The EBU (European Broadcasting Union) has released the list of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest participating countries today. A total of 43 countries will compete in Stockholm.

43 countries will compete in the 2 semi-finals scheduled to be held on 10 and 12 May. A total of  26 countries will compete in the grand final on 14 May. The BIG 5 countries (Spain, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Germany)+ host country (Sweden) are automatically qualified to compete in the grand final. Hence  20/37 countries will proceed from the semi-finals to the grand final and join the BIG 5 and Sweden.

Semi-finalists

[table sort=”asc,”]
,Country,,Country,,Country
[Albania],Albania, [Armenia],Armenia, [Australia],Australia
[Austria], Austria, [Azerbaijan], Azerbaijan,[Belarus],Belarus
[Belgium],Belgium, [Bosnia Herzegovina], Bosnia Herzegovina,[Bulgaria], Bulgaria
[Croatia], Croatia,[Cyprus], Cyprus,[Czech Republic],Czech Republic
[Denmark],Denmark, [Estonia],Estonia, [Finland],Finland
[FYR Macedonia],FYR Macedonia, [Georgia],Georgia, [Greece],Greece
[Hungary], Hungary, [Iceland],Iceland, [Ireland],Ireland
[Israel], Israel, [Latvia],Latvia, [Lithuania],Lithuania
[Malta],Malta, [Moldova],Moldova, [Montenegro],Montenegro
[Norway],Norway, [Poland],Poland, [Romania],Romania
[Russia],Russia, [San Marino], San Marino, [Serbia],Serbia
[Slovenia],Slovenia, [Switzerland],Switzerland, [The Netherlands],The Netherlands
[Ukraine], Ukraine

[/table]

Finalists (Big 5 +Host country)

[table sort=”asc,”]
,Country,,Country,,Country
[France],France,[Germany],Germany, [Italy], Italy
[Spain],Spain, [Sweden], Sweden, [United Kingdom], United Kingdom
[/table]

The 2016 Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to be held on 10, 12 and 14 May at the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.

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