Eurovision 2024 is getting very real. Tonight — on Tuesday 30 January — the Semi-Final Allocation Draw will take place live from host city Malmö. The broadcast begins at 19:00 CET.
The allocation draw will be livestreamed on both the official Eurovision YouTube channel and SVT Play. British viewers will be able to re-watch it from midnight local time on the BBC iPlayer. We’ve embedded the YouTube livestream below.
All 37 countries will be involved, with the 31 semi-finalists finding out when they will perform — in Semi-Final 1 or Semi-Final 2. They will also be drawn into the first half or second half of their respective semi. Producers will determine the exact running order at a later stage when they know the songs and have some sense of the staging plans. This allows them to create the most interesting running order possible for viewers.
The remaining six countries (hosts Sweden + the Big 5 France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) will find out which semi-final they vote in.
The broadcast will also include a pre-recorded segment that explains the importance of the semi-finals for first-time or casual viewers who may not be across it.
Eurovision 2024: Semi-Final Allocation Draw
Semi-Final 1
First half
🇭🇷 Croatia
🇨🇾 Cyprus
🇮🇪 Ireland
🇱🇹 Lithuania
🇵🇱 Poland
🇷🇸 Serbia
🇺🇦 Ukraine
Second half
🇦🇺 Australia
🇦🇿 Azerbaijan
🇫🇮 Finland
🇮🇸 Iceland
🇱🇺 Luxembourg
🇲🇩 Moldova
🇵🇹 Portugal
🇸🇮 Slovenia
Also voting in this semi-final…
🇸🇪 Sweden
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
🇩🇪 Germany
Semi-Final 2
First half
🇦🇱 Albania
🇦🇲 Armenia
🇦🇹 Austria
🇨🇿 Czechia
🇩🇰 Denmark
🇬🇷 Greece
🇲🇹 Malta
🇨🇭 Switzerland
Second half
🇧🇪 Belgium
🇪🇪 Estonia
🇬🇪 Georgia
🇮🇱 Israel
🇱🇻 Latvia
🇳🇱 Netherlands
🇳🇴 Norway
🇸🇲 San Marino
Also voting in this semi-final…
🇪🇸 Spain
🇮🇹 Italy
🇫🇷 France
List of participating broadcasters
- 🇦🇱 Albania – RTSH
- 🇦🇲 Armenia – AMPTV
- 🇦🇺 Australia – SBS (*EBU Associate)
- 🇦🇹 Austria – ORF
- 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan – İctimai
- 🇧🇪 Belgium – RTBF
- 🇭🇷 Croatia – HRT
- 🇨🇾 Cyprus – CyBC
- 🇨🇿 Czechia – ČT
- 🇩🇰 Denmark – DR
- 🇪🇪 Estonia – ERR
- 🇫🇮 Finland – YLE
- 🇫🇷 France – FT
- 🇬🇪 Georgia – GPB
- 🇩🇪 Germany – ARD/NDR
- 🇬🇷 Greece – ERT
- 🇮🇸 Iceland – RÚV
- 🇮🇪 Ireland – RTÉ
- 🇮🇱 Israel – Kan
- 🇮🇹 Italy – RAI
- 🇱🇻 Latvia – LTV
- 🇱🇹 Lithuania – LRT
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg – RTL
- 🇲🇹 Malta – PBS
- 🇲🇩 Moldova – TRM
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands – AVROTROS
- 🇳🇴 Norway – NRK
- 🇵🇱 Poland – TVP
- 🇵🇹 Portugal – RTP
- 🇸🇲 San Marino – SMRTV
- 🇷🇸 Serbia – RTS
- 🇸🇮 Slovenia – RTVSLO
- 🇪🇸 Spain – RTVE
- 🇸🇪 Sweden – SVT
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland – SRG SSR
- 🇺🇦 Ukraine – Suspilne
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom – BBC
Eurovision 2023 Semi-final allocation draw pots
Ahead of the draw, the 31 semi-finalists were assigned to 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 3, which contains seven countries. These pots are determined based on similarities in voting patterns in previous contests.
