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Eurovision Song Contest 2024 facts for kids

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Eurovision Song Contest 2024
United by Music
Eurovision Song Contest 2024 Logo.svg
Dates
Semi-final 1 7 May 2024
Semi-final 2 9 May 2024
Final 11 May 2024
Host
Venue Malmö Arena
Malmö, Sweden
Presenter(s)
Directed by
  • Robin Hofwander
  • Daniel Jelinek
  • Fredrik Bäcklund
Executive supervisor Martin Österdahl
Executive producer
  • Ebba Adielsson
  • Christel Tholse Willers
Host broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT)
Participants
Number of entries 37
Number of finalists 25
Debuting countries None
Returning countries  Luxembourg
Non-returning countries  Romania
Disqualified countries  Netherlands
Vote
Voting system Each country awards one set in the semi-finals, and two sets in the final, of 12, 10, 8–1 points to ten songs.
In all three shows, online votes from viewers in non-participating countries are aggregated and awarded as one set of points.
Winning song  Switzerland
"The Code"
2023 ← Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 was the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the 2023 contest with the song "Tattoo" by Loreen. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT), the contest was held at the Malmö Arena, and consisted of two semi-finals on 7 and 9 May, and a final on 11 May 2024. The three live shows were presented by Petra Mede and Malin Åkerman, with Mede having previously taken on the role in 2013 and 2016.

Thirty-seven countries participated in the contest, with Luxembourg competing for the first time since 1993, while Romania opted not to participate after doing so the previous year. The Netherlands was disqualified from the contest between the second semi-final and the final, but the country retained its right to vote.

The winner was Switzerland with the song "The Code", performed by Nemo and written by them along with Benjamin Alasu, Lasse Midtsian Nymann and Linda Dale. Switzerland won the combined vote and jury vote, and finished in fifth place in the televote. Croatia won the televote and finished in second place overall, marking the country's best result to date as an independent nation. Ukraine, France and Israel rounded out the top five.

Location

Malmö Arena, augusti 2014-2
Malmö Arena – venue of the 2024 contest

The 2024 contest took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the 2023 contest with the song "Tattoo", performed by Loreen. It was the seventh time Sweden hosted the contest, having previously done so in 1975, 1985, 1992, 2000, 2013, and 2016. The venue for the contest was the 15,500-seat Malmö Arena, which also hosted the contest in 2013.

The Malmö Live event centre hosted several events related to the contest. It was the venue for the "Turquoise Carpet" event on 5 May 2024, where the contestants and their delegations were presented before accredited press and fans, and the opening and closing ceremonies. The venue also hosted a screening of the final, and was the location of the EuroClub, which hosts the official after-parties and private performances by contest participants.

A Eurovision Village was created in Folkets Park [sv]. It hosted performances by contest participants and local artists, as well as screenings of the live shows for the general public. A "Eurovision Street" was established in Friisgatan [sv], between Folkets Park and Triangeln station. The street was planned to host music performances, however these were affected by the withdrawal of several artists due to Israel's participation in the contest and ultimately transferred to the Eurovision Village for security reasons.

The Euro Fan Café, organised by the fan organisation OGAE, was located at Amiralen [sv].

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of ABBA's victory at the contest in 1974 with "Waterloo", which was also Sweden's first win, a special ABBA World exhibition is taking place at Södergatan [sv] between 29 April and 12 May 2024.

Bidding phase

After Sweden's win in the 2023 contest, the municipalities of Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, Eskilstuna, Jönköping, Örnsköldsvik, Partille and Sandviken expressed interest in hosting the 2024 edition. Host broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT) set a deadline of 12 June 2023 for interested cities to formally apply. By 13 June, it had received bids from Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, and Örnsköldsvik. On 7 July, Gothenburg and Örnsköldsvik's bids were eliminated. Later that day, the EBU and SVT announced Malmö as the host city.

