National final season is kicking into full swing and the end of January boasts a significant date in the Eurovision calendar. The semi-final allocation draw is due to take place at 20:00 CET on January 31. All 37 countries will be involved, with the 31 semi-finalists finding out when they will perform. Meanwhile, the 6 automatic qualifiers will find out which semi-final they will vote in.
Eurovision 2023 Allocation Draw: What is it?
The semi-final allocation draw determines which semi-final countries will compete in. It also decides which semi-finals the automatic qualifiers will vote in.
The “Big 5” — France, Germany, Italy, Spain and hosts United Kingdom — receive an automatic pass to the final on May 13. They will also be joined by last year’s winners Ukraine.
As for the other 31 participating countries, they must battle their way through one of two semi-finals to book a spot in the final. The allocation draw determines which semi-final they will compete in, as well as which half of that semi-final they will perform in. The exact running order will be determined at a later stage.
As we found out earlier in January, Rylan and AJ Odudu will host the draw. As part of the event, the mayor of 2022 host city Turin will hand over the keys to the mayor of Liverpool, the 2023 host city.
Ahead of the draw, the 31 semi-finalists have been assigned their respective pots. Each pot contains six countries, half of which will be allocated to the first semi-final and half of which will be allocated to the second. The only exception is Pot 2, which contains seven countries. These pots are determined based on similarities in voting patterns in previous contests.
Eurovision 2023 Semi-final allocation draw pots
Pot 1
- Albania
- Austria
- Croatia
- Serbia
- Slovenia
- Switzerland
Pot 2
- Australia
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- Iceland
- Norway
- Sweden
Pot 3
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- Georgia
- Israel
- Latvia
- Lithuania
Pot 4
- Cyprus
- Greece
- Ireland
- Malta
- Portugal
- San Marino
Pot 5
- Belgium
- Czech Republic
- Moldova
- Netherlands
- Poland
- Romania
Guys, the Austrian act has just been announced. It is a female duo named TEYA and SALENA. Their song will be released on March 8.
Hopefully they can sing ; )
shade
I wrestled with deciding whether I should post my statistics today with the 2022 data or wait tomorrow and present them with the 2023 data, so I’ve made a decision. I’m only going to present here the updated information about the three countries who are NOT participating this year. As a reminder to what I wrote last year: Country: #/# (Semi final 1 years)/(Semi final 2 years) Bulgaria: 3/8 (2009, 2018, 2022)/(2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2021) Montenegro: 8/3 (2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019)/(2015, 2018, 2022) North Macedonia: 5/9 (2009, 2010, 2015, 2018, 2021)/(2008, 2011,… Read more »
Man I love Eurovision statistics.
And you will get more tomorrow after the draw has been settled.
PLEASE bring back the full draw, no pots, no allocation draw, no Sweden-biased producers, just pure and innocent draw!!!
No.
That is never going to happen, and you know it.
Austria will announce their artist tomorrow. I don’t know if a song will be included but it’s nothing to look forward to, along with benidorm fest semifinal one and the semifinal allocation.
Something, It should say something to look forward to. I hate these type of stupid errors.
Why do I feel like there are some people who downvote certain people just for existing? Like you had negative two now for no reason lol.
Well, I think it was because of my accidental use of the word nothing which made it look like I was being mean to Austria, even though it was just a mistake. I wish the ability to edit after posting could be restored.
But yeah, I do see a lot of my comments getting down voted even though I don’t think I’ve said anything that’s offensive. I try not to rub people the wrong way.
I love all of your comments and I don’t think people should be allowed to downvote – without adding an explanatory comment. I never downvote anyway; it’s bad karma.
I love how you say that and then you get downvoted lmao! Lemme fix that real quick.
You’re one of the few people here I feel like I can have some actual convos with.
Thank you. I try to be civil wherever I am.
Three days ago a stranger shouted and swore at me in real life, for simply existing. Seriously.
Sorry to hear that, Purple. What did they say, how did that come about?