Pot 1
- Albania
- Austria
- Croatia
- Serbia
- Slovenia
- Switzerland
Pot 2
- Australia
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- Iceland
- Norway
Pot 3
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- Georgia
- Israel
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Ukraine
Pot 4
- Cyprus
- Greece
- Ireland
- Malta
- Portugal
- San Marino
Pot 5
- Belgium
- Czechia
- Luxembourg
- Moldova
- Netherlands
- Poland
Who will host the semi-final allocation draw?
Pernilla Månsson Colt and Farah Abadi will host the draw. As part of the event, the mayor of 2023 host city Liverpool will hand over the keys to the mayor of Malmö.
In a press release from SVT today, Pernilla Månsson Colt said:
“It will be so much fun fun to kick off Sweden’s Eurovision-year from Malmö. The draw is more important than one would think for the competition later on. We hope that it will be both exciting and fun to watch the program.”
Farah Abadi said:
“This is the start for Eurovision and it is extra fun to be able to do the program together with Pernilla, but also that it is in our hometown Malmö.”
Finland and Ukraine in the same semi final for the first time ever.
You mean since there are two? Because they were in 2004 and 2006.
For those saying Portugal is sure NQ:
Portugal 2023
Mimicat – Ai Coração
Semi final 1 – 9th with 74 points( 12 points from France and 12 point from switzerland)
Even if had 0 points from these two countries would had 50 points!!!!
Final result would be: 9th still with 50 points
The 10th place(servia) had 37 points…
If we would share those points(12+12) with the 10th and 11th it would result in:
Portugal 9th: 50 points
Sérvia 10th: 49 points
Latvia(34 points 11th): 46 points
!!
Mimicat was way better and more comercial than any of this years portugese nf song, so you can’t expect easy qualification this time and from the stronger semi. Portugal basically reserved one of the 5 nq tickets with this years bland and bad songs.
Let’s see!
Maro here was also a snoozefest…Mimicat was a Cabaret wannabe…
Let’s see… ?
It’s way to early to say that, we need all the songs first
I mean too early?
Sure it is!! That’s what I’m saying…
Saying sure NQ it’s ridiculous
Ireland always ends up in the bloodbath semi…like every year.
So much for luck of the Irish.
Nobody said it was ‘good luck’… Just ‘the luck’s.. hehe. Have a good day 🙂
I would have been so happy if RTE had made an internal selection this year and chosen Rose Betts. Her song Irish Eyes feels like a Eurovision entry that never was.
You can’t tell yet, we don’t have all the songs yet, last year Ireland’s song wasn’t good enough,
Ladies and Gentlemen, here are the updated statistics for country semi final allocation with the 2024 data. Luxembourg is included and Ukraine’s statistics have returned, but I removed Romania due to it abstaining from Eurovision 2024 and Sweden is not included either because it’s the host. Full numbers are below but first: Of the thirty returning countries competing in the semi finals (excluding Luxembourg), 16 of them are in the same semi final as last year and their streaks of being assigned to the same final in the past: Semi final 1: Croatia (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) Ireland (2023, 2024)… Read more »
This must be the most useless and unnecessary information and
statistics ever! You spend so much time for all of this, omg! It would be better if you read some book, worked out, went out with some friends or whatever…
You sound like that Sky News presenter who hated on Blue Scuti for beating Tetris.
Voila, there we have it.
i doubt they will put ireland to open
i am more worried that ireland will be put into second running order
A song like isn’t likely to perform early, see Mama S? last year, songs that are a bit outside the general taste are left for later to have buildup to them
We All Know This Its Rigged . EBU Cut Youre Corupcion And Crap ! Cancel Eurowision 2024
???
Don’t bother. There’s nothing you could do to help Bejba.
I see everyone says semi 1 is stronger and it makes me sad, because I have tickets for semi 2 and not for semi 1.
Don’t be sad at all. You’ll have an amazing time 🙂
Thank you!
based on nothing…
also semi 2 has +1 country, so it might be stronger
Your favorite songs could still end up in semi 2. And it’s gonna be an amazing experience nonetheless !
semi 1 is stronger obviously, with Bambie Thug, Baby Lasagna, Raiven, Justyna, Aisel
semi 2 has King Mustii don’t be sad, 80s synth darkpop vibe joyfulness, his vocals remind me of talk talk, now i know it and our Joost Klein! and Gate
These are the rest of the last semi-finals. First, it says the qualification rate within the past 5 years when the ESC happened (some countries participated only 4 times). The ranking has been made based on these last results. As you can see from the past 5 years of results, it can hint at why some people expect SF1 to be the bloodbath, as more countries within this semi-final have had better qualification rates in recent times. The second part of the data shows the historical qualification rate since 2008, when the second semi-final was introduced. As you can see,… Read more »
Fascinating statistics. I’ll publish my set of statistics relating to country semi final allocation later.
So, there is a semifinal with 14 countries, while the other has 16… Why?!?!
There are 15 in semi final 1, but Luxembourg is left off because this is their first appearance in 31 years.
So are you saying Luxembourg gets a free pass into the final as a welcome back gesture?
How one can count the qualification rate when the last time Luxembourg took part in the contest was before the qualification thing got introduced? If anything, Luxembourg will start to appear on the datasheets for the ESC 2025 qualifications.
How the hell did you come to that conclusion? Like Devito said below, how can we count Luxembourg’s qualification rate when it had never even been in a semi final before 2024? It’s a complete blank slate right now.
I do not think that we see Israel in Semi 2. I guess the international pressure will increase and Israel will withdraw in 2024.
Whatever song Serbia sends we will for sure be in the finals. We have Croatia, Slovenia, Germany, Sweden and Australia to back us up.
Isn’t that basically a given every year, like it usually is for Sweden, Russia, Greece, Norway and Ukraine?
Yes but Serbia has been serving it honestly and even with split jury/televote semis they managed to qualify almost every year. Greece didnt qualify 2y ago. Ukraine, Norway, Russia, Sweden are all Eurovision powerhouses. They send their best and that’s why the result is showing
Nothing to be proud of, I guess
There’s an awful lot of rubbish posted below, semi of death, bloodbath, countries NQ etc. There are only seven songs known so far, it’s way to early to be jumping to conclusions.
Albania got lucky again – all their diaspora countries in the same semi final: Switzerland, Italy, Belgium+they definitely benefit from rest of the world vote. As I’ve said before: with 100% televote system, countries with huge diaspora will never fail, regardless of how bad their song is.
That’s a very unfair thing!
Imo, juries have to come back. They have given some quality entries.
They have also Greece! Cyprus is not in the same semi, so i assume that 10-12 points from Greece will go to Albania.
Semi 1 is a BLOODBATH
Long live to those countries! All together ??????
Jugoslavijo na noge,
Pjevaj nek’ te cuju,
Ko ne slusa pjesmu,
Slusace oluju
I’m making a prediction – Israel won’t travel to Malmö and will perform live-on-tape.
Did you see how nervous and flustered Mr Österdahl was when talking about Israel? And this was in a room full of accredited people and special guests, i.e., “friendly faces.” It won’t be like in May and he won’t be able to control it. So, I predict there will be announcement that for “security reasons” Israel will perform live-on-tape.
Israel would withdraw rather than be subjugated like that, I think.
Perhaps, but it would be more dignified way of handing the situation with no one having to withdraw.
They were offered a pre-recorded performance in 1980 but turned that down, so there is form.
Russia were offered the same in 2017, but no. Pride gets in the way.
I think in this case pride is right. Live-on-tape is nothing, absolutely nothing like a proper Eurovision performance on a proper Eurovision stage. No self-respecting country would agree to that post-pandemic.
I do agree, maybe “integrity” is a better word for it. Who wants to be treated as a second class citizen?
If it was Israel’s own idea is the only way I could see it happening.
Subjucated ???? Izrael Is The Agresor
Have you, by chance, ever heard about Arab settler colonialism?
I don’t think Israel would ever give in to that.
Pretty happy with the way this turned out…apart from Croatia and Ireland’s placings. I think it would have been more benefitial for Ireland to have been drawn in the second half or at the end of it. Very interesting and diverse lineup though a lot of potential bops in the second semi.
Interesting what they did with Israel!
There is nothing to read into with “what they did” with Israel. It’s happened before, nothing new. Israel even dropped out completely in 1980 because the contest was on Yom HaZikaron.
Yeah, and Israel also didn’t participate in the 1984 or 1997 contests due to the Eurovision dates clashing with Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaShoah respectively. It’s not a new thing.
