How many countries will compete at the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm next month? Will it be 40, 41, 42, 43 44, 45 or 46 ?

43 countries will compete at the 61st Eurovision Song Contest scheduled to be held on 10, 12, 14 May at the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.

The deadline for countries to submit their respective applications in order to participate at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest concluded on Tuesday 15 September, herefater all applicant countries had a grace period until 10 October to decide if they were to stay in the competition or not without facing a financial penalty.

A maximum  of 46 countries will be allowed to enter the competition next year according to the rules and regulations of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest. Whilst the maximum number of countries to compete in each semifinal has been set to 20.

The grand final on 14 May will feature a total of 26 countries (20 qualified countries from the 2 semifinals (10 from each semifinal)+ BIG 5 countries ( Spain, UK, France, Italy, Germany) + host country (Sweden).

Who will join us in Stockholm? Will we see any returning countries?

A total of  43 countries have confirmed their participation at next year’s Eurovision musical extravaganza.

Ukraine will return to the contest after a year’s absence. Bulgaria, Bosnia Herzegovina and Croatia will be back in the competition too. Australia has been invited to enter the Eurovision club too, thus the country down under returns to the competition after their debut.

Turkey confirmed its non participation at the 61st Eurovision Song Contest on 3 November, thus we will not have a Turkish entry in Stockholm.

Andorra, Luxembourg, Monaco, Portugal and Slovakia have all confirmed to ESCToday that they will not participate in the contest next year, thus will not return. It is also unlikely to see Morocco return to the competition after its one off participation in 1980.

We will not see Liechtenstein debut in Eurovision next year either, the tiny principality has yet to become an active member of the EBU. Lebanon too will not debut in the contest next year.

Confirmed countries

[table]
,Country

[Sweden],Sweden
[Norway],Norway
[Denmark],Denmark
[Finland],Finland
[Iceland],Iceland
[Estonia],Estonia
[Latvia],Latvia
[Lithuania],Lithuania
[Czech Republic], Czech Republic
[Belgium] ,Belgium
[The Netherlands],The Netherlands
[Germany],Germany
[Greece], Greece
[Switzerland],Switzerland
[France],France
[Belarus],Belarus
[Ireland],Ireland
[Malta],Malta
[United Kingdom],United Kingdom
[Cyprus], Cyprus
[Azerbaijan], Azerbaijan
[Austria], Austria
[Spain], Spain
[Slovenia], Slovenia
[Georgia], Georgia
[Italy], Italy
[Bulgaria], Bulgaria
[Ukraine], Ukraine
[Israel], Israel
[Albania], Albania
[San Marino], San Marino
[FYR Macedonia], FYR Macedonia
[Armenia], Armenia
[Russia], Russia
[Montenegro], Montegro
[Poland], Poland
[Moldova], Moldova
[Hungary], Hungary
[Serbia], Serbia
[Australia], Australia
[Romania], Romania
[Bosnia Herzegovina], Bosnia Herzegovina
[Croatia], Croatia

 

Will not return

[table]

,Country

[Monaco],Monaco
[Luxembourg], Luxembourg
[Andorra], Andorra
[Slovakia], Slovakia
[Portugal], Portugal
[Turkey], Turkey
[Morocco], Morocco

[/table]

No Debut

[table]

,Country

[Liechtenstein], Liechtenstein
[Lebanon], Lebanon

[/table]

 

The official list of the 2016 participating countries will be most likely released by the EBU in due course.

Stay tuned to ESCToday for the latest news on the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest!