Slovenia joins Eurovision 2014, Semi-Final Allocation Draw on Monday

 

 

Copenhagen, Denmark - While it was announced that 36 countries would take part in the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest, the Slovenian broadcaster RTVSLO has decided to join the contest as well. Which countries will be in which Semi-Final will be decided on Monday at the Semi-Final Allocation Draw.

The Slovenian broadcaster had a final deadline for their decision on taking part in Copenhagen and have now confirmed they will indeed be competing in Copenhagen.
This means that this year's 37 participants are the broadcasters in Albania (RTSH), Armenia (AMPTV), Austria (ORF), Azerbaijan (Ictimai TV), Belarus (BTRC), Belgium (VRT), Denmark (DR), Estonia (ERR), Finland (YLE), France (France 3), Georgia (GPB), Germany (NDR), Greece (NERIT), Hungary (MTV), Iceland (RÚV), Ireland (RTÉ), Israel (IBA), Italy (RAI), Latvia (LTV), Lithuania (LRT), FYR Macedonia (MKRTV), Malta (PBS), Moldova (TRM), Montenegro (RTCG), the Netherlands (AvroTros), Norway (NRK), Poland (TVP), Portugal (RTP), Romania (TVR), Russia (RTR), San Marino (SRMTV), Slovenia (RTVSLO),Spain (TVE), Sweden (SVT), Switzerland (SRG SSR), United Kingdom (BBC) and Ukraine (NTU).

Time for a draw

The decision came just days before the so-called Semi-Final Allocation Draw where all Semi-Finalists will be drawn into their respective Semi-Finals. In addition to that the draw will decide which show will the pre-qualified countries of Denmark, France, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom broadcast and vote in.
Germany will broadcast the second Semi-Final for scheduling reasons, as requested by their broadcaster NDR and approved by the Reference Group.
You can see the draw LIVE on Eurovision.tv, starting at 14.00 CET on Monday!
It'll also be drawn in which half of the shows they'll take part. This is done due to planning purposes for the delegations - the ones performing in the second half of the shows can arrive a day later in Copenhagen.

The pots

To create more excitement, like past years, the 30 countries will be allocated to 5 pots based on voting patterns from the previous nine years. The pots were calculated by the televoting partner Digame and are as follows:
Pot 1

• Albania
• FYR Macedonia
• Montenegro
• Slovenia
• Switzerland

Pot 2

• Estonia
• Finland
• Iceland
• Latvia
• Lithuania

Pot 3

• Azerbaijan
• Belarus
• Georgia
• Russia
• Ukraine

Pot 4

• Armenia
• Belgium
• Greece
• Ireland
• The Netherlands

Pot 5

• Austria
• Hungary
• Poland
• San Marino

Pot 6

• Malta
• Moldova
• Portugal
• Romania

Norway and Sweden were already previously drawn into Semi-Finals to assure a fair allocation of tickets in the Nordic region. Israel will take part in the second Semi-Final due to the first Semi-Final falling on their Independence day.
The whole process will be overseen by the EBU Executive Supervisor Jon Ola Sand and Thomas Niedermeyer from Digame.
The same day also the Host City Insignia handover ceremony will take place where the mayor of Malmö will hand over the symbolic Eurovision Song Contest host city keys to the mayor of Copenhagen.