations are competing this year
A total of 37 nations are competing for the European singing crown this year. Six countries do not have to go through the semi-final process: the Big Five, i.e. the biggest payers, Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy and Spain. They are joined by hosts Switzerland, who are also firmly seeded for May 17.

The remaining countries will have to go through the semi-final procedure on May 13 and May 15 respectively in Basel, a city of 170,000 inhabitants close to the German and French borders. Presenters Jennifer Bosshard and Jan van Ditzhuijzen hosted the afternoon draw. In addition to the draw for the starting places, the event also traditionally serves as a festive handover from one host city to another. And so a representative of Malmö handed over the Eurovision insignia to the successor city of Basel. The change from one ESC host city to another is now officially complete. The first tranche of tickets will go on sale on Wednesday (January 29) at 10 am.

Switzerland hosts the event for the third time
The fact that the 69th ESC is being held in Switzerland for the third time this year after 1956 and 1989 is thanks to Nemo. The non-binary act took victory in Malmö last year with "The Code". Basel prevailed in the internal match between the cities as host and will now hold the competition in the St. Jakobshalle, which can accommodate 12,400 people in its maximum version. The motto of the major musical event this year is once again "United by Music" - a tagline that has been used permanently at every ESC since last year instead of the previously changing mottos.

The participants in the semi-finals of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest in Basel:

1. SEMIFINALS (May 13)
   Albania
   Azerbaijan
   Belgium, Estonia
   Estonia
   Iceland
   Croatia
   The Netherlands
   Norway
   Poland
   Portugal
   San Marino
   Sweden
   Slovenia
   Ukraine
   Cyprus
2. HALF FINALS (May 15)
   Armenia
   Australia
   Denmark
   Finland
   Georgia
   Greece
   Ireland
   Israel
   Latvia
   Lithuania
   Luxembourg
   Malta
   Montenegro
   Austria, Serbia
   Serbia
   Czech Republic

There has been some movement in the field of participants, with the small Balkan country of Montenegro returning to the competition this year. On the other hand, the Republic of Moldova withdrew at relatively short notice, citing the costs of the competition among other reasons. This means that the number of competing nations remains stable at 37.

Israel also taking part this year
This includes Israel again this year. The country, which is at war, is sending 24-year-old Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023. The singer was at the Nova music festival, which Hamas attacked at the time and murdered 364 people here alone. The previous year, Israeli participant Eden Golan was subjected to fierce hostility from the audience in the Malmö hall because of the Gaza war and large protests against Israel had formed in the city. However, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), as the organizer, rejected the debate that arose at the time about the country's participation, citing the non-political nature of the competition.