EBU: Australia among 43 participants in Kiev

Australia will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 along with 42 other countries. The EBU has just confirmed this news to ESC Daily and all other Eurovision media.

The EBU explicitly states Dami Im’s great performance following the TOP-5 place for Guy Sebastian as a reason for Australia’s obvious return to the contest. As reported earlier, Romania will return to the contest after settling their financial issues with the EBU. Portugal will also return after their absence in Stockholm. It had already become clear that Bosnia & Herzegovina, who came back to the contest last year, would not be able to sustain their comeback.

Altogether, this makes for 43 countries, a number equaling the record set in Düsseldorf in 2011. It would not be possible for the EBU to expand even further, says Jon Ola Sand, Executive Supervisor for the EBU. “43, 44 countries, that would be the maximum. Otherwise the semi finals would be too long and rehearsal time would need to increase even more.”

These are the 43 countries participating in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest:

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