THE DRAW

The draw took place in Baku on the 20th March.

Here the placing for both semi-finals was finalised as well as the placing of the 6 countries that have pre-qualified for the main final.

As ever, there were wildcards. This meant that 2 countries in each semi, and one in the final, would be able to choose their placing rather than be drawn a random one. As we know choose in a place can be beneficial.

In semi-final 1, Finland chose placing 9 and Ireland chose placing 18.

01) MONTENEGRO Rambo Amadeus - Euro Neuro

02) ICELAND Greta Salóme & Jónsi - Mundu eftir mér

03) GREECE Eleftheria Eleftheriou - Aphrodisiac

04) LATVIA Anmary - Beautiful song

05) ALBANIA Rona Nishliu – Suus

06) ROMANIA Mandinga - Zaleilah

07) SWITZERLAND Sinplus – Unbreakable

08) BELGIUM Iris – Would you

09) FINLAND Pernilla Karlsson - När jag blundar

10) ISRAEL Izabo - Time

11) SAN MARINO Valentina Monetta – The Social Network Song

12) CYPRUS Ivi Adamou - La la love

13) DENMARK Soluna Samay - Should've known better

14) RUSSIA Buranovskiye Babushki - Party for everybody

15) HUNGARY Compact Disco - Sound of our hearts

16) AUSTRIA Trackshittaz - Woki mit deim popo

17) MOLDOVA Pasha Parfeny - Lăutar

18) IRELAND Jedward - Waterline

In semi 2, Ukraine chose place 7 whilst Lithuania bagged place 18.

01) SERBIA Željko Joksimović - Nije ljubav stvar

02) FYR MACEDONIA Kaliopi - Crno i belo

03) NETHERLANDS Joan Franka - You and me

04) MALTA Kurt Calleja - This is the night

05) BELARUS Litesound - We are the heroes!

06) PORTUGAL Filipa Sousa - Vida minha

07) UKRAINE Gaitana - Be my guest

08) BULGARIA Sofi Marinova - Love unlimited

09) SLOVENIA Eva Boto - Verjamem

10)CROATIA Nina Badrić – Nebo

11) SWEDEN Loreen - Euphoria

12) GEORGIA Anri Jokhadze - I'm a joker

13) TURKEY Can Bonomo - Love me back

14) ESTONIA Ott Lepland - Kuula

15) SLOVAKIA Max Jason Mai - Don't close your eyes

16) NORWAY Tooji - Stay

17) BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA Maya Sar - Korake ti znam

18) LITHUANIA Donny Montell - Love is blind

The final has also brought up a few noticeable points. Spain was drawn first and asked to be placed 19 -  the placing Azerbaijan won from last year.

1) UNITED KINGDOM Engelbert Humperdinck – Love will set you free

9) FRANCE Anggun - Echo (You and I)

10) ITALY Nina Zilli - L'amore è femmina

13) AZERBAIJAN Səbinə Babayeva -

19) SPAIN Pastora Soler - Quédate conmigo

20) GERMANY Roman Lob - Standing still

The draw for the first Semi-Final:

Semi 1 has a very interesting mix. Montenegro going first will be an ‘interesting’ start and I fear the next few songs will sound very boring and too similar next to each other. The Albanian entry will then really stand out at place 5 amongst all the mid tempo nonsense. Switzerland has an OK draw but might be shafted around a bit depending on where or if advert breaks are put in. The end of semi one could bring up a surprise as Austria, Moldova and Ireland will ensure a very up-tempo and full throttle ending to the show.

Semi 2 is a little more difficult as many of the more fancied numbers are placed near the middle of the running order as well as very similar entries being drawn together. Serbia stars off, which in this case I don’t think is a good thing and if followed by another Balkan entry from FYROM. Later on Ukraine is followed by Bulgaria and Slovenia is followed by  Croatia. On the plus side Sweden, a big favourite, is followed by Georgia by far the worst entry in the contest. Also the big rock number form Slovakia has a favourable draw and could be a bit of a dark horse.

In terms of the final, going first has not seen as very favourable in the recent past, however the last time the UK were drawn first, we won (1976 Brotherhood of Man). I think this start placing could show up the professionalism of Englebert and maybe show the flaws in our competitors. Spain and Germany have good draws but I think France’s draw is not so good especially with Italy straight after.

More will be read into the draw as the participants plug their entries around Europe and (hopefully) sing live !