Why would they participate in this one then?
Only the semi final is on the night of the remembrance, not the final. Which is why they asked which one to be in.
I thought it was odd that they left it this late to announce it and then when they did, they put it first like Israel was the most important country.
They only announced it first so that the draw would make sense to viewers. If they hadn’t, everyone would be asking “where’s Israel?”… that’s all.
also can you imagine if the EBU were brave enough to open the contest with Ireland HELP
I want them to close it!
Didn’t they said something like “put the friendly song first”?
Me being able to vote for King Mustii yasssss thank you ebu
Of all the songs in semi 2 i guess Norway has the best chance of qualifying….but I do notice that we don’t have Sweden, Germany Iceland or Finland to vote for us this year…we are not in a semifinal with the obvious friends of Norway this year – i never put my trust in Denmark or Estonia when it comes to friendly voting in Eurovision so they really manager to break this pot even with the least amount of support for each other – Norway/Sweden, Iceland/Denmark and Finland/Estonia all seperated. They also managed to separate Greece/Cyprus again as well…Lucky this… Read more »
Well, you’re sending Gåte according to the odds and that means you will get to the final anyway.
Also Estonia not being in the same semi as Finland is going to hinder them, especially if Finland sends Vox Populi!
first semi prediction:
Q: Ukraine, Finland, Lithuania, Serbia, Slovenia, Portugal, Australia, Iceland
borderline: Ireland, Poland, Cyprus
NQ: Moldova, Croatia, Azerbaijan, Luxembourg
second semi prediction:
Q: Armenia, Greece, Belgium, the Netherlands, Latvia, Estonia, Switzerland, Norway
borderline: Czechia, Denmark, San Marino, Israel
NQ: Albania, Malta, Austria, Georgia
I can’t see Croatia NQ, they will have support from Slovenia and Serbia. It would be much more difficult for Portugal without France and Spain, or Cyprus without Greece.
Albania can go to the final, much easily than each one of your “borderline” countries
Cyprus has proved that doesn’t need Greece…!
Why are you so sure that Iceland from semi 1 and Belgium from semi 2 will be Q???
Once again we have the allocation draw done and everyone is speculating who will or who won’t qualify. Get a grip
I think it does make sense when later songs will be more memorable or whether or not certain countries will vote for another country based on the type of song.
For example, Vox Populi from Finland’s UMK if it goes to Eurovision would directly apeal to Estonians.
Yom HaZikarom is on May 12-13 this year, the week AFTER the final. What Memorial Day was Demi-God Martin referring to?
It’s Yom HaShoah that will held during Eurovision week, not Yom HaZikarom. There’s more than one memorial day in Israel.
Oh right, sorry, I got them mixed up. “Shoah” obviously referring to the Holocaus t. Yom HaZikaron is for remembering fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism.
also Cyprus is not qualifying I’m afraid… 1st Half and also Luxembourg which from the Cyprus snippet, Luxembourg has better song and also countries will also vote the fresh new country like Australia 2015 (no hate on Australia)
I’m just saying we not getting both
From what I heard the song was promising…if but a reuse of last year’s scrapped song.
Why isnt Farah hosting the ESC?? Someone make it happen!
Do we know she’s not?
I don’t know many that has hosted both the draw and the final. So I think we can count it out
But it’s not unlikely. I would love it
I think Pernilla was even better tonight.
Lol, Portugal is a guaranteed NQ in that semi no matter what they send. Might as well start prepping for next year. At least I no longer have to care about FdC this year
this coming from a Portuguese, you are not deserving of the FdC we have. I wish many countries had the same national final team we have, that actually care about local artists and what they authentically do, instead of shoving them into pre packed noodle boxes only for eurovision audiences to gobble them quickly. Haven’t we learned to not make predictions like these? I know it’s fun and entertaining but your comment is just weak.
Coming from a portuguese, I’m just a realist. In a televote only semi the only thing that matters are the friends you have thag can vote for you. We have essentially none this year, while our semi is stacked. It’s called facing the facts, you could try and do so
Well, you have Luxembourg 🙂
If you like facts so much i will give you actual facts:
Now take these facts, face them, and enjoy eurovision for what it really is, a big party. You give up too quickly, don’t be so dramatic queen!
