Eurovision Odds: Nordic struggle predicted as Ukraine surges ahead

by Richard West-Soley 1,356 views

The remaining Nordic countries tonight face an uphill battle to join Sweden in the final, if current bookmakers’ odds turn out to be accurate.

After Finland and Iceland failed to grab final spots on Tuesday, Norway and Denmark find themselves in precarious positions amongst betting punters this evening. According to the current average rankings, Norway will be fighting it out with Georgia for the tenth spot, while Denmark languishes even further down the list of favourites. Should both countries fail to make Saturday’s show, they will leave host Sweden as the sole representative of the Nordic countries in the final.

At the top of the scale, Ukraine is tonight’s big favourite, with Jamala’s song attracting interest from mainstream news outlets today. Australia comes an extremely close second, with odds on the qualification of either country barely earning 1-2% profit on a successful stake tonight. Both countries remain the only entrants from the second semifinal to feature in the top ten of potential overall winners of the 2016 event, with Israel edging in just outside in 12th position.

The current standing across bookmakers for semifinal 2 qualification is as follows:

  • Ukraine
  • Australia
  • Serbia
  • Belgium
  • Latvia
  • Israel
  • Bulgaria
  • Lithuania
  • Poland
  • Norway / Georgia / FYR Macedonia

The outsiders, who may struggle to qualify according to punter confidence, are Denmark, Ireland, Slovenia, Belarus, Albania and Switzerland. They will be hoping that Tuesday’s run of successful predictions by bookmakers will not be repeated!