Key:
 †  Host city  *  Shortlisted  ^  Submitted a bid

City Venue Notes References
Eskilstuna Stiga Sports Arena Hosted the Second Chance round of Melodifestivalen in 2020. Did not meet the EBU requirements of capacity.
Gothenburg ^ Scandinavium Hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 1985. Roof needed adjustments for the lighting equipment. Set for demolition after the construction of a new sports facility nearby is completed.
Jönköping Husqvarna Garden Hosted the heats of Melodifestivalen in 2007. Did not meet the EBU requirements of capacity.
Malmö  Malmö Arena Hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2013.
Örnsköldsvik ^ Hägglunds Arena Hosted the heats of Melodifestivalen in 2007, 2010, 2014, 2018 and the semi-final in 2023.
Partille Partille Arena Hosted Eurovision Choir 2019. Did not meet the EBU requirements of capacity.
Sandviken Göransson Arena Hosted one heat of Melodifestivalen in 2010. Plans included the cooperation of other municipalities in Gävleborg.
Stockholm * Friends Arena Hosted all but one final of Melodifestivalen since 2013. Preferred venue of the Stockholm City Council.
Tele2 Arena
Temporary arena Proposal set around building a temporary arena in Frihamnen [sv], motivated by the production needs of the contest and difficulties in finding vacant venues during the required weeks.

Participating countries

Eurovision Song Contest 2024 – Participation summaries by country
  • Albania
  • Armenia
  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Azerbaijan
  • Belgium
  • Croatia
  • Cyprus
  • Czechia
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • France
  • Georgia
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Iceland
  • Ireland
  • Israel
  • Italy
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg
  • Malta
  • Moldova
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • San Marino
  • Serbia
  • Slovenia
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Ukraine
  • United Kingdom
Eurovision 2024 artists
A group of participating artists of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 at the Eurovision in Concert pre-party event in Amsterdam, April 2024

Eligibility for participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with an active EBU membership capable of receiving the contest via the Eurovision network and broadcasting it live nationwide. The EBU issues invitations to participate in the contest to all members.

On 5 December 2023, the EBU announced that 37 countries would participate in the 2024 contest. Luxembourg returned to the contest 31 years after its last participation in 1993. Romania, which participated in the 2023 contest, was provisionally announced as not participating in 2024. This was confirmed on 25 January 2024.

The contest features two returning artists: Natalia Barbu and Hera Björk, who previously represented Moldova in 2007 and Iceland in 2010, respectively.


Other countries

Active EBU member broadcasters in Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Monaco and Slovakia confirmed non-participation, prior to the announcement of the participants list by the EBU. For financial reasons, Romania was not included in the list of participants published on 5 December 2023. Its broadcaster TVR remained in talks with the EBU beyond the deadline regarding its 2024 participation. On 25 January 2024, TVR opted not to participate.

Production

Malmö Arena ESC2024
The exterior of the Malmö Arena during the Eurovision event weeks

The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 is produced by the Swedish national broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT). The core team consists of Ebba Adielsson as executive producer, Christel Tholse Willers [sv] as deputy executive producer, Tobias Åberg as executive in charge of production, Johan Bernhagen as executive line producer, Christer Björkman as contest producer, and Per Blankens [sv] as TV producer. Additional production personnel includes head of production David Wessén, head of legal Mats Lindgren, head of media Madeleine Sinding-Larsen, and executive assistant Linnea Lopez.

Edward af Sillén and Daniel Réhn [sv] wrote the script for the live shows' hosting segments and the opening and interval acts, while Robin Hofwander, Daniel Jelinek and Fredrik Bäcklund will serve as multi-camera directors. Background music for the shows was composed by Eirik Røland and Johan Nilsson. A majority of the production personnel for 2024 previously worked in the previous three editions of the contest held in Sweden: 2000, 2013 and 2016.

Malmö Municipality contributed SEK 30,000,000 (approximately 2,500,000) to the budget of the contest.

