Grab your coffee and test your Wi-Fi — the semi-final allocation draw for Eurovision 2022 is about to start.
The draw starts on Tuesday 25 January at 12:00 CET. It will be broadcast live from the Palazzo Madama e Casaforte degli Acaja (Madama Palace) in Turin.
The big five — that’s Italy, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom — don’t compete in the semi-finals, so won’t be part of the main draw. However, there will be a preliminary draw to determine which semi-final each of the automatic qualifiers will get ot vote in.
The main draw will decide which semi each of the 36 remaining countries will take part in. They will be randomly picked from six different pots. It will also determine whether they sing in the first or second half of each semi-final.
Eurovision 2022 semi-final allocation draw live stream
RAI has yet to announce the presenters for Eurovision itself. However, the draw will be overseen by TV hosts Carolina di Domenico and Mario Acampa. You’ll remember that Carolina was Italy’s points spokesperson in Rotterdam. Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb of Rotterdam and Mayor Stefano Lo Russo of Turin will be among the VIPs in attendance.
The pots for the semi-final allocation draw were unveiled last week. These pots are created based on past historical voting patterns, calculated by Digame — the EBU’s televoting partner.
The draw takes place in January — several months before Eurovision — to facilitate the planning and execution of the show. Because rehearsals are grouped by semi-final, delegations need this info to start booking hotels and flights. If they’re in the first half of the first semi-final, they will obviously need to arrive earlier than a country that performs in the second half of the second semi-final.
The precise running order (within each half of the show) will be determined by Eurovision producers at a later date. They need to know all of the songs and staging plans before they can create a running order that’s both good for the viewer and practical for stage crews.
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When do the Big Five vote?
Semi-final 1
- France
- Italy
Semi-final 2
- United Kingdom
- Spain
- Germany
Eurovision 2022 semi-final allocation draw:
Semi-final 1
First half
- Albania
- Latvia
- Switzerland
- Slovenia
- Bulgaria
- Moldova
- Ukraine
- Lithuania
- Netherlands
Second half
- Norway
- Russia
- Portugal
- Denmark
- Armenia
- Austria
- Croatia
- Iceland
- Greece
Semi-final 2
First half
- Australia
- Georgia
- Cyprus
- Serbia
- Finland
- Azerbaijan
- San Marino
- Israel
- Malta
Second half
- Montenegro
- Romania
- Czech Republic
- Poland
- Belgium
- North Macedonia
- Sweden
- Estonia
- Ireland
In a previous article relating to the semi finals, I posted a study looking at the frequencies of each country ending up in semi final 1 or 2. Now, the 2022 assignment has added new additional information for my informal research. The new 2022 data will be presented in three parts: how many countries who HAVEN’T budged from the semi finals last year, and how many countries who switched over plus the number of years they were last sorted in semi final 1 or 2. Out of the 36 countries competing in the semi finals, 13 of them remain in… Read more »
Tf you’re talking about!? His hair looks good!
Actually he looks very cute with his hair.
The second semi is a bit weaker since it has 4 weak countries (MNE, IRE, NMK, SMR) while semi 1 has only Bulgaria.
The powerhouses in semi 1 are 6 (CHE, UKR, RUS, NOR, ARM, GRE) while in semi 2 are 4 (AUS, CYP, AZE, SWE).
In semi 2, at least one of the weak countries will qualify, maybe even 2-3. They have an easier semi. Also, watch Ireland fail even in those supportive circumstances.
Cyprus isn’t a powerhouse. Greece is a powerhouse, but is kinda having a dark age going on right now (despite only having NQ’ed twice since 2014 and got a top 10 in 2021). Switzerland is only a powerhouse based of the 2 most recent edition of ESC. With that logic, Iceland would also be a powerhouse.
Interesting that – Czech Republic never performed in the 2 half of the 2 semi
I just realized something…
While watching the semi-final allocation draw, Martin Osterdahl wasn’t in the event. Where was he?
Maybe got Covid 🙁 or quarantine mood
I will be shocked if Serbia gives any points to Australia since they are in the same semi.
What the heck are you talking about?
The Djokovic saga
Oh I see, but that’s a sports controversy. I don’t see how it will affect the contest by May.
This year’s draw seems much more balanced. Semi 2 presents opportunities for countries with less than stellar records to qualify, especially those in the 2nd half. The draw does help Sweden in SF2. I’ll be curious to see how the Russia/Ukraine situation plays out in SF1. All in all, I’m just excited for the 2022 season! Also…where was Martin Osterdahl? Isn’t the executive supervisor normally at this?
That was exactly what I was thinking. I didn’t see Martin in the draw event either. Maybe he was on vacation.
Or quarantine
IctimaiTV is buying sim cards as we speak
Hahahaha – shade
Yikes, but it’s true :/
first elf, second off
I think it’s a good mix and with around 40 countries each year there’s very little change on the line-up, but let’s be honest – the songs and live performances are the things that matter the most.
I could actually see the Czech Republic closing the 2nd semi. I mean, Lights Off… right? 😀
They never close – fingers crossed
I don’t have much to say yet. But it’ll be interesting to see how this running order will look like once all the entries are out 😀
Not a bad semi for Ireland all things considered. United Kingdom, Australia, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Spain are usually generous to us. Nice change up though and even though we don’t know the actual songs yet, it looks like a nice mix of countries in each semi. For the last few years, there wasn’t much difference in the line up from year to year, it honestly felt like the same countries where getting the same spots time and time again. I’m probably wrong but it always felt like Ireland had Lithuania, Russia, Switzerland in their semi. Well done Italy. P.S the… Read more »
People are almost never discussing Belgium on any forum or in these kinds of reaction sections. It feels like Belgium doesn’t even exist in this competition. Their song isn’t even out yet but they are never in peoples predictions. It feels odd… Same with Austria.
Well other than the artist, what else is there to talk about Belgium until he releases his song?
I expect something like Amen 2021 SF1 meets Amen 2021 SF2 from Jeremie. Guess my bar is pretty low. Even tho I really enjoy Belgium 2015-21 entries.
I agree. Some countries are just totally overlooked. Belgium has his artist announced, yet when talking about Semi-Final 2, they are never mentioned.
Looks like people like to discuss more the political situations within each semi-final rather than looking at artist/songs. And maybe that’s the reason why Belgium isn’t discussed – it doesn’t have strong allies within Europe to give them a granted 24 points. So Belgium being 4th twice in the last 5 years, should be considered as having just a great song and being a country that sends decent entries to the contest.
People are sleeping on Brooke. That’s all I’m saying.
No they’re not. Brooke is a hot favorite to win Eurosong 2022 and represent Ireland in Turin.
I’m just here waiting for wiwibloggs video! 🙂
A breakdown of what we know so far about revealed songs: Semifinal 1: Countries which have already revealed their artist + song for Eurovision: Albania –> Ronela Hajati – Sekret Bulgaria –> Intelligent Music Project – Intention Countries with national finals artists and songs revealed: Latvia –> Fan favorite = Aminata – I’m Letting You Go Lithuania –> Fan favorite = Monika Liu – Sentimentai Portugal –> Fan favorite = Syro – Ainda nos Temos Ukraine –> 3/8 songs released so far (Kalush only has a snippet, so that one doesn’t count), the fan favorite at the moment = Roxolana… Read more »
Wtf who thinks Andrei Petrus is the fan favourite of Romania? lmao, that should be Aris or Wrs
I’ve seen multiple polls (Eurovisionworld poll, YouTube polls) in which Andrei is the fan favorite. Among the Wiwibloggs fans, Andrei isn’t really popular indeed.
Even though he is the fan favorite, I don’t see him winning it. Romania Mea seems like something Romania would choose. WRS’ Llamama is my personal favorite of Selelectia Nationala, so I would’ve wished that one was the favorite, but I don’t get to decide what’s popular or not.
These polls are rigged tho
Any proof tho?
girl… most of those “fan favorites” are just your personal favorites lmao
Some are, but about 50% of them aren’t. And as I already said in an earlier comment: I use polls of several websites to point out the fan favorites. If I used my own taste, I would’ve named: Norway: Fly – Maria Mohn Ukraine: none Lithuania: Moosu X – Love That Hurts Serbia: none Poland: none Spain: Rayden – Calle de Lloreria Sweden: Robin Bengtsson Romania: WRS – Llamame Ireland: none Australia: Voyager – Dreamer For Slovenia I would’ve picked one of the snippets. But hey, I am unbiased, I am not going to pretend my favorites are the actual… Read more »
Precious little can be said yet since we don’t know most of the songs yet. I’m happy though that my country, the Netherlands, are in the same semi as Bulgaria; I’m pretty sure we won’t finish last then…
San Marino once again gets drawn to the easier semi final (as they always seem to do)
Albania, Armenia, Portugal, Russia and Ukraine should be happy with their draws
San Marino’s presence in a semi is one of the reasons the semi is easier
Indeed! But recently San Marino has made it to the final more often
Not much to say yet. In theory, semi 1 looks stronger. Which means that any country participating on it doesn’t have the option to make a questionable choice. Having that in mind, things are looking even worst to Bulgaria now. The only thing on their side is that with Georgia and Finland on the 2nd semi they still can have the only rock entry of the 1st. I don’t know if they’ll perform on the dreadful spot though, they may benefit if a slower song perceived as weak comes up. Albania can indeed open the show. And I think it… Read more »
The song maybe (and there’s the problem with the vocalist and Spanish justice, so maybe they’ll have to put someone else singing), but I don’t think they’ll change the act, since it seems the guy behind IMP is putting money on it. I imagine there’s some sort of contract too, so the broadcaster couldn’t just drop the band, unless both parts agree on.
the things that stand out to me:
– greece and cyprus are in separate semis
– armenia and azerbaijan are in separate semis
– moldova and romania are in separate semis
– lithuania is in a diff semi from ireland, uk, and estonia so less points
– serbia and montenegro in the same semi so 24 points to serbia are guaranteed
from first looks, semi 2 seems like the weaker one while semi 1 looks like it could shape up to be really competitive
Although I think the draw of Rotterdam 2020 was a much better show, no need to say Italy does a bad job or something like that…
The selected host got Covid two days ago. They had to find another host, quickly. With nearly no time for rehersal. Mario Acampa presents kids show on a small RAI channel. Of course it could have been better, but who cares. It’s a stupid allocation draw.
if ireland sends brooke they will have an even better chance of qualifying with these semis
Well Albania will probably open show (which could be a good thing) and also have Italy, Switzerland and Greece and could score high marks from Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and even Armenia 😉
Do you feel a relief?
no
bulgaria the biggest LOSER. they weren’t going to qualify, but now they’re at risk of coming last without diaspora televotes from spain, the uk and ireland and their only faithful neighbor macedonia being in the other semi. also happy for montenegro getting a potentially favorable slot.
Well hello let’s celebrate that
In my opinion (and judging from recent results and national selections), 1st semi is going to be an absolute bloodbath. I actually think we can have maybe 13-14 songs that will deserve to qualify for their own reasons (from staging to vocals) and some just won’t make it! I think we can already rule out Bulgaria (praying spot number 2 will be used for them and not a better entry like it happened with Slovenia and North Macedonia last year). Countries that will have a lot of trouble are: Moldova, Slovenia and Lithuania (from what I’ve heard, nothing screams “certain… Read more »
Slovenia only has socks the beds out so you might wanna hold off your judgment about whether or not they need to qualify. There are two songs in Lithuania’s selection that might have a viable chance—Sentimentai and call me from the cold—But I agree it’s in a vulnerable position this year.
