The grand final of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest will be held tonight. Of course, everyone wants to know where the trophy and therefore the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest will go to. The last seven victories were all achieved by countries that had never won it before. Therefore, we will now take a look at those countries that have never won it before and are competing tonight – those are 11 out of 25 competing countries.
Portugal is the country that has been waiting the longest for its first victory having debuted in 1964 with a last place and 'nil points'. In fact, Portugal never even came close to a victory as the best result in Eurovision Song Contest final was the sixth place in 1996. However, Vânia Fernandes finished second in the second semi final in 2008 just to drop to 13th place in the grand final. This year, Flor-de-lis try to bring the contest to Lisbon in 2010 with their flower power anthem Todas as ruas do amor.
The country that has been waiting the second longest for its first victory is Malta. The first participation took place in 1971 and resulted in a last place. The same happened the year after and even swapping to the English language in 1975 did not help much. It would take until 1991 that the country returned (and would not miss an edition since), this time with much bigger success as Malta came very close to the victory in 1992, 1998, 2002 and 2005 with two third place and two second places. The third place in 1998 and the second place in 2005 were both achieved by Ciara, who represents Malta this year again, this time with the ballad What if we?.
Iceland has been waiting for its first victory since 1986 and nobody can say that they did not try it hard considering shrill performances like those by Páll Oskar and Silvia Night. The island came very close in 1999, when Selma finished only 17 points behind Charlotte Nilsson from Sweden. This year, Yohanna tries to bring home the tropy. Even if she does not so, Is it true? could be the first Icelandic ballad ever to reach the top ten.
Croatia debuted as an independant country in 1993 and has never won, although the Croatian band Riva won the 1989 Eurovision Song Contest under flag of Yugoslavia. Croatia's best results to date are the fourth places in 1996 and 1999 and Igor Cukrov feat. Andrea try to top those this year with their classic ballad Lijepa Tena.
Just like Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina took part for the first time in 1993 but came even closer to a victory as Hata Mata Hari finished third in 2006 with a ballad. The band Regina tries to be at least equally successful this year, also with a ballad in the national language: Bistra voda.
In 1994, Lithuania became one of those countries to debut with 'nil points'. The country has only once been in any way close to a victory with the comedy troop LT United, who finished sixth in 2006. This year, Sasha Son wants to take home the trophy with his very different entry Love.
Another country that had a rough start in the competition is Romania. Having debuted in 1994, the first top ten placing came only in 2002. The highest result to date is a third place in 2005, closely followed by a fourth place the year after. The first victory could be achieved by Elena Georghe this year, who hits the stage with her Balkan girls.
Albania's debut participation in 2004 was also the most successful one to date seeing a seventh place in the final. The songwriting team of that year is back this time with the song Carry me in your dreams, which will be performed by Kejsi Tola.
Moldova joined the contest in 2005 and, just like Albania, achieved its best result to date on its debut with a second place in the semi final and a sixth place in the final. The song was performed in Romanian and English, just like this year's entry Hora din Moldova, which will be sung by Nelly Ciobanu.
Having been in the top ten in its first three participations, Armenia hopes to be fourth time lucky this year with Inga & Anush and their song Nor par.
Azerbaijan has not been waiting too long for the first victory as the country joined the competition only last year. Thanks to AySel & Arash with Always, Azerbaijan could be the third country to win the contest on its second attempt following the Netherlands in 1957 and Ukraine in 2004.
Betting odds
The last seven victories were all achieved by countries that had never one before. This year, according to the betting odds, it looks more like a country that has won before will take home the trophy. The betting odds according to coral.co.uk for the "Eurovision virigins" are as follows:
- Azerbaijan – 12/1 (4th overall)
- Bosnia & Herzegovina – 16/1
- Iceland – 20/1
- Armenia – 40/1
Malta – 40/1 - Albania – 50/1
- Moldova – 66/1
- Portugal – 80/1
- Romania – 100/1
- Lithuania – 125/1
- Croatia – 150/1
