Eurovision 2019: The map of confirmed participating countries so far

Having the host city and dates of Eurovision 2019 finalized, more countries are confirming that they will join the party of nations in the next edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in Israel.

Next year the number of participating countries in next year’s Eurovision Song contest is expected to be around 40 . Having the limit of 46 countries allowed to take part, the number of countries to attend will be pretty much the same with the one in the latest years.

Two semi finals will take place,  with a total of 10 nations qualifying from each one. The 20 qualifiers will compete with the Big 5 and the host country in the Grand final.

Up to date the countries that have confirmed their participation in the next edition or have expressed provisional interest in participating, have reached the number of 38. As the EBU deadline for submitting preliminary application has expired (September 15), more countries are expected to confirm their preliminary interest. According to EBU rules the countries had to apply preliminary until the date above and had a period up to October 10 to withdraw their application without any financial penalty. Therefore in the following hours the last countries will reveal their intentions on Eurovision 2019 participation.

Countries that have ruled out a 2019 participation

Already six countries have clearly ruled out a participation in Israel. Countries as Andorra, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Monaco,  Bosnia & Herzegovina and Turkey have all confirmed that they will not return to the competition in 2019, alongside with Morocco which has shown no intention of returning after since its debut appearance back in 1980.

Sadly but Bulgaria joins the countries that will not participate in the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv. Depsite submitting the preliminary application of interest , the country’s national broadcaster BNT confirmed withdrawal due to financial reasons.

The cases of Kosovo, Kazakhastan and Liechtenstein

Ongoing numerous discussions and arguments have aroused concerning a potential participation of national broadcasters coming from these three regions, especially the first two. Lets take a separate look to what exactly the facts are:

Kosovo: The local national broadcaster RTK is not an EBU member and at the moment can’t join the Union, as it’s not even a member of ITU (International Television Union), which is a crucial condition for EBU membership. Further more the country isn’t a member of the  United Nations or the Council of Europe, making things even more difficult for an EBU membership. Due to all these facts the country can’ t participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. However the The Eurovision Song Contest has been broadcast live in the country latest years and the national broadcaster was present at the the 80th EBU General Assembly in Tirana, where initial discussions were held on a future EBU membership.

Kazakhstan: The country is only an associate EBU member since 2016, so has the right to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest only after an invitation by EBU to join the event, pretty much as Australia is doing in the latest years. However, the contest has been aired the last years and Kazakhstan will be making its debut appearance in Junior Eurovision 2018 next November in Minsk, a development that may be an indication of a potential participation in the Eurovision Song Contest too.

Liechtenstein: Despite the fact that the small country has expressed several times the latest years interest in joining the Eurovision family ,  1FL TV , the local broadcaster has failed to fulfill EBU conditions , mostly due to financial obstacles. Since no application to EBU has been confirmed Lichtenstein is not a EBU member, so not eligible to participate in the contest.

What About the Aussies

An Australian participation in the next edition of Eurovision was confirmed just a couple of days before as all facts where indicatiing such development. As the national broadcaster, SBS, is an associated EBU member, its participation each year depends on an invitation by EBU and the host country to join next year’s event. However, SBS officials had  already expressed their intention of broadcasting the contest as every year and there were no indications from no side that the invitation won’t take place and  not secure the Aussies’  appearance in the contest for a fifth consecutive year. Following this facts the Australian national broadcaster SBS not only confirmed Eurovision participation but will be holding a national selection to determine next Eurovision act.

Australia was invited to join for the first time in Vienna back in 2015 and since then has achieved already 3 top 10 placings the four years of participation.

Notable confirmations

As EBU deadline for final confirmation is approaching more countries are expected progressively to confirm their participation. The confimation from Ireland certainly draw more attention. The initial voices rising within the country, calling for a boycott of the next edition of the contest , and coming mostly from groups of people and some political representatives , didn’t seem strong enough to prevent the seven times winner Ireland from another ESC participation. The Irish broadcaster RTÉ confirmed officially that  Ireland will be for the 53rd time  in Eurovision since their debut in 1965.

The same case seems to be the country of Iceland! Not long after Netta’s win in Lisbon , strong reactions arouse in Iceland asking for the country to boycott the next Eurovision Song Contest if that was to be held in Israel. However the same day city and dates were announced the Icelandic  national broadcaster confirmed its participation in the next edition of the Eurovision Song Contest.

It seems that the initial objections to an Israli hosting of the comepetition weren’t strong enough to reverse things and lead the nordic country away from the next Eurovision Song Contest. The Icelandic national broadcaster , RUV, confirmed that the country will be present in Tel Aviv for the next Eurovision.

THE OVERALL LIST OF PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES 

Taking in consideration all the above facts the number of countries that have officially confirmed participation in Eurovision 2019 remains at the number of 38 countries after Australia’s confirmation and Bulgaria’s withdrawal , while another a set of 4 countries have shown provisional interest but haven’t officially confirmed yet through an official announcement. So the list so far has as following:

THE 38 COUNTRIES THAT HAVE CONFIRMED :

•  Albania
•  Belgium
•  Cyprus
•  Denmark
•  France
•  Germany
•  Ireland
•  Israel
•  Latvia
•  Lithuania
•  Malta
•  Norway
•  Serbia
•  Sweden
•   Switzerland
•  The Netherlands
•  Czech Republic
•  Estonia
•  Azerbaijan
•  Slovenia
•  Finland
•  Iceland
•  Spain
•  Georgia
•  Portugal
•  United Kingdom
•  Poland
•  Romania
•  Austria
•  Ukraine
•  Belarus
•  Montenegro
•  Croatia
•  Hungary
•  Italy
•  Armenia
•  Macedonia
•  Australia

• The  countries that have indicated through unofficial sources or preliminary interest in participating are:
•  San Marino
•  Greece
•  Moldova
•  Russia

The countries that had submitted preliminary application but withdrew their interest for participation:

•  Bulgaria

We remind you that the 64th  Eurovision Song Contest will held in Tel Aviv, on May 14,16 and 18. Israel won the right to organize the next Eurovision after Netta’s victory in Lisbon with her song Toy