Whether it’s the language, the style of music or something completely different, many fans do have countries they support more than others. We asked fans about their favourite Eurovision country.
‘All Eurovision fans are obsessed with Sweden. For six weeks each spring all they can talk about is the Swedish national selection Melodifestivalen. They go as far as to learn Swedish due to this’. That’s one of the first generalizations surrounding Eurovision fans. While there’s some truth to it, it is of course an exaggeration. A big exaggeration, one can argue, if the fans featured in this article are to be considered somewhat representative.
We asked 16 fans about their favourite country, and only one of them immediately pointed at Sweden. Fellow Nordic countries Iceland and Norway get a lot more attention. Italy and Israel are two more countries popular with this group of Eurovision fans.
16 fans and their favourite Eurovision country
We asked our dedicated Fan Panel if they have a favourite Eurovision country, they tend to support more than others. The Fan Panel consists of team members as well as fans from all around the world.
🇲🇹 Christopher D. – My favourite country is Armenia. The country’s representatives have always had original entries and they never copied from previous years’ winners. My all time favourite remains Iveta with Love Wave in 2016 followed by Eva Rivas with Apricot Stone in 2010. I can mention other amazing Armenian artists who certainly did their country proud but I do not want to leave somebody out. They tend to capture their folkloristic sound mixed with the contemporary music and the end result is simply amazing. Keep it up Armenia.
🇨🇴 🇫🇮 Alvaro S. – I would say no in principle to having a favourite country. As many fans, I try to be as impartial as possible 😉 However, I usually like Spain because of the language affinity. In the last two years I have supported Iceland, but that was totally not planned. I simply like countries that take risks. I also have this tendency to support the underdogs. That is probably why I enjoy seeing San Marino succeed in the semi- finals and I usually like Finland (which is the least successful contestant of the Nordics). I can add that I used to like Sweden, but I have fell out of love after 2015.
🇩🇰 Liza P. – My favourite country has to be Iceland. Not that I have the Icelandic entry as a favourite every year or even in my top 10. But in general, I tend to have Icelandic entries above the Danish entries – with a few exceptions.
Beside one Icelandic entry, I actually like them all. A few I may find boring or weird, but still I like them. Even if I find their entries bad the first time, I hear it, I tend to grow into a warm and fuzzy love for the song before the first press conference has started.
🇨🇿 Josef Š – Let’s cross out my home country right from the beginning, that doesn’t count. Besides that, I don’t think there’s some country I would favour more than others, but thanks to its language and culture, this would be FRANCE. For similar reasons, but less than France, there would be ITALY as another one. Usually I love songs from those two countries. They are the closest to my heart.
🇳🇱 Jacques H. – When it comes to Eurovision, the only country I almost always favour is my home turf The Netherlands. But we don’t have many neighbouring countries and we don’t always treat each other as the best neighbours with high points. We neither have many countries who just give us favour points, and to be honest, that’s the way it should be. Winning Eurovision is hard work and the winner should be the best song. I don’t favour countries because I like the country. I favour songs, as I believe this is the best to win. Not the most popular song or country should win, but the very best.
🇱🇹 Konstancija S. – First of all, I always support my country – Lithuania. Actually, I think that this year we had an amazing opportunity to win 😁 and of course I always support the Baltic States – Latvia and Estonia ’cause we’re like brothers ❤🙏
🇦🇺 Vivienne F. – I have a soft spot for some countries because of family ties, languages or having lived in that country. I was born in Ireland, I live in Australia, I have lived in Spain in Catalonia so I also like Andorra because they sing in Catalan, my brother has lived in Denmark since 1973, my children’s father’s ancestry is Croatian and Bosnian, and my late father loved French and France. So Ireland, Australia, Spain, Andorra, Denmark, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and France. However, the quality of the song comes first, if I don’t like the song I just won’t vote for it. I believe in voting for the song, not the singer or the country.
