The Final of the 52nd Eurovision Song Contest took place in Helsinki, Finland, at the Hartwall Arena. For the occasion, the venue was referred to as the Helsinki Arena. Czech Republic and Georgia debuted in the Semi-Final, so did Serbia and Montenegro as independent states. Of those countries, only Georgia and Serbia managed to qualify for the Final, together with returning country Hungary.
Equal opportunities for all!
Host Broadcaster YLE adopted True Fantasy as the slogan for this year's contest. The high-tech stage was constructed in the shape of a kantele, a traditional Finnish instrument. The contest's Presenting Partner was TeliaSonera and the International Presenting Partners were Nobel Biocare and the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All.
The Final opened with Lordi, the monster rock band that brought that contest to Finland. The UK entry was performed by pop group Scooch who dressed as flight attendants. Ukraine sent Verka Serduchka, a drag act, who performed the song Dancing Lasha Tumbai, which finished second. Verka has gone on to become an iconic figure in recent Eurovision history.
About the winner
Serbia, participating as an independent country for the first time, won the contest, closely followed by respectively Ukraine and Russia. The winning song, Molitva, was performed by Marija Šerifović, is to date, the only non-English language song to have won the Eurovision Song Contest since the language rules were relaxed in 1999.
Facts & figures
- 2007 was the first time that the Eurovision Song Contest was produced and broadcast in High Definition.
- Almost 9 million votes were cast all over Europe, either by telephone or SMS.