Will Croatia choose its Eurovision 2016 singer on The Voice?

The Voice franchise has existed for more than four years, but the small Mediterranean country of Croatia only recently discovered it. In mid-January, Croatian broadcaster HRT will start searching for #thevoice through a series of 15 shows. So far more than 1,000 people have signed up for auditions, but something tells us the number will double very soon. That’s because Croatia’s HRT may award The Voice winner the chance to sing at Eurovision 2016.

Now, a lot of y’all just scratched your head. Officially Croatia isn’t participating in Vienna, owing to a string of poor results in recent years and financial difficulties. And 2016 seems like a long way away. But rumour has it that the reason HRT didn’t confirm for 2015 is because of a delay in the debut of The Voice in Croatia.

As Jutarnji list reports, the show was scheduled to begin in late November, with the the application period starting in June. However, HRT is super late with the pre-production, and the submission period only started in mid-September. As for now, The Voice will start broadcasting in mid-January, while its final is scheduled for late April—way too late for Croatia to use it for Eurovision 2015.

But not, it seems, 2016. The fact that Aleksandar Kostandinov, Croatia’s Head of Delegation, is a spokesman for the show makes the report seem pretty reliable. However, HRT hasn’t confirmed anything yet.