Estonia drawn in second semi-final for Eurovision 2023
The draw for the semi-finals of this year's Eurovision Song Contest took place on Tuesday. The Estonian representative will compete in the second semi-final on May 11 in Liverpool, England.
The semi-final lineup was decided by random draw, after all competing countries were placed into 6 separate pots according to historical voting patterns.
The Estonian representative at this year's contest will perform in the first half of the second semi-final along with Armenia, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, Iceland and Romania.
Of the 31 countries taking part in the two semi-finals, only the top 20 will make it through to the Grand Final.
The 'Big 5' countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom), which make the largest financial contributions to the European Broadcast Union (EBU), qualify automatically for the Eurovision Grand Final, as do last year's winners Ukraine.
During the draw, it was also decided which of the two semi-finals each of these countries would be able to vote on. France, Germany and Italy will vote in the first semi-final, while Spain, Ukraine and the U.K. will adjudicate the second.
The exact running order of the semi-finals will be confirmed nearer the time.
This year's Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Liverpool, England. Traditionally the event is hosted by the previous year's winning country. However, due to Russia's full-scale military invasion of 2022 winners Ukraine, the decision was made to hold the 2023 contest in the U.K., which finished in second place last time out.
As a result, this year's event will be a celebration of both Ukrainian and U.K. culture, under the theme "United by Music."
"As the United Kingdom prepares to host on behalf of Ukraine, the unique circumstances of this year's competition demonstrate the power of the Eurovision Song Contest to bring audiences across Europe and beyond together and be 'United by Music'", said Martin Österdahl, Eurovision's executive supervisor.
The first semi-final of the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest takes place on May 9, with the second on May 11. The Grand Final is set for May 13 at Liverpool Arena.
Estonia will be represented at Eurovision by the winner of this year's "Eesti Laul."
The final of Eesti Laul takes place on Saturday February 11 and will be broadcast live by ETV, ETV+ (Russian language), Raadio 2, ERR's Jupiter streaming portal, and ERR's own Estonian-language page.
Here's another look at the results of tonight's #Eurovision 2023 Allocation Draw!
— Eurovision Song Contest (@Eurovision) January 31, 2023
Which Semi is your favourite in? pic.twitter.com/0ymsjxajpZ
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Editor: Michael Cole
Source: Eurovision.tv