The first major landmark of the 2011 Eurovision season has been set this Monday, 17th May, with the Semi-Final Allocation Draw, which took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, where this year’s Eurovision Song Contest will be held on 10, 12 & 14 May. While the ‘Big Five’ countries – France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and Italy (making their return after a 13 year absence) – have already qualified for the Final on 14 May, the remaining 38 countries to participate in the two Semi-Finals on 10 & 12 May were drawn from six pots, based on the 2010 voting patterns. The objective of this system is  to confine the impact of bloc voting and make the results of the contest less predictable…

The first major landmark of the 2011 Eurovision season has been set this Monday, 17th May, with the Semi-Final Allocation Draw, which took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, where this year’s Eurovision Song Contest will be held on 10, 12 & 14 May. While the ‘Big Five’ countries – France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and Italy (making their return after a 13 year absence) – have already qualified for the Final on 14 May, the remaining 38 countries to participate in the two Semi-Finals on 10 & 12 May were drawn from six pots, based on the 2010 voting patterns. The objective of this system is  to confine the impact of bloc voting and make the results of the contest less predictable.

The Semi-Finalists were drawn as follows:

First Semi-Final (10 May)

first half:

Albania
Armenia
Finland
Georgia
Norway
Poland
Russia
Serbia
Switzerland
Turkey

second half:

Azerbaijan
Croatia
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Lithuania
Malta
Portugal
San Marino

Second Semi-Final (12 May)

first half:

Austria
Belgium
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Cyprus
Moldova
Slovakia
Sweden
The Netherlands
Ukraine

second half:
Belarus
Bulgaria
Denmark
Estonia
FYR Macedonia
Ireland
Israel
Latvia
Romania
Slovenia

25 countries will compete in the Final. With the ‘Big Five’ being qualified already, ten countries from each Semi-Final will have  to qualify for the big night.

The draw of the starting order in each Semi-Final will be carried out at the Heads of Delegation meeting in March, again in Düsseldorf. For more detailed info please visit  http://www.eurovision.tv