Earlier today, the EBU determined the pots for the semi-final allocation draw, which will be held on Monday, January 12th, at 19:00 CET.
Since the establish of 2 semi-finals in 2008 and due to voting patterns, the EBU and the reference group have decided to allocate countries with voting relations together, in the same pot.
The 30 countries that participate in the semi-finals are allocated into 5 pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by the contest’s official televoting partner Digame.
Each pot will include 6 countries
From each pot, half of the countries will be allocated in the first semi-final, and the remaining countries will be allocated in the second semi-final.
Pot 1
- Albania
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Montenegro
- Serbia
- Switzerland
Pot 2
- Australia
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- Norway
- Sweden
Pot 3
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- Georgia
- Israel
- Poland
- Ukraine
Pot 4
- Belgium
- Czechia
- Luxemburg
- Portugal
- Moldova
- Romania
Pot 5
- Cyprus
- Greece
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Malta
- San Marino
The 6th pot includes the automatic qualifiers:
- Austria
- United Kingdom
- France
- Italy
- Germany
The ceremony will also include the exchange of the Host City Insignia.
Basel will give Vienna the symbol of the host city.
The Mayor of 2025 Host City (Basel) will hand over the official keys to the Eurovision Song Contest, known as the “Insignia“, to the Mayor of Vienna.
Eurovision 2026 will be held in Vienna, Austria, on May 12th, 14th, and 16th, 2026.