Soooooo funny fact!!
Portugal 2023
Mimicat – Ai Coração
Semi final 1 – 9th with 74 points( 12 points from France and 12 point from switzerland)
Fact: even if had 0 points from these two countries would had 50 points!!!!
Final result would be: 9th still with 50 points
The 10th place(servia) had 37 points…
Só Let’s sink in this funny fact!!
Portugal you’re alone this year, Spain and France can’t help you 🙁
They got Luxembourg, which has a huge Portuguese population.
I hope it will help at least.
One country doesn’t make a difference in a semi like that. We’re doa
It does actually, Serbia would not have made it without the 12 from Croatia last year
It can’t be that huge, luxemburg is a very small country.
I just realized all the ex-,Yugoslav countries that are competing this year are in the same semi so they can all give each other boost.
And dont forget, theres germany and sweden voting ! You have no idea how big the former jugoslavian diaspora is there. Thousends flew during the balkan war to germany and sweden. Its the same with australia and the UK as well. The slavic countries like Ukraine and poland will most likely vote for them, as always, also. Its looking really good for theM
Also people how counting out ireland already
1. We literally have nó staging
2. Somehow it’s 18th in the odds (kind gooped) honestly
3. Other countries might not choise the communties favorite
4. People how tend to vote are in thís semi
e.g Lithuania, U.K and Poland
I think you mean that Ireland tends to send its votes towards Lithuania and Poland.
and also the other way around if check 2018 Lisbon Semi 1, ik there very different songs but the countries that voted us then mostly are all here now
we also got 100 ish points in televote that year
and bambie is now 9th HELP
in the odds ik odds mean nothing now but omg we have never this high before a semi…
Dustin The Turkey was also top 10 in the odds, my child.
Ireland are 9th? WOW.
Finally Latvia has a good draw(2nd half of a weaker semi) and we will make the final with Hollow. 🙂
prob I wouldn’t worry personally abt it
Or the Cat’s Song LOL
That semi 1 is more of a bloodbath than last year. All the buzzy entries are there and then you have countries that haven’t revealed but have traditionally done well. Portugal is screwed No Spain or France or Switzerland. Some of the
Portugal has Luxembourg but there’s also a BUNCH of potential bops in semi final 2!
If it had been two male mayors, would Pernilla have suggested a kiss? Anyway, the producer probably shouted in her ear so she dialled it back in time. Don’t worry, I still love ya P.
Sorry downvotes, I know you are allergic to anything even vaguely woke.
Yeah, I noticed that too. I don’t think it was great she suggested a kiss, not every woman wants to be told to kiss a stranger. I’m kind of surprised at Pernilla actually.
Wishing our girl Sylia best of luck although that first semi looks scary!
Who will have the honor to start the esc 2024, maybe Croatia or Lithuania or Cyprus, who knows… if Poland send their witch song the 1st semi will be the semi of witches definetely with Slovenia and Ireland in it too.
Ukraine will probably end the 1st half of the 1st semi.
That’s what I thought. At least Justyna is the best among the 3 so she should qualify no matter what.
the 1st semi is all gonna come down to staging, like i can see any of the countriesgo through really.
also Ireland keeping there streak of being in the bloodbath semi… honestly fitting the song
and semi 2 is…. something ig
My guess:
Cyprus will open the first semi final
Austria will open the second semi final
In a televote-only semifinal Lithuania can be confident to advance with any crappy song it will send. Ireland, Poland, Ukraine, Germany and the UK with small points from Australia, Slovenia, Iceland, Portugal, Croatia and Sweden in the past few editions… I say we can experiment and send anything we like instead of going “at least with this song we have a chance of qualification”. I’m pointing towards Silvester. Let’s send another song fully in Lithuanian, yeah!
The Roop is flopping this year, so Silvester is probably the most obvious choice
Yes, the leaked track is not too good. Visuals of the staging aren’t appealing either, even though The Roop keeps trying to ride on the dance motives to victory. Silvester is the strongest contender at the moment, but it won’t be clear before we see Monika Marija. People from filming that episode said MM was very theatrical and beautiful. Monika Marija has one of the most beautiful voices in Lithuania. In case her song is better than Silvester’s, I’m more than happy to continue with Monikas represing the country.
