Details...

Eurovision Song Contest Dusseldorf, 2011

 Broadcast Dates:

SEMI-FINAL 1: 10 May 2011

SEMI-FINAL 2: 12 May 2011

GRAND FINAL: 14 May 2011

Number of entries - 43

Debuting countries - None

Returning countries:

Austria
Hungary
Italy
San Marino

Withdrawing countries: None

The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 will be the 56th annual Eurovision Song Contest. It will take place in Düsseldorf, Germany, following Germany's win in the 2010 Contest with Lena Meyer-Landrut's song "Satellite".

The contest will be held in Düsseldorf's Esprit Arena, which beat out three challenging venue locations across Germany in a bidding phase in late 2010.

The dates set for the two semi-finals are 10 May and 12 May 2011, with the final planned for the evening of 14 May 2011. Forty-three countries have confirmed their participation in the contest, with those returning including Austria, which last participated in 2007;

Hungary, which last competed in 2009; and San Marino, which last participated in 2008. Italy also returns to the Contest, marking its first participation since 1997.

BIG 4/5 COUNTRIES:

Since 2000, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain have automatically qualified for the Eurovision final, regardless of their positions on the scoreboard in previous Contests.

They earned this special status by being the four biggest financial contributors to the EBU (without which the production of the Eurovision Song Contest would not be possible). Due to their untouchable status, these countries became known as the "Big Four".

On 31 December 2010; it was announced on the official participation list published by the EBU that Italy would automatically qualify into the final, thus joining the other qualifiers to become the "Big Five". Germany became the first "Big Four" country to win the Contest since the rule was made in 2000, when Lena Meyer-Landrut won the 2010 Contest.

FORMAT:

The four countries that are part of the "Big Four", along with the host of the contest, automatically qualify for a place in the final. For the 2011 Contest, Germany is both a "Big Four" country and the host, resulting in a vacant spot in the final.

At a Reference Group meeting in Belgrade it was decided that the existing rules will remain in place, and that the number of participants in the final will simply be lowered from twenty-five to twenty-four.

On 31 December 2010; the official participation list was published by the EBU, which states that with the return of Italy to the contest, this nation will become a member of the "Big Five" thus permitting them automatic qualification into the finals, alongside Germany (host), France, Spain, and the United Kingdom, and therefore restores the number of participants for the final to twenty-five nations.

Semifinal 1, May 10th

Country Representative Song

Albania: Aurela Gaçe - Feel the passion
Armenia: Emmy - Boom boom
Finland: Paradise Oskar - Da da dam
Georgia: Eldrine - One more day
Norway: Stella Mwangi - Haba haba
Poland: Magdalena - Tul Jestem
Russia: Alexey Vorobyov - Get you
Serbia: Nina - Caroban
Switzerland: Anna Rossinelli - In love for a while
Turkey: Yüksek Sadakat - Live it up
Azerbaijan: Ell & Niki - Running scared
Croatia: Daria Kinzer - Celebrate
Greece: Loukas Yiorkas ft. Stereo Mike - Watch my dance
Hungary: Kati Wolf - What about my dreams?
Iceland: Sigurjón's Friends - Aftur heim
Lithuania: Evelina Sasenko - C'est ma vie
Malta: Glen Vella - One life
Portugal: Homens da Luta - A luta é alegria
San Marino: Senit - Stand by

Semifinal 2, May 12th

Country Representative Song

Austria: Nadine Beiler - The secret is love
Belgium: Witloof Bay - With love baby
Bosnia & Herzegovina: Dino Merlin - Love in rewind
Cyprus: Christos Mylordou - San angelos s'agapisa
Moldova: Zdob si Zdub - So lucky
The Netherlands: 3JS - Never alone
Slovakia: TWiiNS - I'm still alive
Sweden: Eric Saade - Popular
Ukraine: Mika Newton - Angel
Belarus: Anastasiya Vinnikova - I love Belarus
Bulgaria: Poly Genova - Na inat
Denmark: A friend in London - New tomorrow
Estonia: Getter Jaani - Rockefeller Street
Ireland: Jedward - Lipstick
Israel: Dana International - Ding dong
Latvia: Musiqq - Angel in disguise
FYR Macedonia: Vlatko Ilievski - Rusinka
Romania: Hotel FM - Change
Slovenia: Maja Keuc - Vanilija

Final, May 14th

Country Representative Song

France: Amaury Vassili - Sognu
Germany: Lena - Taken by a stranger
Italy: Rafael Gualazzi - Madness of love
Spain: Lucía Pérez - Que me quiten lo bailao
United Kingdom: Blue - I can

The running order for each show:

SEMI-FINAL 1

In each half of one respective Semi-Final, one country received a wildcard to choose its starting position. The remaining positions were drawn afterwards.
The draw for the first Semi-Final:

01. Poland (wildcard)
02. Norway
03. Albania
04. Armenia
05. Turkey
06. Serbia
07. Russia
08. Switzerland
09. Georgia
10. Finland
11. Malta
12. San Marino
13. Croatia
14. Iceland
15. Hungary
16. Portugal
17. Lithuania
18. Azerbaijan
19. Greece* (wildcard)

The commercial breaks are scheduled to be after the 5th and 14th song

SEMI-FINAL 2

The draw for the second Semi-Final brought the following result:

01. Bosnia & Herzegovina
02. Austria
03. Netherlands
04. Belgium
05. Slovakia* (wildcard)
06. Ukraine
07. Moldova
08. Sweden
09. Cyprus
10. Bulgaria
11. FYR Macedonia
12. Israel
13. Slovenia
14. Romania
15. Estonia
16. Belarus
17. Latvia* (wildcard)
18. Denmark
19. Ireland

The commercial breaks are scheduled after the 5th and 14th song.

GRAND FINAL

The automatic Finalists
For the Grand Final, the starting positions of the Big 5 countries (Italy, France, Germany, Spain, and The United Kingdom) were also drawn, with one of them, again, getting a wildcard to freely choose their starting position:

01. Country Name
02. Country Name
03. Country Name
04. Country Name
05. Country Name
06. Country Name
07. Country Name
08. Country Name
09. Country Name
10. Country Name
11. France
12. Italy
13. Country Name
14. United Kingdom
15. Country Name
16. Germany
17. Country Name
18. Country Name
19. Country Name
20. Country Name
21. Country Name
22. Spain* (wildcard)
23. Country Name
24. Country Name
25. Country Name

The commercial break is scheduled to be after the 12th song.