MRT, the Macedonian national broadcaster has confirmed that FYR Macedonia will participate at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest.

We will finally see MRT and FYR Macedonia at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest. Last month the EBU had blocked the Balkan country’s Eurovision participation due to non-payment of debt.  The issue has been now resolved by both parties and the country is set to partake in the competition next year.

The announcement was made by the EBU today, thus 43 countries compete at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon:

The EBU and Macedonian Radio Television (MRT) are pleased to announce that MRT will now participate in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest. This follows the lifting of sanctions imposed for non-payment of debt. MRT will be participating in the Eurovision Song Contest for the 18th time. The number of participants in the 2018 competition equals the record set in Belgrade in 2008 and Düsseldorf in 2011.

Mr.Jon Ola Sand (EBU’s ESC Executive Supervisor) says:

The EBU and MRT have worked quickly to find a resolution on this matter together, which ensures that MRT are able to join us in the Eurovision Song Contest once again, and we are pleased to announce that this has now been possible. This means we will have a record-equalling number of countries participating in Lisbon, and we are very confident that those are successful in purchasing tickets will enjoy their Eurovision experience next year.

In 2017, FYR Macedonia went internal in order to select its Eurovision act and entry for Kyiv and selected Jana Burčeska to defend the country in the contest with her dance beat Dance alone. Despite an  extraordinary performance, she failed to qualify to the Grand Final in Ukraine.

MRT is yet to determine the mechanism it will use to select its Eurovision entry and act for Lisbon. More details will be released in due course.

FYR Macedonia in Eurovision

FYR Macedonia debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998 and is yet to win the competition. The country attempted to enter the competition in 1996 with Kaliopi but didn’t qualify from the pre-audio selection round.

The Balkan nation has never made it to the Top 10 of the scoreboard. Elena Risteka retains FYR Macedonia’s best result, namely at 12th placing which she achieved at the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest in Athens.

Unlucky spell

An unlucky spells seems to be marring the country’s Eurovision fortunes as it has failed to qualify to the Grand Final for the last 5 years, not forgetting that FYR Macedonia has only made it five times to the Grand Final since the introduction of the semi-finals in 2004.

Eurovision 2018

The 2018 Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to be held on 8, 10 and 12 in Lisbon, Portugal.

The deadline for broadcasters to officially apply for Eurovision 2018 concluded on 15 September. Hereafter, countries had a grace period until 10 October to confirm their participation or withdraw their application without a penalty.