It’s time to light up the room — and with the sight of Eiffel Tower in your living room. France Télévisions and the EBU have confirmed that 19 countries will participate in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2021. That’s a huge jump after only 12 countries participated at the last edition in Poland.

Alexandra Redde-Amiel, the French Head of Delegation and Director of Variety and Entertainment at France Télévisions, can’t wait to say Bienvenue! to the children — and their parents, dance coaches and fans.

“The entire French delegation is delighted to welcome for the first time in France, in close collaboration with the EBU, the 19 countries that will take part in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2021 on 19 December. France TV is looking forward to welcoming these European singing talents to the City of Light during the Christmas season. This unique family event will be a starry-eyed treat for all viewers, young and old. Long live the Junior Eurovision Song Contest!”

 

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Junior Eurovision 2021: 19 Participating Countries

🇦🇱 Albania (RTSH)

🇦🇲 Armenia (AMPTV)

🇦🇿 Azerbaijan (Ictimai)

🇧🇬 Bulgaria (BNT)

🇫🇷 France (France TV)

🇩🇪 Germany (NDR/KiKa)

🇬🇪 Georgia (GPB)

🇮🇪 Ireland (TG4)

🇮🇹 Italy (Rai)

🇰🇿 Kazakhstan (Khabar Agency)

🇲🇹 Malta (PBS)

🇳🇱 Netherlands (AVROTROS)

🇲🇰 North Macedonia (MKRTV)

🇵🇱 Poland (TVP)

🇵🇹 Portugal (RTP)

🇷🇺 Russia (RTR)

🇷🇸 Serbia (RTS)

🇪🇸 Spain (TVE)

🇺🇦 Ukraine (UA:PBC)

Junior Eurovision 2021 Returning Countries

The news comes with some welcome surprises, as eight countries are returning to the contest after a brief absence.

Bulgaria returns for the first time since 2016. In 2014 it posted its best-ever result — second place with Krisia, Hasan & Ibrahim — but it withdrew after two consecutive ninth place finishes.

Armenia is also returning to the contest after sitting it out in 2020. It participated in every edition between 2007 and 2019, winning in 2010 with Vladimir Arzumanyan, and placing in the Top 3 on six other occasions. It withdrew in 2020 after selecting its entry (Malena Fox with “Why”) owing to its war with Azerbaijan.

Interestingly, Azerbaijan is also returning in 2021 with the artist Sona Azizova. It will be Baku’s fourth appearance — and its first since its last act competed in 2018.

Unsurprisingly, Italy — the host broadcaster of Eurovision 2022 — is returning after sitting it out in 2020. As it prepares to host the world in 2022, it’s showing good form by participating in the EBU’s other song contest.

Albania, Ireland, North Macedonia and Portugal are also set to return.

Given all the returning countries, it’s understandable that Martin Österdahl, Executive Supervisor for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, is pretty enthusiastic.

“We’re excited to welcome 19 countries for the 19th Junior Eurovision Song Contest on 19 December in Paris, particularly those who didn’t participate in last year’s show because of the pandemic. The preparations so far from France Télévisions have been exemplary and this year’s Contest promises to be the best yet. We’re looking forward to hosting young talents from across Europe for a truly magical event with plenty of surprises!”

Of course, there is sad news for fans of the contest. Australia, which didn’t participate last year because of the complications related to the Covid pandemic, won’t be participating this year either.

Belarus, a powerhouse of the contest and a two-time winner, will miss the contest for the first time in its history. It participated in every edition of the contest from 2003 until 2020. But it is no longer eligible to participate in Eurovision events after the EBU suspended its broadcaster BTRC amid the brutal repression of protestors and the press.

That means The Netherlands is now the only country to have participated in every single edition of Junior Eurovision.

53 Comments
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Bird Lover
Bird Lover
2 years ago

jesc is dead anyway . who cares after 2015 lol

Ffs
Ffs
2 years ago

a bit creepy …

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
2 years ago

Do you know what I found very interesting? At the Eurovision song contest, Azerbaijan is the only Caucasus country to win the contest while Armenia and Georgia haven’t won it. At junior eurovision, Georgia and Armenia have won the contest and Azerbaijan is ironically the only one that hasn’t won it.

