The Slovak national broadcaster, RTVS, is yet to decide if they will participate in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest, which will be held in Lisbon, Portugal. It has been reported that the broadcaster’s new director, Mr. Jaroslav Rezník, wants to introduce fun projects which could potentially lead to Slovakia returning to the contest.
Slovakia’s history in Eurovision
The central European country has quite a poor track record when it comes to Eurovision. Slovakia debuted in 1994 and have participated on only seven occasions. Their best result to date was 18th in 1996 with Marcel Palonder and the song “Kým nás máš”. Between 1998 and 2009, Slovakia did not participate however in 2009, they returned with Kamil Mikulčík and Nela Pocisková. They only managed to achieve 18th place in their semi final and thus failed to qualify for the final.
In 2010, one of the Slovakia’s biggest pop stars, Kristína, represented her country and despite being among the favourites, she also failed to qualify and came 16th. Despite this, she still remains a big name in Slovakia and her entry is among the most watched ever on the official Eurovision YouTube channel.
Slovakia participated on two more occasions, in 2011 and 2012 respectively, however on both occasions also failed to make the grand final. Max Jason Mai, Slovakia’s 2012 representative, came last in Baku, giving the country their worst ever result ever. In 2013, RTVS withdrew and has not returned to the contest since blaming financial difficulties.
Could 2018 be the year we see Slovakia return? And if Slovakia returns, who would you like to see represent them in Lisbon?
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