Slogan and visual design

On 14 November 2023, the EBU announced that "United by Music", the slogan of the 2023 contest, would be retained for 2024 and future editions. The accompanying theme art for 2024, named "The Eurovision Lights", was unveiled on 14 December. Designed by Stockholm-based agencies Uncut and Bold Scandinavia, it is based on simple, linear gradients inspired by vertical lines found on auroras and sound equalisers, and was built with adaptability across different formats taken into account.

Stage design

ESC24, Malmö Arena Standing A pre-Semi 1
The stage in the arena

The stage design for the 2024 contest, revealed in December 2023, was devised by German production designer Florian Wieder, who had previously designed the sets of six previous contests – the most recent being in 2021. Lighting and screen content was designed by Swedish designer Fredrik Stormby. The stage features five movable LED cubes, floors and a backdrop screen along with other lighting, video and stagecraft technology, all set around a cross-shaped centre, with the aim of "creating a unique 360-degree experience" for viewers. The green room is placed behind the backdrop screen, in a similar fashion to the stages for the 2010 and 2011 contests. Construction of the stage began on 2 April and concluded on 25 April.

Contest overview

Semi-final 1

The first semi-final took place on 7 May 2024 at 21:00 CEST and featured fifteen competing countries. Those countries, plus Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom, as well as non-participating countries under an aggregated "Rest of the World" vote, voted in this semi-final. The running order (R/O) was determined by the contest producers and was announced publicly on 26 March. In addition to the competing entries, the United Kingdom, Germany and Sweden performed their entries during the show, appearing on stage after the entries from Ireland, Iceland and Moldova, respectively.

This semi-final was opened by former participants Eleni Foureira, Eric Saade and Chanel, who performed their respective competing songs – "Fuego" (Cyprus 2018), "Popular" (Sweden 2011) and "SloMo" (Spain 2022). The interval acts included three-time winner for Ireland (1980, 1987 and 1992) Johnny Logan performing the 2012 Swedish winning entry "Euphoria", and 2018 Swedish entrant Benjamin Ingrosso performing a medley of his songs "Look Who's Laughing Now", "Kite" and "Honey Boy". According to a report by Aftonbladet, the original performer of "Euphoria", Loreen, was initially supposed to perform with Logan but ultimately decided against it.

     Qualifiers

First semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024
R/O Country Artist Song Points Place
1  Cyprus Silia Kapsis "Liar" 67 6
2  Serbia Teya Dora "Ramonda" 47 10
3  Lithuania Silvester Belt "Luktelk" 119 4
4  Ireland Bambie Thug "Doomsday Blue" 124 3
5  Ukraine Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil "Teresa & Maria" 173 2
6  Poland Luna "The Tower" 35 12
7  Croatia Baby Lasagna "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" 177 1
8  Iceland Hera Björk "Scared of Heights" 3 15
9  Slovenia Raiven "Veronika" 51 9
10  Finland Windows95man "No Rules!" 59 7
11  Moldova Natalia Barbu "In the Middle" 20 13
12  Azerbaijan Fahree feat. Ilkin Dovlatov "Özünlə apar" 11 14
13  Australia Electric Fields "One Milkali (One Blood)" 41 11
14  Portugal Iolanda "Grito" 58 8
15  Luxembourg Tali "Fighter" 117 5

Semi-final 2

The second semi-final took place on 9 May 2024 at 21:00 CEST and features sixteen competing countries. Those countries plus France, Italy and Spain, as well as non-participating countries under an aggregated "Rest of the World" vote, voted in this semi-final. The running order (R/O) was determined by the contest producers and was announced publicly on 26 March. In addition to the competing entries, France, Spain and Italy performed their entries during the show, appearing on stage after the entries from Czechia, Latvia and Estonia, respectively.