Sorry to hear that :\
Humans do be like that sometimes. That’s why doggies are better : )
Even tho sometimes dogs yell at me on the street for simply existing..
My hoping it will be Sara de Blue but knowing full well it won’t be lmao
Me*** stupid uneditable wiwi comments
They can really get you. I try to make sure my comments are written well and fix any mistakes before posting, but sometimes I overlook things in the moment.
Same.
BTW Greece are announcing their artist today. So there is that.
Greece is sending a guy called Victor Vernicos.
Already? When was the last time Greece sent a guy? Is his song out?
OK now somebody is messing with us because all these comments in this thread have gotten one down vote.
Song not out but it will be in English it seems as the title is out. Kid’s 16. I’m guessing it will be a March release.
Thank you for the best typo of the year so far! 😀
(My sympathies to the Austrian delegation, obviously.)
I’m glad you got something out of it.
Were the pots decided by televoting only? That would make more sense, as this will be the first year with no jury voting for the semi-finals.
I would certainly hope so.
That would explain it, but then, wouldn’t Ireland be placed in the same pot as Latvia and Lithuania, because they frequently vote for those countries in the televote?
And Norway and UK
Yes, Norway and the UK usually vote for Lithuania, but Norway is always grouped in the Nordic pot and the United Kingdom is a big five member that is usually assigned to vote in a particular semifinal.
I’ve drummed up some titles to describe the pots: Pot 1: An Alpine couple takes a tour along the Ex-Yugoslav Balkan Countries Pot 2: An Australian takes a tour across the Nordic countries and takes a side trip to Estonia Pot 3: An Israeli takes a tour along the Caucasus and Baltic countries Pot 4: An Irishman takes a tour across the Mediterranean countries. Pot 5: Sibling nation duos (yes it breaks the title convention, but that’s how I see it) Jokes aside, I admit I think Ireland and Israel should switch places because wouldn’t it make more sense for… Read more »
And Portugal is the most Mediterranean of them all! ;D
Funny enough, Portugal is technically not a Mediterranean country in that it does not have a coast on the Mediterranean sea.
Maybe it’s Mediterranean in spirit?
“…across the Nordic countries and takes a side trip to Estonia”
Did you intentionally poke the Estonians for acting like Vikings? 😀
Well, estonia is like that outsider kid who wants to join in with the popular Nordic boys at the expense of his close friends at the Baltic table.
You monster! 😀 But if Estonians have a life goal to be called Nordics, I’m totally fine with that as long as that’s all it takes. I mean, I used to get annoyed when people called me an Eastern European, but now that I think about it, East or West doesn’t really matter because it’s not your country’s geographical location that defines you as a person. If we call Denmark a northern European country, the Baltics should be as well, because Lithuania is almost at the same latitude as Denmark, only 1 hour by flight to the east. And because… Read more »
Scandinavia is usually Denmark, Norway, and Sweden grouped together.
Hoping that at least we will be drawn into the same SF as Portugal and also that we’ll avoid Gustaph and Moldova, which obviously receives a default 12 from our vote no matter what they send anyway.
Are you Romanian? Your sentence about Moldova giving your country 12 points always was a bit of a giveaway.
Yeah, and since 2018 the first SF has somehow always ended up being the more interesting one for me but we almost always get drawn into the 2nd one instead, 2021 being the only exception. I wasn’t even able to vote for Conan Osiris!
I need to revisit my semifinal allocation, statistics, but I don’t think Romania and Moldova have been sorted into the same semi final since 2019. I wonder if I should present my statistics with the 2022 additions before or after the allocation is done so I can add 2023.
Nice to broadcast this on tv, shows how much value the whole contest has in UK.
Well, they are hosting it, so they want to give it as much attention and effort as possible.
