Eurovision 2018: EBU releases participants list

The EBU (European Broadcasting Union) has released the list of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest participating countries today. A total of 43 countries will compete in Lisbon.

37 countries will compete in the 2 semi-finals scheduled to be held on 8 and 10 May. A total of 26 countries will compete in the grand final on 12 May.

The Big 5 countries (Spain, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Germany) + host country (Portugal) 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 Portugal.

Participating countries

1. Albania
2. Armenia
3. Australia
4. Austria
5. Azerbaijan
6. Belarus
7. Belgium
8. Bulgaria
9. Croatia
10. Cyprus
11. Czech Republic
12. Denmark
13. Estonia
14. Finland
15. France
16. FYR Macedonia
17. Germany
18. Georgia
19. Greece
20. Hungary
21. Iceland
22. Ireland
23. Israel
24. Italy
25. Latvia
26. Lithuania
27. Malta
28. Moldova
29. Montenegro
30. The Netherlands
31. Norway
32. Poland
33. Portugal
34. Romania
35. Russia
36. San Marino
37. Serbia
38. Slovenia
39. Spain
40. Sweden
41. Switzerland
42. Ukraine
43. United Kingdom

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