He’s the youngest competitor at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest. But youth clearly doesn’t stand in the way of Kristian Kostov, who has edged past Sweden’s Robin Bengtsson at a number of betting agencies to become second favourite to win Eurovision 2017.
The 17-year-old — yes, he was born in the year 2000 — has passed Sweden at BetStars, who have him down at 9/2, and Bwin, who have him down at 6/1. For comparison’s sake, Robin is at 8/1 and 7/1 at the same agencies. At the time of writing Bulgaria and Sweden are level at a number of other agencies, including Ladbrokes and Betway, but Bulgaria’s odds are still narrowing.
The shifting odds may be a response to Russia’s Yulia Samoylova being barred from Eurovision 2017 by Ukrainian authorities earlier today. Kristian, whose mother is Kazakh, was born in Moscow and was a finalist on The Voice Kids Russia. With Russia seemingly out of the contest, he could capitalise on the Russian diaspora vote.
Kristian’s Bieber-esque song is thoroughly contemporary and polished, and seems to be growing with Eurovision fans as time goes by. His songwriters worked with Poli Genova last year, so we know he’s in good hands.
*Buy the “Beautiful Mess” t-shirt
Italy’s Francesco Gabbani remains the runaway favourite, with all of his odds below 2/1.
Belgium and Portugal have held steady over the past week and remain within striking distance in fourth and fifth position.
But then the odds begin to open up with Australia, Azerbaijan and Armenia rounding out the Top 8. Strangely Russia remains ninth favourite to win.
1960 too
Bulgaria it’s great it’s the best song in urovision 2017. This boy it’s so yang and he have the best male voice I’m bulgarian and I’m very pride for my contrey. My countrey it’s the most beautiful on the balkans and not small like some people says.If Bulgaria doesn’t win these year i will never wach urovision again. It’s a shame if Italy win…
If you people believe in this pools , bets ecc.. themn you aare all fool….last eyar Poland, Russia and Australia were favourite to win ,, and Jamala won …
No. poland with this weak guy was not favourite.
please vote for the Uk everyone, great great song, lucie needs everyone votes please please please vote
12 points – Uk
10 points Australia
8 points – Sweden
7 points- Denmark
6 points – Bulgaria
5 points – Azerbaijan
4 points – France
3 points – Greece
2 points – Italy
1 point – Israel
Nobody speaks about SPAIN!!
O think in direct músic Will be in top 5!!
Listen the song. …..and you Will put SPAIN in top 5!!
Time to time! !
Bulgaria will win with its live performance… trust me.
Well, noway sweden will win anyway, we need to find next ABBA if we should have a decent chanse sinse there are so many among ESC fans that have negative opinions about us. If other countries should compete whith our songs they would get better respons from the ESC fans. Or?
THESE ODDS ARE JUST ODDS FOR FIRST 5 SONGS – THEY WILL BE MAYBE IN TOP 10 OR TOP 15 – THATS MY CALCULATION AFTER WATCHING 24 YEARS ESC…….. AUSTRALIA’S SONG THIS YEAR IS QUITE WEAK, ALSO BULGARIA NOTHING SPECIAL, SWEDEN NOT WILL BE IN TOP 5 AS THATS NOT TIME FOR WIN AGAIN – TOO EARLY…. RUSSIA AND PORTUGAL OUT OF TOP 10, ARMENIA AS QUITE WEAK TURKEY SONG WITH WEAK VIDEO OUT OF TOP 10 – BELGIUM MAYBE IN TOP 10 – MACEDONIA OUT OF TOP 10 – FOR UK DIFFICULT TO SAY WHATS POSITION WILL BE –… Read more »
@Denis “The thing with Italy is that they still view ESC as singing contest when it hasn’t been that since the 90’s” I beg to differ! Eurovision is still a SONG CONTEST! The difference is that now it’s more of a show and the visual presentation is equally important with the song itself. But we are not supposed to vote the best show but the best song! Nowadays, it’s the overall performance, everything counts. Ex: in 2015 when Sweden won, I was totally mad because Il Volo didn’t win! I’ve nothing with Sweden, the song is great, but I believe… Read more »
Meltdown thread of the year here. 😀 By the way,
I have just been to the future.