EastEnders and Emmerdale Farm are on at 19:30 probably wanting to avoid a clash
Fun fact: SF qualification statistics based on halves: The first number represents how many acts advanced from the first half and the second number the second half. 2012: Both semis had 4\6 2013: Both semis had exactly 5 of each half advance (If you count 9 in SF2 that had 17 acts as first half). 2014: Both semis had 5/5 if you count 8 as a first half act as these semis had 15 acts and number 8 qualified in both. 2015: Both semis had 4/6 2016 onwards are more relevant as the voting system was changed: 2016: Both semis… Read more »
Wait I’m gonna go check how the televote voted. That would be a more relevant list for this year. I’ll do 2016 onwards.
Televote Statistic:
2016: SF1 had 5/5 while SF2 had 6/4
2017: SF1 had 5/5 while SF2 had 3\7
2018: SF1 had 4/6\ while SF2 had 5\5
2019: SF1 had 5/5while SF2 had 2/8 (Note as well that this was a major death semi)
2021: Both semis had 5/5
2022: SF1 had 5/5\ while SF2 had 4/6
Oh, I see you already did this before I posted my comment
You left off 2022.
semi final 1: 5/5
semi final 2: 4/6
Yes sorry this I copy and pasted the list I made last year thanks : )
So what this statistic reveal is that the allocation draw might affect the result in some way, but it all comes down to a song. I looked into how the qualifiers would change if there was only televote in the semis and here are the changes: 2022: SF1 – 5/5, SF2 – 4/6 (did not see your stats on 2022, but no changes when comparing full results to only televote results) 2021: no changes 2019: semi final 2 would have only 2 qualifiers from first half 2018: semi final 2 would have 5/5 split instead of 6/4 2017: semi final… Read more »
Oh yes I only saw your comment now. Yeah generally the semi’s are split 5 in one semi and 5 in the other or 6 in one and 4 in the other.
Yes, except for that deadly semi final 2 in 2019
Yup
That was really lopsided. The second half really dominated the qualifiers.
Number 2 Death Slot statistics for the televotes from 2016 onwards: 2016: In SF1 Greece was 14th/18 with 22p while in SF2 Poland was 4th/18th with 131p 2017: In SF1 Georgia was 13th/18 with 37p while in SF2 Austria was 14th/18th with 32p 2018: In SF1 Iceland was 19th/19 with 0p while Romania was 13th/18 with 40p 2019: In SF1 Montenegro was 16th/17 with in SF2 with 15p while in SF2 Ireland was 17th/18 with 3p 2021: In SF1 Slovenia was 14th/16 with 8p while in SF2 Estonia was 13th/17 with 29p 2022: In SF1 Latvia was 15th/17 with 16p… Read more »
Yeah, it really shows how much of a death spot slot two really is. Only once did somebody qualify from slot 2 with televote. Obviously we have no juries in the semis this year, but I wonder if the qualifying rate is any better when you look at where this death slot entries were ranked between them.
Most of those songs would have not done much better in any other spot either – maybe just few extra points, that would not make them qualify. The only one of these that might have gotten significantly more points is Latvia 2022 (maybe), but only if it was not in the same semi final as Norway and Moldova. I feel like Norway, Moldova and Latvia all had the same target audience, but Latvia was just less impactful, so people opted to vote for Norway and Moldova. So I would rather say that the score was more impacted by who else… Read more »
I might have to look into a deeper, but I think Austria may be the only country to qualify from performing second with the jury vote.
The EBU typically put entries at slot 2 that they feel won’t Q anyways I feel. But thing is it did not feel like they did it with Latvia and Israel last year but neither qualified anyways.
Yeah, I did feel like they were trying to shake up things by placing up-tempo songs in slot 2 to avoid the cliché of placing dead water ballads there, but it didn’t work for those countries. It also didn’t help that they didn’t have the best songs either, and even if they were placed later, I don’t think they would’ve qualified anyway.
Since Latvia only got 16 televote points I do agree they would not have Q’ed anyways. Shame. My bronze medal in 2022.
