You’ll never guess who’s coming back to Eurovision
Australia has been confirmed as a participant in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, cementing their place as a full-time entrant.
The 62nd annual Eurovision Song Contest is set to take place in Ukrainian capital Kyiv in May 2017, following the victory of Ukraine’s Jamala earlier this year.
The result was marred by controversy – as a change to the voting system meant that Australian entrant Dami Im was deprived of a first place finish.
Australia hasn’t missed out on its last chance for glory, however – it was confirmed today that the decidedly non-European country will be returning to the camp European music contest in 2017.
Australia was initially invited to take part in 2015 as a ‘one-off’ entrant, to celebrate the contest’s 60th anniversary.
After a fifth-place finish for Guy Sebastian, the country was again invited to participate in 2016, making 2017 their third time taking part.
The EBU confirmed the full line-up of entrants today, with Russia also confirmed to take part despite heightened tensions with host country Ukraine.
The 43 countries represented in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest are Albania, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, F. Y. R. Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
Jon Ola Sand, the EBU’s Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, said: “We are delighted that 43 national broadcasters have signed up for the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest equalling our record highest participation.
“We have not had this many countries in one contest since 2011 in Düsseldorf. The Eurovision Song Contest still unites audiences like no other show, reaching over 200 million people in 2016. We’re looking forward to three fantastic shows in Kyiv next May”.
The BBC previously confirmed that the UK’s decision to leave the European Union will not lead to a withdraw from Eurovision, which is seen as a display of European unity. The broadcaster recently opened public auditions to find an act for the contest.
The Semi-Finals of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 will take place on May 9 and May 11, with the Grand Final on Saturday May 13.
