This morning, Danish broadcaster DR announced that the semi-final allocation draw will be held in Copenhagen city hall on January 20. That’s next Monday, y’all.
During the show, 27 countries will be allocated to the first semi-final (Tuesday 6 May) or the second one (Thursday 8 May). If Slovenia confirms its participation, it will bring the total number of countries participating in the draw to 28.
Obviously this number does not include all competing countries. As always, the BIG 5 (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK) and host (Denmark) have automatically qualified for the final.
Because the contest will be held in Denmark, neighbours Sweden (first semi-final) and Norway (second semi-final) were already assigned to semi-finals, so that fans of both countries have a better chance to get tickets for their semi-final. Israel is also placed in the second semi-final because of Israel’s independence day, which takes place on 6 May.
So the other 27/28 countries will be placed in six groups. These groups are made up of countries who traditionally award points to each other. One half of each group will be assigned to the first semi-final, and the other half to the second.
After each country is assigned a semi-final, a second draw will determine if countries perform in the first half or the second half of the show. Israel, Norway and Sweden will participate in this draw. The actual running order will be determined by the producers when all the songs are revealed.
A third and final draw will determine which semi-final the BIG 5 and host country will vote in. Italy asked for the first semi-final, while Germany has previously been assigned to the second one. The last 4 finalists will still need to draw their semi-final.
Mike Bos contributed this report from the Netherlands. You can keep up with the latest Eurovision news and gossip by following the team from wiwibloggs.com on Twitter @wiwibloggs and by liking our Facebook page.
“The actual running order will be determined by the producers when all the songs are revealed.”
NOOOOOOOO! Why didn’t any of the countries protest this after what happened last year? I’m sure at least one of the following countries: Austria, France, Lithuania, Finland, Belarus, Croatia, San Marino, and Slovenia… would have had something to say about their 2013 results.
Austria to win!
I prefer that too. I mean as we look to last years first semi-final: the big hits were at places 5, 6, 7 and 8. I was not in an hurry to see the first 4 performances. While when they started with Netherlands first and Denmark second I would sit on the couch about 10 minutes before the show started so I wouldn’t miss them perform!
Ugh, I hate when the producers assign what number each country performs. That means they can totally screw over a country and give other countries a better chance. Why can’t they go back to when each country randomly picked their number.