This semi-final was opened by a pre-recorded segment, in which presenters Petra Mede and Malin Åkerman performed the 2023 winning song "Tattoo" with lyrical changes that described how to reach Malmö from Stockholm. The interval acts included Helena Paparizou, Charlotte Perrelli and Sertab Erener performing their respective winning songs – "My Number One" (Greece 2005), "Take Me to Your Heaven" (Sweden 1999) and "Everyway That I Can" (Turkey 2003) – with the audience taking part in a sing-along, and "We Just Love Eurovision Too Much", a musical number performed by Mede that satirised various aspects of the contest and Sweden's success in the event, with appearances by Perrelli, Sarah Dawn Finer reprising her role as Lynda Woodruff, and 2023 Finnish representative Käärijä performing an excerpt of his competing song "Cha Cha Cha". 1984 winners for Sweden, Herreys, performed their winning song "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" after the qualifiers were announced.

     Qualifiers

Second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024
R/O Country Artist Song Points Place
1  Malta Sarah Bonnici "Loop" 13 16
2  Albania Besa "Titan" 14 15
3  Greece Marina Satti "Zari" 86 5
4  Switzerland Nemo "The Code" 132 4
5  Czechia Aiko "Pedestal" 38 11
6  Austria Kaleen "We Will Rave" 46 9
7  Denmark Saba "Sand" 36 12
8  Armenia Ladaniva "Jako" 137 3
9  Latvia Dons "Hollow" 72 7
10  San Marino Megara "11:11" 16 14
11  Georgia Nutsa Buzaladze "Firefighter" 54 8
12  Belgium Mustii "Before the Party's Over" 18 13
13  Estonia 5miinust and Puuluup "(Nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi" 79 6
14  Israel Eden Golan "Hurricane" 194 1
15  Norway Gåte "Ulveham" 43 10
16  Netherlands Joost Klein "Europapa" 182 2

Final

The final took place on 11 May 2024 at 21:00 CEST and featured twenty-five competing countries. All thirty-seven participating countries with jury and televote, as well as non-participating countries under an aggregated "Rest of the World" online vote, voted in the final. The running order (R/O) of the host nation was determined by a random draw on 11 March during the annual meeting of heads of the participating delegations. The running order for the remaining finalists was determined by the contest producers following the second semi-final. Despite qualifying for the final, where it was set to perform in position 5, the Netherlands was disqualified following a confrontation between its representative Joost Klein and a member of the production team. However, the country retained the right to vote in the final, and all countries that were set to perform after the Netherlands retained their running order numbers.

The final was opened by Björn Skifs performing "Hooked on a Feeling", followed by the flag parade, introducing all twenty-five finalists, set to a medley of well-known Swedish hits. The interval acts included Alcazar performing "Crying at the Discoteque"; a tribute performance of the 1974 Swedish winning song "Waterloo" by three past winners – Carola (Sweden 1991), Charlotte Perrelli (Sweden 1999) and Conchita Wurst (Austria 2014) – preceded by a pre-recorded segment in which the song's original performers, ABBA, as their virtual avatar selves at the ABBA Voyage concert residency in London, discussed their Eurovision experience on the occasion of its 50th anniversary; and Loreen performing her new single "Forever" and her 2023 winning song "Tattoo".

     Winner   double-dagger   Disqualified

Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024
R/O Country Artist Song Points Place
1  Sweden Marcus & Martinus "Unforgettable" 174 9
2  Ukraine Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil "Teresa & Maria" 453 3
3  Germany Isaak "Always on the Run" 117 12
4  Luxembourg Tali "Fighter" 103 13
5  Netherlands double-dagger Joost Klein "Europapa"
6  Israel Eden Golan "Hurricane" 375 5
7  Lithuania Silvester Belt "Luktelk" 90 14
8  Spain Nebulossa "Zorra" 30 22
9  Estonia 5miinust and Puuluup "(Nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi" 37 20
10  Ireland Bambie Thug "Doomsday Blue" 278 6
11  Latvia Dons "Hollow" 64 16
12  Greece Marina Satti "Zari" 126 11
13  United Kingdom Olly Alexander "Dizzy" 46 18
14  Norway Gåte "Ulveham" 16 25
15  Italy Angelina Mango "La noia" 268 7
16  Serbia Teya Dora "Ramonda" 54 17
17  Finland Windows95man "No Rules!" 38 19
18  Portugal Iolanda "Grito" 152 10
19  Armenia Ladaniva "Jako" 183 8
20  Cyprus Silia Kapsis "Liar" 78 15
21  Switzerland Nemo "The Code" 591 1
22  Slovenia Raiven "Veronika" 27 23
23  Croatia Baby Lasagna "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" 547 2
24  Georgia Nutsa Buzaladze "Firefighter" 34 21
25  France Slimane "Mon amour" 445 4
26  Austria Kaleen "We Will Rave" 24 24

