With the announcement of the up-coming semi-final allocation draw, today the six pots were published. We take a look at the differences to last year as it isn’t just a matter of swapping the two host countries.
On the 29th of January, we’ll see who ends up in which semi-final – and also whether or not they will perform in the first and the second half. The semi-final countries will be drawn into the two semi-finals from a set of pots partly made up by previous voting pattern.
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 | Pot 5 | Pot 6 |
| Albania | Denmark | Armenia | Bulgaria | Australia | Belgium |
| Croatia | Finland | Azerbaijan | Cyprus | Austria | Estonia |
| FYR Macedonia | Iceland | Belarus | Greece | Czech Republic | Latvia |
| Montengro | Ireland | Georgia | Hungary | Israel | Lithuania |
| Serbia | Norway | Russia | Moldova | Malta | The Netherlands |
| Slovenia | Sweden | Ukraine | Romania | San Marino | Poland |
| Switzerland |
2018 compared to 2017
Compared to last year, there are any changes in the first pot. In pot two, we now find Ireland instead of Estonia, which has then been moved to pot six which includes its neighbours Lithuania and Latvia, but also Poland as well as the Netherlands and Belgium.
In pot three we find Russia and surrounding countries. Ukraine join this group as they aren’t hosting it this year. As Ukraine join, Israel is leaving the group. They are now placed in pot five with two other islands Australia and Malta, but also Austria, Czech Republic and San Marino.
As always, Greece and Cyprus are placed in the same pot. In this pot we also find Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary just as last year.