So Sweden won’t be in Slot 2 then
Actually, Sweden was placed in slot 2 in the second semi final at the 2008 contest and it would have failed to qualify had it not been for the jury wildcard.
I’m curious if semifinal 1 will be a death semi. We’ve had a death semi every year since 2018 and it switches spots every year:
-2018 Semi 1
-2019 Semi 2
-2021 Semi 1
-2022 Semi 2
-2023 Semi 1? I guess we will see. We won’t be able to tell based on the countries alone tho.
I think its absolutely mad how my country (Ireland) has been in all of the death semis lmaooo. Let’s hope we have a bit better luck this year (obviously won’t know that till more songs are selected).
Yeah LMAFO. My country Israel has been in 3/4 of them lol.
And your country actually won a semifinal of death and the contest overall.
I know. That feels really amazing!
Well, Ireland actually survived the 2018 semifinal of death, but I don’t know if that’s any comfort to you.
Its more so just an observation, at the end of the day its about the quality of the entry which most of our entries weren’t quality.
To be honest, I do not think being in the death semi ruined Ireland’s chances to qualify, in most cases.
Oh agree 100%, its more so just funny to see how we ended up in them every year. Nah most years we didnt deserve to qualify (excluding 2022 , that imo deserved to qualify)
Agree re 2022…..but not 2018
Oh no, it just made them more last than they would have been if they were in the other semi
I wonder how many countries have been in all four semi finals of death. Now the idea won’t leave my head and I must do research.
PLEASE SHARE when you find out! I MUST KNOW!
So Ireland is the only country that was in all 4 death semis. I noticed both Israel and Lithuania were in 3/4 of them.
Actually, there are three countries that have been in all four semi finals of death–Azerbaijan, Ireland and North Macedonia.
You might already know your fate on Friday night though depending on what is picked. I will be “voting tactically” as I think my favourite track would most likely not get out of Semi sadly.
Are you Irish yourself and what do you plan to vote for?
True and I have been weighing up what countries we’d want in our semi depending on the song we select. For instance, if we picked ADGY, we’d probably want to avoid Cyprus, if we picked Connolly, we’d want to maybe avoid Norway (song dependant), and Estonia (If Alika is picked). I think for me too, I just always want to avoid Sweden seeing as they rarely ever don’t qualify, it nearly makes the qualifiers go down to 9 automatically if they’re in a semi.
Having no juries means that the slot each entry gets will mean more than ever before. Whoever is put at the 2nd death slot is SCREWED.
Pretty much, I’m actually curious and I might look up where each 2nd in the running order placed for televoters, to see if televoters don’t respond to it.
I’ll check that and post it : )
Number 2 Death Slot statistics for the televotes from 2016 onwards: 2016: In SF1 Greece was 14th/18 with 22p while in SF2 Poland was 4th/18th with 131p 2017: In SF1 Georgia was 13th/18 with 37p while in SF2 Austria was 14th/18th with 32p 2018: In SF1 Iceland was 19th/19 with 0p while Romania was 13th/18 with 40p 2019: In SF1 Montenegro was 16th/17 with in SF2 with 15p while in SF2 Ireland was 17th/18 with 3p 2021: In SF1 Slovenia was 14th/16 with 8p while in SF2 Estonia was 13th/17 with 29p 2022: In SF1 Latvia was 15th/17 with 16p… Read more »
Poland 2016 was 02 in running order and was saved by the televote. All comes down to the song.
If something is strong enough it will Q from anywhere next to anyone BUT the slot is still important cus if a certain song is a middler, getting a bad slot might result in their elimination.
We know its about the song, its still an interesting observation. Also as people have suspected, maybe the producers put songs in 2nd place that they think, maybe they wouldn’t qualify anyway, like as in purposefully put weaker/expected nqs in the 2nd slot.
Poland 2016 was a bit of an outlier
Czech Republic should withdraw… the political nonsense they have in their national final is not ok..