completely agree abt lithuania these songs are both masterpieces and can easily achieve top 10 in the final imo (also im greek too)
I’d like to see Lithuania reach the top ten or top 5 at Eurovision one day, but I am skeptical that it will be this year. I’ve got to be realistic about its chances. The two songs I listed are very good, the best in the Lithuanian selection, but going up against songs from other countries is another story. I wish Lithuania was drawn in the second half of the semi final so it could get a larger grab of points, but we have to deal with the cards we’ve got. It might have Latvia and Norway in the same… Read more »
these are all true but although its cruel ( pin 2020 and 2022) ruta always competes with songs that scream position 02 and thats really bad but this year she has grown responsible as an artist
I think, for now, semi 1 looks a little bit stronger than semi 2. It has powerhouses like Russia, Ukraine, Norway and in the more recent years Switzerland. On the other hand, semi 2 is not easy — it still has countries like Australia, Azerbaijan, Serbia and Sweden, which normally qualify. That being said, I think it’s a balanced draw, but you never know what is going to happen. In 2018, semi 1 looked really easy, but it tuned out to be one of hardest semis of the contest, while semi 2 had powerhouses like Sweden, Russia, Australia, Serbia but… Read more »
Sweden is more like juries’ pet than a real powerhouse. Juries will vote for Sweden even with a potato standing on stage without song.
Not necessarily. The televote actually ranked Sweden higher than the juries last year and they still didn’t finish very high.
It’s pretty sad that people actually believe this. Sweden didn’t do very well with the juries as late as last year, lol.
In the meantime The Netherlands is also a country to watch. Or a powerhouse, like you said. From 2013 just missed the final once (we don’t talk about the eight years before haha).
Semi Final 1 a bit stronger on paper than SF2. But everything’s open and when your song is good, you will survive every semi.
Jeangu got zero points from the televote, though – he probably wouldn’t have qualified if he had needed to.
With Grow Jeangu would’ve qualified easily, I think, but with Birth Of A New Age probably not. Birth Of A New Age seemed like as if The Netherlands was like: “Last year we tried our best to get into the top 10 as host, but now we want to keep our budget low.”
Edit: I liked both Grow and Birth of A New Age, but my comment was written in a non-biased point of view.
Ronela deserved so much better ugh
She got Greece, Switzerland, and Italy for Albanian diaspora support. I guess it’s 30 surefire points no matter what.
Then it’s up to her to impress juries and the rest of the audience.
I think Ronela is a good enough singer, and Albania has proven that they can stage well without having as big of a budget as some other countries, so Albania is a likely qualifier, unless they mess up the revamp. If the revamp is good, the song is impactful and memorable, so it does not have to rely only on diaspora/neighbor support.
i dont think she was unluck but to me this songs screams semi final 2 idk why guess im just strange
I still don’t understand why Bulgaria hasn’t been disqualified
If you want to know why reply to this comment
I do not want to know why
The lead singer has a criminal record and is wanted by the Spanish police
This is a song contest, not did rock n’ roll musicians live a perfect life contest.
do you even know what you ae talking abt? what abt the rules of the contest? BNT shoould have done the research and im sure as soon as EBU finds out they will do sth ( btw im the person who wrote the comment on the first place)
You should be happy he’ll perform at Eurovision, that way the police will easily find him.
its not that i desperately want him to be arrested its just that BNT did not do the right research and sends a lets-say-criminal to esc
come on then – why?
What has Bulgaria, as a country done, in order to be disqualified?
Oke so Sweden is 99 percent qualifying
Without Norway, Denmark, Russia, Iceland, Netherland, Lithuania or France idk – u never know – maybe next Anna Beegendahl will happen – and she is also Part of National Selection this Year haha
But they still have country who using swedes for finding their entry like : malta, cyprus, estonia, azerbaijan and lots of friends like australia, finland, san marino, belgium, ireland heck voter still choose sweden whatever their entry genre is
Yes true but they have Denmark Finland weak opponents and are second half too
Denmark is in 1 semi 🙂
oh yes my bad
im the same person
It all depends on their song, and songs of other countries. Televote has not supported Sweden recently, so, if other countries in this semi send songs that the jury score higher than Sweden, anything can happen.
