The Semi-Finals Allocation Draw 2024 took place at Malmö Rådhus on the evening of 30 January, deciding which Eurovision Song Contest countries will compete and vote in which semi-finals, and the opening ceremony of the live streamed ceremony saw the baton of the host city pass from former host Liverpool to our Swedish friends.
Pernilla Månsson Colt, who oversaw the allocation draw back in 2013 too, and Farah Abadi were our hosts.
During the ceremony, Liverpool Mayor Steve Rotheram, representing last year’s host city, handed over the Eurovision baton to the Mayor of Malmö, Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh, officially handing over the hosting of the Eurovision Song Contest to the new host city.
The semi-final draw then decided whether countries would 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). It was also randomly selected which country would be selected to feature in the semi-final draw.
The Semi-Final Allocation Draw: this is how the process works
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.
Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 | Pot 5 |
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