This year’s ESC winner will be…
Sorry I can’t tell you. Temporal Prime Directive. 🙂
Blanche singing live at a memorial of the attacks of 22/03/2016, 1 day ago.
https://www.rtbf.be/auvio/detail_little-moon-rises-blanche-et-stan-van-samang?id=2197014
Bella, Italy might be top three, I have no problem with that. But they are also just a as likely to end up in top 10. The thing with Italy is that they still view ESC as singing contest when it hasn’t been that since the 90’s. That’s why they never win, having a good song alone won’t be enough to win. As for Sweden I think you know my opinion:) Robin is great and will be top 5, top 3 even.The fact that he got more jury points than Frans suggest he will do better than him. People always… Read more »
Well, Bulgaria is my favorite this year, so I’m happy about this. But I don’t quite see it winning, although I’d love Sofia 2018.
So in the top 5 we have two countries that don’t usually do well (Bulgaria and Portugal), a country which the last couple of years has managed to be top 10 with quality acts (Belgium), a very successfull country that’s almost always in the top countries every year (Sweden) and a country with a decent presence at the contest since they came back (Italy). For me Italy will definitely be top 5 (or even top 3), I think Francesco will do great with the televote (see Il Volo two years ago!) It’s weird for Bulgaria being 2nd, he will probably… Read more »
@dolu13 we would need more haters as you. Haters always make a song even more loved but the other ones 😉 thank you for your help :p
@dolu13 ahahahahah well I don’t need his money and I do it for pleasure.
And you are so pathetic and envious as hell :’)
On second thought, I can see why Bulgaria is so high. The song really bridges the East and West of Europe. Kristian is a resident of Russia, and also a resident of an ex-communist country which is now EU member and has moved successfully away from the Russian sphere of influence. He participated in Voice kids Russia and did very well, but was never embraced by the establishment there–unlike Kozhikina, who won that season and was sent that year to represent Russia at JESC with a song written internally for her. Kristian had to eventually go to Bulgaria to try… Read more »
I like bulgarian entry but frankly speaking all this attention Bulgaria gets this year is because of their last year’s success with Poli Genova.
@Denis what are you think about Sweden and France? No matter what Italy will be in top three
@dolu13 you should visit a good doctor 😉
And Francesco gabbani’s song reached top charts in 15 European countries two days after the song came out, the official video reached 50.000.000 views in less than 1 month, it has now 69.400.000 views… you van not deny his massive success.
Nobody knows who will win this year, but he is THE BIG favourite, just deal with it 😉
@Polegend Godgarina
Yea they also said that Sergey would win by a long shot, oops 🙂
This Italian song just screams Jury flop
Bulgaria second? hahaha Another year win a ballad? People waste its money. The rest acceptable, Australia too high too.
Bookies are bookies. If you look to every poll since the release of the last song it will be between Italy and Belgium. But we have to wait until the first rehearsel before they can make a better prediction. It can change by then.
I don’t understand why Bulgaria is so high, I’m not sure if it will qualify.
@dolu13, you still don’t understand what bookmakers do. Their only concern is that more people bet money on countries that don’t win, than they have to pay out to people who bet on the country that does win. It has nothing to do with the taste in music of the bookmaker, and everything to do with what people are betting on. In the world of gambling, a bookmaker who always makes their favorite the best in odds will not be in the business long as they will go bankrupt when they have to pay out more than they take in.
Neither Bulgaria nor Italy will win. Italy is always the favourite but never the winner. Nothing suggests this year will be any different.
As for Bulgaria and Portugal ending up that high, that’s very unlikely. Portugal has never done well with bookies or odds or fans and this year won’t be different. It’s borderline qualifier.
And Bulgaria second favourite? Not with this song. I imagine it’s odds will slip once rehersal starts. It’s not that good of a song.