Actually last year they scored more Tele points than juries
Some of my thoughts on the draw… Semi 1 Albania – Really good draw (Italy, Greece, Switzerland all voting, as well as Slovenia, Bulgaria, Croatia) Lithuania – It’s without UK and Ireland (a guaranteed 24 points), but still has Latvia and Norway so I’m interested to see how this plays out. Ukraine – I’ve seen comments saying “NQ vibes” from this. I disagree. It has lots of friendly countries voting here (Moldova, Lithuania, Russia (televote), Armenia, Latvia, Bulgaria). Bizarrely, Italy has also historically given Ukraine lots of points. Armenia – I think this is as good as it could get… Read more »
At the end of the day, it all depends on the songs and the performances. Can Portugal even have a good draw?
Ukrainian selection seems okay so far + they always have good staging, don’t think a draw can impact their qualification.
The only 2 we can truly judge is Albania and Bulgaria. Albania has a good chance, but depends on what other countries send. Bulgaria was in danger since they chose their representative.
Portugal still has Switzerland and France, plus FdC appears to be very strong this year.
Ainda Nos Temos is fantastic.
Croatia is again in the tougher semi (given what we know so far about the other particpants), lol.
May they find their own Croatian Tamara to top the toughest semi proudly!
If Croatia chooses a good song at Dora, I don’t think you have to be concerned about qualification!!
I really hope a country like Croatia wins this year! A country that has never won so far. Like Malta, Croatia, Poland, Armenia.
I was really upset a year ago while staying in Zagreb for my vacay seeing Croatia failing to qualify with pretty bold perfomance.
Greece still has Bulgaria, Albania, Norway (where Amanda is known), Russia (dream team) and maybe Armenia to count on. So i don’t think Cyprus not being in the same semi will be a problem.
Oxi aparetita
Fores p imastan hori’s tin kipro skisame (2013 2021)
people chill with the downvotes im just speaking greek to another greek ( im the same person)
I think The Netherlands, Iceland, Denmark are also going to like your entry, knowing what we now know about Amanda Tenfjord. It’s not a very regular Greek entry.
Wait, so there’re only 25 countries in grand final?
Yaaaas
Uk getting their best finish since 2018 then XD
Just found out Amanda from Greece was a classmate of Sigrid. What a coincidence!
Seriously ? Didn’t know that 😀
I do not know why bout whenever soemone sees my comment they immediatly downvote. Like what did i say? (im the same person)
i just pu trandom letters because yes =D
Bulgaria is already performing second
Thats spot is Usually for Montenegro/Albania or Slovenia i guess haha
Funny how Austria and Australia never been before in 1 semi + Finland and Ukraine – well almost in 2019 but we know what happened 🙁
it’s just a running tradition lol
Slovenia and Croatia in the same semi normally means that none of them will qualify :-/ Both countries’ qualification rely heavily on the votes from Serbia, Montenegro or North Macedonia.
Unless their song is good enough on its own.
Monténégro and Slovenia qualified in 2014/15 without Bosnia, Serbia or Croatia …u need to have also a good song – and not songs like from a prom from 1993 (Montenegro 2019) or old fashioned like Roko in 2019
Russia, Azerbaijan, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine and maybe even Cyprus are certain qualifiers! I have big feeling that countries such as Belgium and Armenia won’t make it to the final..
Not unless they have really good songs.
We haven’t even heard the other 38 songs yet
Wiwiblogs/Eurovision please kidnap singers from these countries and make a 3rd semi, you still have time
Semi 3: Andorra,Belarus, Slovakia, Bosnia, Turkey, Hungary, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Kosovo, Vatican and Kazakstan
3-5 qualifers
3rd semifinal on Sunday?
On monday, wednesday or friday
I would add Morocco, another historical participant country.
Vatican? 🙂 LOL What do you wanna hear from Vatican? Singing nuns doing opera? Monks chanting? A group of nuns singing Love is Love?
Honestly, I’m down for it
Basque Country, Catalonia, Galicia, Bretagne, Wales, Scotland, Two Sicilies (aka South Italy)!
Not even independent
That semi would be too weak but seriously kidnap singers ? ??Nice
Uhm , trying to kidnap a Turkish person is not a good idea 😀 Don’t know about the others
agreed
and who is going to fund participaton?