Spokespersons

The spokespersons announced the 12-point score from their respective country's national jury in the following order:

  1.  Ukraine – Jamala
  2.  United Kingdom – Joanna Lumley
  3.  Luxembourg – Désirée Nosbusch
  4.  Azerbaijan – Aysel Teymurzadeh
  5.  San Marino – Kida
  6.  Malta – Matt Blxck
  7.  Croatia – Ivan Dorian Molnar
  8.  Albania – Andri Xhahu
  9.  Czechia – Radka Rosická [cs]
  10.  Israel – Maya Alkulumbre [he]
  11.  Australia – Danny Estrin
  12.  Denmark – Stéphanie Surrugue [da]
  13.  Spain – Soraya Arnelas
  14.  Norway – Ingvild Helljesen
  15.  Germany – Ina Müller
  16.  Armenia – Brunette
  17.  Slovenia – Lorella Flego
  18.  Georgia – Sopho
  19.  Switzerland – Jennifer Bosshard [de]
  20.  Moldova – Doina Stimpovschi
  21.  Greece – Helena Paparizou
  22.  Estonia – Birgit
  23.  Netherlands – None
  24.  Austria – Philipp Hansa
  25.  France – Natasha St-Pier
  26.  Italy – Mario Acampa [it]
  27.  Finland – Toni Laaksonen
  28.  Portugal – Mimicat
  29.  Belgium – Livia Dushkoff
  30.  Iceland – Friðrik Ómar Hjörleifsson
  31.  Latvia – Andrejs Reinis Zitmanis
  32.  Ireland – Paul Harrington
  33.  Poland – Viki Gabor
  34.  Cyprus – Loukas Hamatsos
  35.  Lithuania – Monika Linkytė
  36.  Serbia – Konstrakta
  37.  Sweden – Frans

Detailed results

Semi-final 1

The ten qualifiers from the first semi-final were determined solely by televoting. All fifteen countries competing in the first semi-final voted, alongside Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom, and the aggregated Rest of the World vote. The ten qualifying countries were announced in no particular order, and the full results will be published after the final has been held.

Semi-final 2

The ten qualifiers from the second semi-final were determined solely by televoting, with the exception of San Marino who were unable to provide a valid televote result and thus used the votes of their back-up jury. All sixteen countries competing in the second semi-final voted, alongside France, Italy and Spain, and the aggregated Rest of the World vote. The ten qualifying countries were announced in no particular order, and the full results of how each country voted will be published after the final has been held.

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points received in the second semi-final. Israel received the maximum score of 12 points from ten countries, followed by the Netherlands which received four sets of 12 points. Armenia received two sets of 12 points, and Switzerland and Greece were each awarded one set of 12 points.

12 points awarded in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024
# Recipient Countries giving 12 points
10  Israel  Albania,  Czech Republic,  Denmark,  France,  Italy,  Netherlands,  Norway, Rest of the World,  Spain,  Switzerland
4  Netherlands  Austria,  Belgium,  Greece,  Malta
2  Armenia  Georgia,  Israel
1  Switzerland  San Marino
 Greece  Armenia

Final

The results of the final were determined by televoting and jury voting in all thirty-seven participating countries, plus the Rest of the World aggregate public vote. The announcement of the jury points was conducted by each country individually, with the country's spokesperson announcing their jury's favorite entry that received 12 points, with the remaining points shown on screen. Following the completion of the jury points announcement, the public points were announced as an aggregate by the contest hosts in ascending order starting from the country which received the fewest points from the jury.