PP77
PP77
2 years ago

I hope that we don t have JESC like last year, when some countries sang live on video tape and many was on bottom on scoreboard, and many countries with good result at the end sang on playback.

Esc addict
Esc addict
2 years ago
Reply to  PP77

Stop with that, you don’t know what has happened really….. yeah yeah of course some countries have decided to cheat blatantly in front of Europe, in front of all the european juries, in front of the polish producers, in front of the Ebu, and nobody has seen something and has said something, suuuure! We all know which country is your target but reflect a little bit before talking man…..
We have a good and deserved JESC 2020 winner, and all children with good results deserved it, that’s the main thing, period.

Last edited 2 years ago by Esc addict
Gianni Petropoulos
Gianni Petropoulos
2 years ago
Reply to  Esc addict

Even without playback Valentin a would have won but it was really unfair for the other countries as well as Belarus used playback

Ria van de Velde
Ria van de Velde
2 years ago

19 country ‘s will be great !! I can ‘t wait for the show and I am looking forward to hear all the songs

Hyunwoo
Hyunwoo
2 years ago

This Junior Eurovision 2021 will be really nice!

JAMES21
JAMES21
2 years ago

Sad to see no Wales entering, would of loved to see them really bring a good song performance the welsh language is beautiful when done right (first 2 attempts were not don’t right)

Bird Lover
Bird Lover
2 years ago

Italy will win and we dont even have a song yet. theyve rigged everything this year

Esc addict
Esc addict
2 years ago

Off topic but we are september 3rd the new season has started, so RAI wake up please!

Bird Lover
Bird Lover
2 years ago
Reply to  Esc addict

thats on you all for thinking RAI cares about eurovision lol. Theyve made it clear decades ago they only care for san remo

esc43
esc43
2 years ago
Reply to  Bird Lover

Lmao they’re hosting the next edition of the ESC… I don’t think they don’t care even if they wanted to

Esc addict
Esc addict
2 years ago

Nice visual! 19 seems to be the number of this jesc year, 19th edition the 19th of december for 19 participating countries, so the number 19 in the running order will be the winner 😉 who knows but it would be fun

Alonso
Alonso
2 years ago
Reply to  Esc addict

Same thought! number 19 might be this year’s winner.

Last edited 2 years ago by Alonso
FanESC
FanESC
2 years ago
Reply to  Esc addict

Or the 19th in the running order will end up 19th (last), lmao.

Esc addict
Esc addict
2 years ago
Reply to  FanESC

Lol yes it could be a possibility too

George
George
2 years ago

Idk who made this art with flags but they made terrible work by putting Armenian and Azeri flags next to each other..

Valery
Valery
2 years ago
Reply to  George

It’s an alphabet order lol

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
2 years ago

I’ve only recently started watching Junior risen since 2018, and I’m actually looking forward to this year’s edition. 19 countries for the 19th addition airing on December 19. This could be a good show. I hope it streams for free on YouTube internationally and not Geo blocked like the last few contests were.

SamuelC
SamuelC
2 years ago
Reply to  BadWoolfGirl

2018 was an amazing JESC! I thought it was one of the best Eurovision contests I’ve ever seen (including the adult ones). Kazakhstan’s song that year remains an inspiration to me, and I still find myself humming Ireland sometimes!

Last edited 2 years ago by SamuelC
Shuma
Shuma
2 years ago

Lol at the Eurofans fresh from delivering the UK a humiliating blow in Eurovision, now expressing disappointment UK isn’t asking for a 2nd helping by joininng Juniorvision

Roo
Roo
2 years ago
Reply to  Shuma

It wasn’t Eurofans delivering a humiliating blow to the UK. I know I sent in a few votes for the UK. Millions of people voted in Eurovision, many more than those who chat here.

willchrisiam
willchrisiam
2 years ago
Reply to  Shuma

Ah, UK – the land where people expect good results with songs even they don’t care about!

evelyn
evelyn
2 years ago
Reply to  willchrisiam

said nobody ever ?