@ Dolu Now that you’re done with your hissy fit, it is a matter of money. The more people bet in favour of a nation, the lower the odds will be. It is a self regulating mechanism, within a framework that doesn’t allow for anyone to trick the system. So the odds are like this because people are putting their money (not their mouth or finger grease like you do) into them. If you think that Italy’s odds are too low, then put your money in the act that you think will win (or 2 or 3 if their odds… Read more »
yes, a nice song and we’ve not heard it too much yet. (!!!) good luck bulgaria.
@Jordan
Agree with you, Macedonia is overproduced, and this is bad sign. Live will be different.
Italy is the best <3
Macedonia very good song, but I think that many will be dissapoint when hear live version of song on stage. Jana natural voices in video we heard only in refrain of song I dance alone..uin begging of song her voice have support of tehnology.
Italy with eurovison version of song I think don t have chance for win. Bulgaria is good song but overrated in odds like Armenia . Bulgaria TOP 5 again but not in TOP 3. Australia will be in TOP 10 only because many points from jures . Portugal TOP 5 in final even win or flop hard in semi final. They can be in juries TOP 5 or in juries TOP 5 on bottom if they think song is old fashion , they put some song last year in bottom Poland , Austria, Serbia, Czech Republic. In televote is also… Read more »
Funny on EurovisionWolrd the bets looks way diferent from oddschecker
Go Bulgaria, Go for the win !!! :):):)
Without Russia everything will change in the odds.
Not because Russia was high, but because all the eastern bloc will vote for someone else now, and we don’t know if it’s Italy or Sweden. Most likely will be Bulgaria.
i will happy if italy win but in tre days i stay in lovo of nulgaria. grath sound, meldy ans lirycs
@dolu13 jeez, what a meltdown. Just accept that not everyone has the same opinion or musical taste as you.
@dolu: are you done?
What a joke! His odds will drop heavily after the rehearsal.
I would MUCH rather have Bulgaria win than Sweden.
I don’t find it really likely that Bulgaria wins but it’s possible. If there is a wide split between jury and televote, and Bulgaria comes in 2nd or 3rd with both, they could slip into 1st place in the final result.
TK,
You should remember that a Sanremo song and its sound is the biggest televoting winner in Eurovision 😉
you guys are taking these odds too seriously. last year upon hearing that he was a favourite, sergey just shrugged it off. if the contestants themselves don’t care, so should you.
@Dolu
Which countries are potential winners in your opinion? I’d like to know, and you could bet on them and make some money 😉
Even 6 millions or whatever are more views than all the others entries combined.
And Occidentali’s countries hit over 15 Itunes chart. Also in all Spotify viral charts.
Francesco is breaking records in Italy like Lena did in Germany or Loreen in Sweden.
For all those reasons is leading the bookies (plus his charisma ofc and because it’s memorable)
That’s a joke right? Everyone is saying Belgium or Italy will win, and all of a sudden we’re talking about Bulgaria? Come on now, even Azerbaijan is better than the Bulgarian entry. I think the odds companies want people to lose money.
Bulgarias Song its not god enought to be in 2nd place. And Portugal in 5th place, its a joke.
@dolu13, do you understand what bookmakers do? They set the initial odds based on Eurovision buzz and their judgement of the artist’s and song’s ability to win. After that money determines how the odds go. The more money bet on a country, the lower the odds go. The bookmakers have to adjust the odds to protect themselves. So, the odds are a reflection of public support for a country, support shown by people actually placing bets on them. Bookmakers don’t pick favorites, they just show who the public is placing bets on.
If Russia is out, as it appears to be now, I see a large portion of the support Russia would have gotten going to Bulgaria. Kristian Kostov was born in Moscow, so is Russian. It will give Russian friendly jury members a chance to show their support of Russia. The Russians working around Europe will also have a contestant to televote for.
Depending on live performance, I’m confident Bulgaria will be Top 5 with juries. And based on YT views, the song is very popular too. I haven’t listened to Italy yet, but because people have been saying a lot about it, I might undervalue it.
if that’s how the top 10 gonna turn up, i’m pleased!
I will watch ESC for the first time just to see the victory of the most beautiful song of this century: Portugal.
Kisses and good luck from Armenia