Today the draw that decides in which semi-final most of the participating countries will take part in took place. As usual the countries had prior to the draw been spread over 6 pots based on voting patterns and just as we are use to the speculations about who stands with good chances of qualifying starts.
No matter that the six pots were introduced in order to make the semi-finals more fair it can’t totally deal with the fact that the result of the allocation draw has a big impact on who will make it to the actual final. Today people all over Europe will be looking at, which countries their own country is up against. Not just to know the competitors, but maybe even more to know who they can expect points from as countries will only be voting for the ones taking part in their own semi-final. The automatically qualified countries; United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy and host country Germany have each been allocated one semi-final where they will be voting.
The six pots were as follow:
Pot 1: Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, FYR Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia, Switzerland
Pot 2: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden
Pot 3: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Israel, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine
Pot 4: Armenia, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, The Netherlands, Turkey
Pot 5: Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Romania
Pot 6: Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, San Marino, Slovakia
The Israeli broadcaster, IBA, had requested to be placed in the second semi-final due to their memorial day on the 10th of May, which is when the first semi-final will be held. The host broadcaster, NDR, asked to be voting in the second semi-final as well as that fits bets into their schedule. EBU announces that both requests have been accepted.
A short while ago the Slovakian broadcaster announced that they would not be able to participate in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest due to financial reasons. No official statement was made by the EBU and today’s draw shows that apparently the country managed to find the money.
Today’s draw was not shown on TV nor was a live broadcast available, as we have gotten use to. This is not a popular decision as people want to believe that it lower the chances of cheating if it is open for the public to see. Time will tell if this leads to speculations about fraud.
According to EBU the result is that the two semi-finals look as this:
First semi:
First half:
Albania
Finland
Armenia
Switzerland
Norway
Georgia
Turkey
Serbia
Russia
Poland
Second half:
Croatia
Azerbaijan
Lithuania
Hungary
Malta
San Marino
Iceland
Greece
Portugal
Second semi:
First half:
The Netherlands
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Ukraine
Cyprus
Austria
Sweden
Moldova
Belgium
Slovakia
Second half:
Israel
FYR Macedonia
Denmark
Belarus
Bulgaria
Latvia
Estonia
Romania
Slovenia
Ireland
To vote in first semi-final: United Kingdom and Spain
To vote in second semi-final: Germany, Italy and France
