Bulgaria make it nine participants so far for Tbilisi, will a Croatia return make it ten?

With the adult Eurovision Song Contest over for another year, for several broadcasters the focus turns immediately to the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. In recent days, several countries have ruled themselves out of a return to the contest. These include Latvia, Slovenia and Switzerland. However, in more positive news, Bulgaria have confirmed that they will participate in Tbilisi on November 26th. Therefore, nine participants have confirmed their participation in Junior Eurovision 2017.

It’s not just the adult contest where Bulgaria are thriving!

Following a break from the contest, Bulgaria returned to Junior Eurovision in 2014. Krisia, Hasan and Ibrahim placed second in Malta. Following Italy’s decision not to host the 2015 contest following their victory, the honour went to the Bulgarian capital city of Sofia. Their recent success in the contest has continued with two further top 10 finishes in 2015 and 2016 with Gabriela Yordanova & Ivan Stoyanov and Lidia Ganeva respectively. It isn’t just the adult contest where Bulgaria are on an excellent run of form!

Nine participants so far…

As mentioned previously, this means that nine countries have so far confirmed their participation in the 2017 Junior Eurovision Song Contest. These are as follows:

• Belarus
• Bulgaria
• Cyprus
• Georgia
• Ireland
• Malta
• The Netherlands
• Russia
• Ukraine

A key moment in Junior Eurovision history

Perhaps the tenth country to confirm their participation in the contest will be Croatia. The country last participated in 2014 when Josie unfortunately finished in last place. Nevertheless, Croatia historically won the first Junior Eurovision Song Contest when Dino Jelusić took victory in a tight race with Spain’s Sergio and the United Kingdom’s Tom Morley who finished in second and third places respectively. Memorably, Croatia, Spain and the United Kingdom also made up the top 3 in the following year’s Junior Eurovision. However, this time it was Spain who took victory thanks to María Isabel.

Will Croatia make it 10 for 2017?

Croatia’s national broadcaster HRT confirmed to our friends at Eurovoix that they are considering returning to Junior Eurovision this year with no final decision taken either way. Like Bulgaria, Croatia have taken breaks from both the adult and junior contests in recent years.

After four consecutive non-qualifications prior to their break in the adult contest, Croatia are now on a run of two consecutive qualifications thanks to Nina Kraljić and Jacques Houdek. Indeed, Jacques gave Croatia their highest Eurovision finish since Severina finished 12th in 2006. Croatia are on a Eurovision high, and it’s natural that this may result in a Junior Eurovision return. We shall wait and see!

Is your country participating in the 2017 Junior Eurovision Song Contest? What is the situation with your national broadcaster? Let us know in the comments section below and via our social media channels @ESCXTRA!