Today: The Semi-Final Allocation Draw

The Semi-Final Allocation Draw will decide which countries will take part in which Semi-Final of the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. The First Semi-Final will take place on May 19th, and the Second Semi-Final on May 21st.

ORF hosts Kati Bellowitsch and Andi Knoll will guide through the procedure, which you can watch in our WebTV Player. The Executive Supervisor of the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest, Jon Ola Sand, and Thomas Niedermeyer from the voting partner Digame will oversee the draw.

The Semi-Final Allocation Draw

The odd number of represented countries means that the First Semi-Final will have 16 countries, and the Second Semi-Final 17 countries.

For planning reasons, another draw will then decide in which half of the respective Semi-Final each country will participate. Please note that the exact running order of the represented countries will not yet be known tomorrow - it will be determined at a later date.

From each Semi-Final, ten countries will proceed to the Final on the 23rd of May, joining the so-called ‘Big Five’ - France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom - and of course host nation Austria.

The Pots

To create more excitement, like past years, the 33 countries have been allocated to 5 pots based on voting patterns from the previous ten years. The pots were calculated by the televoting partner Digame and are as follows:

Pot 1

• Albania 
• F.Y.R. Macedonia 
• Montenegro 
• Slovenia 
• Switzerland 
• Serbia 
• Malta 

Pot 2

• Denmark
• Finland
• Estonia
• Norway
• Sweden
• Iceland
• Latvia 

Pot 3

• Azerbaijan
• Belarus
• Georgia
• Israel
• Russia
• Armenia
• Lithuania

Pot 4

• Belgium 
• Cyprus 
• Greece 
• Ireland 
• The Netherlands 
• San Marino 

Pot 5

• Hungary
• Moldova
• Romania
• Portugal
• Poland
• Czech Republic

In which Semi-Final will the Big Five and Austria vote?

Even though the ‘Big Five’ and host country Austria will not participate in any of the Semi-Finals, they do have to broadcast and vote in one of them. The first step of the Semi-Final Allocation Draw is to determine which of the six pre-qualified countries will air live and vote in which Semi-Final.

Due to the request of ARD, approved by the Reference Group, Germany has already been allocated to air live and vote in the Second Semi Final on 21 May 2015.

The Host City Insignia Exchange

Representing Copenhagen, Sophie Hæstorp Andersen, Chairman of the Regional Council from the Capital Region and Lars Weiss, Chairman of the Social Democratic Group, will present the Host City Insignia to Lord Mayor of Vienna, Michael Häupl.

During the ceremony, there will also be short speeches from Executive Supervisor Jon Ola Sand, EBU, and ORF General-Director Alexander Wrabetz. This ceremony will be held before the allocation draw, at 12:00 CET.