Sot
Sot
2 years ago

I’m gonna be frank here, I was kinda underwhelmed with the chosen design. There was so much potential and they didn’t use it. Anyways, as always, happy Eurovision season and I’ll be waiting for the JESC songs to come out!

Ben
Ben
2 years ago

Yesterday, JESC posted something saying: There will be an odd number of participating countries. Over 80% of those countries have the color red in their flag. Most of the countries begin with a letter in the first half of the English alphabet. I was expecting 17, but I was hoping that Armenia and another country (maybe the UK) would return, and I definitely was not expecting Bulgaria, since they originally said they weren’t participating, (Italy did the same thing but they changed their minds sooner), but I’m very glad to have them back. I’m also very glad to have Armenia… Read more »

ROXELANA
ROXELANA
2 years ago

Wow, 19 is a great number.. if I am not mistaken, it’s the second highest number of participating countries, right?

Happy to see Azerbaijan, Bulgaria and especially Kazakhstan again.

Btw, seeing this list of participating countries has reminded me of how much I am excited and looking forward for the list of participating countries in the actual contest.

I know it won’t be easy but I really hope we can see 43 or possibly even 44 countries next year.

Leo
Leo
2 years ago
Reply to  ROXELANA

I think we will get 41 max

ROXELANA
ROXELANA
2 years ago
Reply to  Leo

I guess we will see all the 39 from this year next year as well. Armenia will most likely also return.

It all depends on Hungary, Montenegro and Turkey. If we can get them returning, we could reach 43. If the EBU finally allows Kazakhstan to join, we would have 44.
But yeah, it’s very unlikely..

Last edited 2 years ago by ROXELANA
BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
2 years ago
Reply to  Leo

If Armenia returns, it’ll be likely 40. I don’t know about Hungary and Montenegro returning. I know there’s been talks, but I’m not holding my breath for Turkeys’s return.

Sot
Sot
2 years ago
Reply to  ROXELANA

Well, if I count all 39 countries as certainties for 2022, the highest we can get is:

Montenegro (eh, I hope so)
Hungary (EXTREMELY unlikely)
Armenia (I think we could have that)
Turkey (unlikely but who knows)
Kazakhstan (EXTREEEEMELY unlikely)
Lebanon (no)

Viggz
Viggz
2 years ago

I’m happy to see Bulgaria back in Junior Eurovision

Hrvatska
Hrvatska
2 years ago

Fantastic news Bulgaria return and again balkan country start in Contest Serbia Albania North Macedonia

Joe
Joe
2 years ago

Interesting thought: this might be the first edition in a while where every song might (primarily – I expect a lot of countries will sneak a bit of English in there) be in a different language. The only exception would be if Kazakhstan sent a song in Russian, in which case both their entry and Russia’s would be in the same language (Ireland could send a song in English, but they definitely won’t and Malta probably will unless they grow a pair and send something in Maltese), but other than that each country would only have one primary language to… Read more »

Agent 007
Agent 007
2 years ago
Reply to  Joe

6 of those languages are Slavic (Indoeuropean family)
4 of them are Romance languages (Indoeuropean family)
3 of them Germanic (Indoeuropean family)
Albanian and Armenian languages form their own groups in Indoeuropean family
2 of them are Turkic (Turkic family)
Irish is a Celtic language (Indoeuropean family)
Malti is a dialect of Arabic (Semitic family)

Ben
Ben
2 years ago
Reply to  Joe

The last time Malta sent a song partially in Maltese to JESC was 2019, which wasn’t very long ago, but because they came dead-last that year, they might be swayed against trying that again for a while (even though it was totally the nonexistent staging’s fault, but still)

Last edited 2 years ago by Ben
Bird Lover
Bird Lover
2 years ago
Reply to  Joe

i love how people talk out their ass without even checking the facts lol. malta sent a song in maltese in 2019.. literally not long ago

beccaboo1212
2 years ago

I wanna make a few things very clear.