🇬🇧 Aaron S. – Sweden is one of my favourite Eurovision countries, it seems everything they do is always really good, plus the possibility Måns and Petra hosting Eurovision again makes the deal even sweeter. Every song they’ve sent especially since 2010 for me is a potential winner, while they weren’t my favourite every year they were certainly in my top 5, though the last few years I’ve grown fond of Italy and for me they should have won in 2017 and 2020. It’s also rare I don’t love entries from Germany, The Netherlands, Australia, Norway and Bulgaria too, just to name a few.
🇺🇸 Grace W. – Since I’m from the USA, I don’t really support one specific country. I guess that’s the one good thing about living somewhere that’s not in the contest, not having to feel loyal to your homeland’s song. I do look forward to songs from the Netherlands and Sweden above others, but in the end I always wind up supporting my favourite song, regardless of country.
🇪🇸 Mária P. – I regard Israel as my favourite Eurovision country because I love about 75% of their entries, be their ballads, up-tempo songs, hymns, or songs with a folk touch. In the last years their entries became too globalized losing their essence and their language Hebrew, thus now I’m not as eager as I was before to hear the Israeli entry for the new Eurovision contest. But even so it keeps on being the country with the most “12 points” from me.
And I’d like to mention Portugal as my second favourite Eurovision country.
🇵🇱 🇯🇪 Pawel J. – Every year there are many good songs from different countries, but somehow I always like entries from Israel. I can’t really describe why but there is always something different and special about their songs. I guess I just like the Mediterranean/middle eastern vibe incorporated into dance numbers or beautiful ballads- they always takes me to the beautiful beaches in Tel Aviv or on a great trip through the desert. Ding dong say no more … 😉
🇬🇧 Michael O. – Despite its old reputation of nil points, I think you can generally rely on Norway. Such professionally staged performances time and again, great ballads from 1987-1989 and 1996, classics like A Monster Like Me (2015) and Attention (2020), off beat entries like 1992, it’s only when they win, that I don’t like them.
🇩🇰 Charlotte J. – I don’t think, I have a favourite country as such, but the countries that over the years have delivered most of the songs I love are Italy, Iceland and Norway. Regarding the latter, I remember a period where I had Norway as my personal number one, four years in a row. My Norwegian friends kindly teased me that I was more Norwegian than they were.
I love the sound of the Italian language. Maybe that influence my love for their songs? And Iceland? They have come with many great songs, which deserved a much better result than they got. And yes, in general I probably have a sweet spot for Iceland too.
🇸🇪 Jill R. – I don´t really have a favourite country in Eurovision if I look at the last 20 years. In my playlists most countries are represented. The Scandinavian countries and the Mediterranean countries are represented more than others but no country dominates. If I only compare the last five years; two countries stand out: Italy and France. The reason I usually like them is that they both take music serious (but can still have fun with it). They send real artists and real songs that aren’t just written to work in Eurovision. And they always sing with emotion.
🇫🇷 Bernard D.- Know one thing, Eurofans friends, I am the most Italian of French fans at Eurovision. Perhaps even the most Italian of Fans at all.
I would love to love songs from my country as much as I love songs from Italy. It’s simple, I don’t think I hate a single one. Some will stick to my skin all my life. I treni di Tozeur followed me in my joys and sorrows (I think I listen to it every day).
I loved Si, Gente di Mare, Era, Fiumi di Parole, Occidentali’s Karma and, and, and all the others. I fell in love with the Italian language of its talented and high class singers.
ITALIAAAAA 🇮🇹 TI AMO PER SEMPRE !!! ❤️❤️❤️
🇳🇱 🇩🇰 Wouter V. – I usually have high hopes for the Balkan countries, and there’s enough of them to sure that at least a few bring a nice Balkan beat to the Contest. Other than that, I really appreciate France for often daring to experiment with non-typical Eurovision music – such as Jessy Matador in 2010, and Sébastien Tellier in 2008. But once a song is selected, I’ll like (or dislike) it regardless of what country it competes for. For some reason though, Iceland, Belgium and Estonia often end up among my favourites too.
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