The Semi-Final Allocation Draw for the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest took place in Sweden today. The ceremony for the draw and the passing of the Host City insignia pass from previous hosts Liverpool to Malmö was streamed live on the Eurovision YouTube channel.
The Draw
The Semi-Final Allocation Draw, now simply referred to as The Draw, places the non auto-qualified Eurovision countries in their semi-finals. It was hosted by Farah Abadi and Pernilla Månsson Colt. The countries have been divided into six pots based on their previous voting patterns, in order to avoid predictable results.
The automatic qualifiers, A.K.A. ‘The Big Five’ countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) do not compete in the semi-finals. As the reigning winners, Sweden will also not be competing in the semi-finals. Despite not competing, viewers in three of the automatically-qualifying countries will be allowed to vote in each semi-final. The allocation of this was also drawn at random, alongside the competing countries.
NOTE: The exact running order will be decided by producers at a later date.
The Semi-Final Allocation Draw
Semi-Final 1
First half
- 🇺🇦 Ukraine
- 🇨🇾 Cyprus
- 🇵🇱 Poland
- 🇷🇸 Serbia
- 🇱🇹 Lithuania
- 🇮🇪 Ireland
- 🇭🇷 Croatia
Second half
- 🇸🇮 Slovenia
- 🇮🇸 Iceland
- 🇵🇹 Portugal
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
- 🇫🇮 Finland
- 🇦🇺 Australia
- 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan
- 🇲🇩 Moldova
Automatic qualifiers voting in Semi-Final 1
- 🇸🇪 Sweden
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇩🇪 Germany
Semi-Final 2
First half
- 🇦🇹 Austria
- 🇲🇹 Malta
- 🇨🇭Switzerland
- 🇬🇷 Greece
- 🇨🇿 Czechia
- 🇦🇱 Albania
- 🇩🇰 Denmark
- 🇦🇲 Armenia
Second half
- 🇮🇱 Israel
- 🇪🇪 Estonia
- 🇬🇪 Georgia
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- 🇳🇴 Norway
- 🇱🇻 Latvia
- 🇸🇲 San Marino
- 🇧🇪 Belgium
Automatic qualifiers voting in Semi-Final 2
- 🇪🇸 Spain
- 🇮🇹 Italy
- 🇫🇷 France
What do you think about the semi-final allocation for Eurovision 2024? Let us know! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra on Instagram, @escxtra on TikTok and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! Also, be sure to follow us on Spotify for the latest music from your favourite Eurovision acts. As well as YouTube to see our reactions to the news in the run up to the Liverpool contest.