  • Armenia planning ahead “stronger than ever” = ?
  • Bulgaria and Italy changing their minds after originally ruling out a return in Paris ??
  • I miss Belarus at the Eurovision family of events, but let’s hope the people of Belarus live happy lives.
Joe
Joe
2 years ago
Reply to  beccaboo1212

I don’t miss Belarus because their broadcaster is awful.

Sot
Sot
2 years ago
Reply to  Joe

I miss Belarus exactly because of that. Belarussians do NOT deserve that and I’m not talking only about Eurovision

Joe
Joe
2 years ago

Very happy with this lineup! In the end, I predicted all but one: given how the EBU were talking about bringing them back, none of their broadcasters confirmed or denied anything, and it would’ve meant all of the Big 5 would be competing, I thought the UK was going to come back (especially given the recent trend of long-gestating returns and debuts, plus Wales and Scotland not competing on their own this year). And since their broadcaster had said ages ago that they wouldn’t be competing, and given all their financial troubles as of late, I DEFINITELY couldn’t have guessed… Read more »

Joe
Joe
2 years ago
Reply to  Joe

(Also, I’m so glad Armenia is back in the game. Their presence was very much missed both at the Junior contest last year and the adult contest this year, so hopefully this bodes well for an Armenian comeback in Italy!)

Joe
Joe
2 years ago
Reply to  Joe

(Also also: you’d figure neighborliness would be more of a thing at the contest these days. Certainly that’s how it used to be in persuading countries to either come back or stay when they might’ve otherwise withdrawn, such as Greece and Belgium staying in the Junior contest long enough to be there for their immediate neighbors hosting before leaving, or Austria making their comeback in the adult contest because Germany was hosting. But just as the Netherlands hosting this year wasn’t enough to make Luxembourg come back, apparently France hosting isn’t enough to make fellow Francophones Belgium and Switzerland return.… Read more »

Darren
Darren
2 years ago

Very strong showing for JESC this year! Also delighted it’s moved to December I think the Christmas buzz will add to it too. Of course glad to see Ireland back. Australia sitting it out was to be expected. It’s mad how a few years ago JESC was only really participated in by the eastern bloc, but so many “western” countries and more “traditional” ESC countries have joined or returned recently. I think this is the first time ever that we have a Big 4 in JESC! Italy, Germany, France and Spain. Would love to see some Nordics return in the… Read more »

Joe
Joe
2 years ago
Reply to  Darren

The only Nordic I could maybe see coming back someday is Sweden, given that they’re the only Nordic to hold out after the rest withdrew. Even then, I feel like Denmark and Norway are putting pressure on them to stay out.

Darren
Darren
2 years ago
Reply to  Joe

Iceland could maybe debut.
I think Iceland would actually do pretty well in JESC

Joe
Joe
2 years ago
Reply to  Darren

They’d certainly bring a unique flavor to it. They’d also probably appreciate not being compared to the other Nordic countries for once!

vfjn
vfjn
2 years ago

im actually so happy that kazhaksthan bulgaria italy and armenia will be present! cant wait!

Joe
Joe
2 years ago
Reply to  vfjn

I’ll also say good show to Portugal. Considering how one or two bad finishes will usually send countries packing from Junior Eurovision, it’s noble that after three mediocre finishes in a row since their comeback (including two jury zeroes, yeesh), the only thing that made them withdraw was COVID, and now they’re back and ready to try again.

Ben
Ben
2 years ago
Reply to  Joe

Same with Albania, but they’ve had four mediocre finishes in a row.

James
James
2 years ago
Reply to  Ben

And Serbia.

Gianni Petropoulos
Gianni Petropoulos
2 years ago
Reply to  Joe

True Portugal never gives up. I was just worried that about Kazakhstan and I think that nobody believed Bulgaria would return which is such a pleasant surprise. At first I was expecting like 14 countries to take part but when I saw Albania and Italy joining I was even more excited. When I saw 19 countries I was literally jumping?! And not even my own country is in lol also I’m the same person from another device

Last edited 2 years ago by Gianni Petropoulos