     Winner

Split results
Place Combined Jury Televoting
Country Points Country Points Country Points
1  Switzerland 591  Switzerland 365  Croatia 337
2  Croatia 547  France 218  Israel 323
3  Ukraine 453  Croatia 210  Ukraine 307
4  France 445  Italy 164  France 227
5  Israel 375  Ukraine 146  Switzerland 226
6  Ireland 278  Ireland 142  Ireland 136
7  Italy 268  Portugal 139  Italy 104
8  Armenia 183  Sweden 125  Greece 85
9  Sweden 174  Armenia 101  Armenia 82
10  Portugal 152  Germany 99  Lithuania 58
11  Greece 126  Luxembourg 83  Sweden 49
12  Germany 117  Israel 52  Cyprus 44
13  Luxembourg 103  United Kingdom 46  Estonia 33
14  Lithuania 90  Greece 41  Serbia 32
15  Cyprus 78  Latvia 36  Finland 31
16  Latvia 64  Cyprus 34  Latvia 28
17  Serbia 54  Lithuania 32  Luxembourg 20
18  United Kingdom 46  Serbia 22  Georgia 19
19  Finland 38  Spain 19  Germany 18
20  Estonia 37  Austria 19  Portugal 13
21  Georgia 34  Georgia 15  Slovenia 12
22  Spain 30  Slovenia 15  Spain 11
23  Slovenia 27  Norway 12  Austria 5
24  Austria 24  Finland 7  Norway 4
25  Norway 16  Estonia 4  United Kingdom 0
 Netherlands  Netherlands  Netherlands

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points received in the final. In the jury vote, Switzerland received the maximum score of 12 points from twenty-two countries, followed by France which received four sets of 12 points. Portugal and Ukraine both received two sets of 12 points, and Croatia, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Sweden were each awarded one set of 12 points. In the public vote, Israel received the maximum score of 12 points from fourteen countries and the Rest of the World vote, followed by Croatia which received nine sets of 12 points, and Ukraine with seven. Cyprus, Estonia, France, Greece, Luxembourg, Serbia, and Switzerland were each awarded one set of 12 points.

12 points awarded by juries in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024
# Recipient Countries giving 12 points
22  Switzerland  Albania,  Austria,  Azerbaijan,  Denmark,  Estonia,  Finland,  Georgia,  Greece,  Ireland,  Italy,  Latvia,  Lithuania,  Luxembourg,  Malta,  Netherlands,  Norway,  Poland,  Portugal,  San Marino,  Spain,  Sweden,  Ukraine
4  France  Armenia,  Belgium,  Iceland,  Slovenia
3  Portugal  Croatia,  France,  United Kingdom
2  Croatia  Cyprus,  Serbia
 Ukraine  Czech Republic,  Moldova
1  Greece  Switzerland
 Ireland  Australia
 Luxembourg  Israel
 Sweden  Germany
12 points awarded by televoting in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024
# Recipient Countries giving 12 points
15  Israel  Australia,  Belgium,  Finland,  France,  Germany,  Italy,  Luxembourg,  Netherlands,  Portugal, Rest of the World,  San Marino,  Spain,  Sweden,  Switzerland,  United Kingdom
9  Croatia  Albania,  Austria,  Azerbaijan,  Denmark,  Iceland,  Ireland,  Norway,  Serbia,  Slovenia
7  Ukraine  Czech Republic,  Estonia,  Georgia,  Lithuania,  Malta,  Moldova,  Poland
1  Cyprus  Greece
 Estonia  Latvia
 France  Armenia
 Greece  Cyprus
 Luxembourg  Israel
 Serbia  Croatia
 Switzerland  Ukraine

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Festival de la Canción de Eurovisión 2024 para niños

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Eurovision Song Contest 2024 Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.