The new German national selection for Eurovision 2025 has closed its submission window, and received 3,281 applications, according to co-organiser ARD. The dates of all four shows of the selection have also been revealed.
Four shows in February and March
Germany has recalled Stefan Raab to organise a new national selection, in order to find the best possible act for their participation in Eurovision next year. The selection, “Chefsache ESC 2025 – Wer singt für Deutschland?” (“Top Priority ESC 2025 – Who sings for Germany?”), will be a partnership between private broadcaster RTL and public broadcaster ARD, produced by Raab Entertainment.
RTL will host three preliminary rounds: two heats and a semi-final. The heats will reduce the number of candidates from 24 to 14 (with 7 acts qualifying from each show), with the semi-final further reducing this number to 9 acts for the final. The selection will be based on singing rounds and song disciplines, and will be made by a jury led by Stefan Raab himself.
The final show of the selection will take place on March 1st (an information that was already public), and broadcast on ARD, with the organisation of the show undertaken by NDR. Unlike the preliminary rounds, which will be full jury shows, the final choice will be made through televote only.
The dates of the preliminary shows have now been revealed, with this schedule in place for “Chefsache ESC 2025“:
Preliminary shows – RTL
- Round 1 – 14 February 2025 (Friday)
- Round 2 – 15 February 2025 (Saturday)
- Semi-final – 22 February 2025 (Saturday)
Final show – ARD (Das Erste)
- Final – 1 March 2025 (Saturday)
The final will take place in Hürth (in the suburbs of Köln), on what should be the last “Super Saturday” of the season, with Denmark’s DMGP and Serbia’s PZE selections’ finals also taking place that evening, alongside the last Melodifestivalen Heat in Sweden and the second semi-final of Portugal’s Festival da Canção.
3,821 applications received
The preliminary shows will see 24 entrants compete for 14 spots in the semi-final, then for 9 spots in the final. But the bigger job will be to shortlist candidates from the 3,821 applications received by ARD, RTL and Raab’s casting website.
Submissions could be made as solo artists or bands, with or without an original song to send as a Eurovision entry. Almost a third of the applicants added a song to their submissions (1,198 of them), and about 20% are bands.
Do you think Raab can once again find a winning package for Germany? How do you feel about this new format? Tell us more in the comments below or on social media!
