How to watch the Semi-Final Draw for the Eurovision Song Contest 2024

Pernilla Månsson Colt, who oversaw the allocation draw back in 2013 too, and Farah Abadi  were our hosts - and you can rewatch the show on the official Eurovision YouTube channel. 

At the ceremony, Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of Liverpool, representing last year’s Host City, will pass on the Eurovision Insignia to the Mayor of Malmö, Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh, marking the official handing over to the new Eurovision Song Contest Host City.

The Semi-Final Draw will determine whether countries participate and/or vote in the First Semi-Final (Tuesday 7 May at 21:00 CEST) or the Second Semi-Final (Thursday 9 May at 21:00 CEST). Also randomly allocated is whether a country will perform in the first or second half of the Semi-Final they’ve drawn.

The Semi-Final Draw: How does it work?

Sweden, as the Host Country, along with the 5 members of the so-called ‘Big 5’ participating countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) do not compete in the Semi-Finals but their domestic audiences do get to vote in one of them… so before the competing countries are allocated a place in a Semi-Final, it will be randomly determined which of the Semi-Finals the Big 5 will each be allowed to vote on.

The next part of the draw will determine in which Semi-Final and in which half of the respective Semi-Final the other participating countries will perform in. 

Semi-Final Allocation Pots 2024

Drawing countries from different pots helps to reduce the chance of so-called neighbourly voting and increases suspense in the Semi-Finals. You can get a good idea of how it will all work by watching the 2023 draw on the official Eurovision YouTube channel.

These are the allocation pots for the 2024 draw: