On 21st March the order of presentation of the songs for the qualifier round and the final of the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest will be determined by a draw. The 41 countries who subscribed for participation have to confirm it once again before 15th December. The 2005 Eurovision Song Contest will be hosted in Kiev by the national Ukrainian broadcaster NTU.
14 of the 41 countries participating countries have already secured their place among the 24 spots available in the final of the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest: last year's winner Ukraine, the 9 other highest scoring countries from the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest and the big 4 France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom. For the 10 remaining places left in the final, the rest of the countries will have to battle it out in the qualifier round to be held on 19th May 2005.
According to the rules, all of these countries will have to confirm their participation in the Eurovision Song Contest before 15th December 2004. After this date, the final list of competitors will be published. The order of presentation of the songs for the qualifier round and the final of the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest will be determined by a draw to be held in Kiev on 21st March 2005.