Azerbaijan is revealing something big in two weeks btw! I don’t know what, but it’s supposedly going to be EPIC!
How are you so sure it’s going to be epic?
Let’s hope they announce their withdrawal. We’ve had enough with them breaking every EBU rule and get away with it.
Maybe they are going to invate another country “ “ … would not be shock at all
Looks like some countries such as Armenia are in trouble!
Thoughts on the semifinal draw: Armenia & Azerbaijan in different countries (both countries have now better chances to qualify) Greece & Cyprus in different semis (no automatic 24 points for each other) Countries that typically like to vote for each other in different semis: • Russia and Azerbaijan • Romania and Moldova • Belgium and The Netherlands Looks good for following countries: • Albania (Switzerland and Italy voting in the same semi) • Sweden (Australia & Finland) • Montenegro & Serbia • Latvia & Lithuania • Finland & Estonia • Czech Republic & Poland • Ukraine (Lithuania, Moldova & Armenia)… Read more »
I don’t think Armenia has a chance to qualify, they can’t get anything right!
Except winning Junior Eurovision?
Even there the vocals were off
No she wasn’t.
LMAO. Just curious to know what exactly did they get wrong? They’ve been absent for 2 years and just last month won the JESC.
I will add that for Poland major factor will be votings from UK and Germany
The major factor for Poland will be whether the TVP broadcaster would act chaotic and messy or not.
Haha lol
I would also add that Australia is not getting votes from Serbia this year, as another factor.
Lol
Australia almost never get points from Serbia so really isnt much of a factor, if they do its usually from the judges votes and not the televote.
Greece and Cyprus do not exchange 24 points every year, not even in 2018 with Fuego. Check your facts before you analyze something
Excactly what about 2015 and 2016? They exchanged 8 or 10 pts
We Dutchies only vote for our neighbors when they have good songs. When it comes to voting, we are usually unbiased like Portugal.
Albania was looking good ever since they picked their entry. Let’s hope for a good revamp! Latvia and Lithuania were in the same semi in 2019, both NQd because the songs were not strong enough. If it is Aminata and Monika Liu, they they are exchanging high points – both jury and televote, plus both are good singers and might appeal to the juries (but who knows). Lithuania does not benefit from not having Ireland and UK. Russia benefits from Latvian televote as well, due to diaspora, and I don’t think Russia is going to experiment too much, so qualification… Read more »
Yeah Latvia and Lithuania did not have strong songs in 2019, but I don’t know if they have any stronger songs for 2022. They might support each other, but I don’t know if If they can get support outside of each other if they choose aminata and Monika Liu. Might be a might have a vantage of bringing back a familiar name, but I’m not as fond of her 2022 entry as I was with 2015, and I don’t know how much appeal sentemintai Can draw up if chosen. Well I do have a different favorite for Lithuania, ruta loop,… Read more »
With those crappy demos they’ll be lucky to get any points!
I hope Armenia fails, they’ll cheat and beat anyone these days!
can u give us and example of cheating from armenia? Bc to mee it seems ur saying nonsense
Chains on you
how the hell was chains on you cheating?
It was just an example! I did not say – the song was cheating or something else lol
I bet you’re Azeri, Idk why I feel it
I think you meant Azerbaijan but ok…
Azeri fans stop being annoying challenge (IMPOSSIBLE)
Definitely a lot of traditional blocs torn apart; also Italy voting in the first semi is quite interesting considering many countries they usually vote for are in the second one (Malta, San Marino and Romania)
Italy doesn’t really vote for Malta all that often. More the other way around.
Well obviously semi 2 looks much weaker looking at some national finals songs and history, but maybe we’ll get some surprises.
Finland Sweden???
Not them lol.
You have Ireland, Romania, Malta, Estonia(no offense)
Montenegro does not have the greatest history in ESC either. Czech song is very middle of the road and might end up just below TOP10 in every country’s voting charts, resulting in very poor televote score. Will have to wait and see!