Looks like Lithuania is sitting pretty, but you should still send the best song you’ve got in your national final so that it won’t just be diaspora voting that pushes you through.
Obviously. What I was trying to say that there are many people in the country who keep saying we need to go full-nuts to be able to advance. While craziness never dissapointed us, our position this year due to the drawings says we can experiment and send the best song whereas it’s “go crazy” or “go quality ballad”, for instance. As in, no need to play safe.
Additionally, the curse of 4 (fours) for Lithuania is very likely to be broken. 😀
Wouldn’t it be cool if you actually qualify and do well in a competing ending in four for once? Also, you’ve always qualify from semi final 1 everytime you’re sorted there, so it all bodes well for Lithuania if everything falls into place.
Year, there should be a year between “competing” and “ending.”
The First Semi is looking bloooooooody! Oh Gosh… Serbia – Slovenia – Croatia already got some points there circulating… good for them.
Slovenia tend to give to Serbia and Croatia, but they don’t always get much back in return (probably partly because most Slovenes understand Serbo-Croatian but Serbs and Croats are less familiar with Slovene)
Part of me wishes Denmark got a second-half draw because I miss seeing them in the final, I do believe Sand might get them back in if they send it
I’m very glad that Georgia and Latvia drew second half because this is definitely the year where they could finally qualify for the first time since 2016, this is the perfect setup, all they need now is a strong entry, Malta has a fair chance as well
Looking good for Slovenia also
What is this first semi-final…
Thw countries with the strongest NF competitors got all put up there. Croatia with “Rim Tim Tagi Dim”, Lithuania with (most probably) “Luktelk”, Ireland with “Doomsday Blue”, Serbia (tons of good entries)etc… This will be a bloodbath.
Croatia hasn’t chosen yet. There are other candidates who can win.
Neither have the rest of the countries i’ve mentioned. But, Croatia’s best chance at achieving a great result is Rim Tim Tagi Dim.
Baby lasagna 99% sure winner of dora though
Wait, why are you mentioning Ireland among these countries with strong NF competitors? Haaa funny one
Lithuania most of time are very lucky on draws it gets all friendly countries and most important bigest emigrants votes. This time doesn’t matter even if we send a singing statue its gonna qualifying bcos we will get huge points from: UK, Ireland, Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Sweden, some could be from Finland and Iceland. With the Roop song like on fire we could win this semi final 1.
Lets wait for the song first?
Yes, let’s not get complacent just because Lithuania has a lucky cushion for points.
Luxembourg will 99% close the semifinal.
I thought that as well
Looks like Ireland is OUTTTT… semi final 1 be crazy
No one will forget Ireland even if they perform 2nd, and they got UK and Australia so I would say they’re good.
agree
Why did they emphasise that William had no ties to the EBU?
Why did William say the UK ignore semi final 1? Guess who’s voting in semi final 1. Also Christian kept quiet about who benefits from being drawn were and more importantly were he eventually places them in the performance running order
Well, the UK usually gets assigned to vote in semi final 2, hence William’s comment that the UK usually only tunes in to watch semi final 2 because that’s when they can vote. But this time around they are in semi final 1 and in fact, this is the first time in six years since 2018 that the UK is voting in semi final 1.
The avarage person would not know who performs when, how are songs and when they can vote 🙂
I think that 2nd semi-final will be more watched indeed, many people will be on 8th of May: ‘Oh yeah, didnt know that Eurovision started, i might watch the 2nd semi-final tomorrow then.’
Because Christer has enough ties for ten people.
It’s just in case he said something controversial or something that would anger some people EBU won’t get blamed for that.
Another year where semi one will be a bloodbath.
Demi-God Martin didn’t get much applause on his introduction. None, in fact. Awkward silence.
And we’re in Sweden of all places
Noticed that too. Probably because of the Israel thing…
Oh right. That “joke” is a negative. Mainly because whoever wrote it probably means it seriously.
Belgium : the first country to announce the participant (at the end of August) and the last to be drawn.
Daaaaaaaaamn. we got lucky. good time to be Lithuanian hahah
At least we know where Ireland’s points will go, 8 to Moldova, 10 to Poland and 12 to Lithuania