What do you mean? (I have not heard any of the Czech entries BTW)
One thing I am looking forward to is updating my semifinal allocation statistics. It would be interesting to see which countries switch over and which ones stay in the same semi’s from last year. It would also be interesting to see which countries continue being allocated in one particular semifinal, and which ones Switch over for the first time in a long time like last year.
To save you a bit of time – Serbia will be performing in the first half of the second semifinal, as always.
I admit I don’t always pay attention to which half each country gets sorted in more frequently because I don’t know how the semi finals were each split before 2019, unless it’s an even number that you can easily divide in half. When there is an odd number of songs in a semifinal, is the first half a slightly larger number than the second half?
We all know that being in the second half of the semi-finals is a HUGE advantage. Let’s see what happens!
Actually a question I did have (didnt see it in the article so apologies if I missed it). Which semi is getting the extra country or is that known yet?
Pot 2 has seven countries in it. I counted the other four parts of six each.
Semi 1 typically gets the extra country no?
Sometimes it’s semi final 2 who gets an extra country. I wonder how this will be broken up. With 31 countries to sort, one semi will be 16 countries and the other will contain 15, just like 2014, but I don’t know which semi they will be.
It’s sometimes good to stir the pots. 🙂
Looking forward to tomorrow, and to Czechia’s programme tonight as well.
Interesting pot for Ireland there, usually in with Lithuania, Latvia and Poland
Yeah, I would’ve thought Ireland and Israel would’ve been in each other’s pots, Israel, with the other Mediterranean countries, because it also borders the Mediterranean Sea, and Ireland because it frequently votes for Latvia and Lithuania in the televote. We’ve got some countries that stick out like a sore thumb in the pots.
I thought Israel would be in the same pot as Cyprus and Greece TBH and it’s odd seeing Latvia & Lithuania separated from Estonia. I do know Estonia love Finland tho.
Also on a side note:
Whilst it’ll be interesting to see what the logo and slogan will be for this years contest (I think I saw someone a few weeks back post a potential one on a yt community post so interested to see if it is that one), I’m low key looking forward to seeing the key being handed over. I think theres been some nice designs, epseically in more recent years, its a nice thing to look forward to.
I see Estonia has moved back to Scandanavia.
I think a lot of Estonians aspire to see themselves as Nordic. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Always interesting to see the pots for the draw. If I was to speculate which one contains the potential winner I’d go pot 2 or , bit of a curveball but pot 5. Czech Republic are looking very promising this year and could be in contention with not only getting their best result yet (loved 2018) but be a serious contender in general to do well.
Maybe the winner is in none of them
Or maybe we should wait until all or most of the songs are out.
I always like to guess which pot contains the eventual winner for the upcoming contest (Big-5 & Ukraine as a secret pot 6), and this year’s guess will be going to pot number two (2)!
I have high hopes also for the Big-5 countries as well, so second guess would be “secret pot” so number six (6) which would contain all the automatic qualifiers.
Will there not be an article around Czech Republic selection? Wiwi is sleeping on it as always. They’re 5th now with bookmakers thanks to Vesna’s song. Well done Czech Republic!
Yesssss!! ??????
All 5 songs are out now! First time I heard My Sister’s Crown I had the SAME feeling as when I’d heard Netta’s Toy for the first time – winner winner chicken dinner!
I also like Rodan a lot but there’s no other choice than Vesna.
I’m sure theyll post about it soon.
I listened to the Czech Republic’s songs. The quality is definitely there, but Vesna really stands out. I could see it be in my top 3 by the end of the ESC season.
Today’s the presentation of the songs and then one entire week for voting. There’s plenty of time for Wiwi write an article on them and perhaps run a poll about which song people like the most/voted for. btw. the jump in the odds is insane – from the 30th all the way to the 5th. I like Vesna’s song too, but at the same time – isn’t it too much like last years winner?
The Czech songs are not officially confirmed, maybe that is why there is no article on wiwibloggs yet
I think it will get written up after the selection is done airing.