RTP, the 2018 Eurovision host broadcaster and the EBU have set a date for the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest Semi-final Allocation Draw.

Semi-final Allocation Draw

The 2018 Eurovision Semi-final Allocation Draw is scheduled to take place on Monday 29 January in Lisbon. The venue is yet to be officially confirmed, but it is more likely that the Lisbon City Hall (Camara Municipal de Lisboa) will host the event.

A total of 43 countries will partake at the forthcoming 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon. 37 countries will compete in the semi-finals whilst a total of 26 countries will compete in the Grand Final on 12 May.

How many countries will compete in each semi-final?

A total of 37 countries will fight for the golden ticket to the Grand Final in one of the two semi-finals on 8 and 10 May. Thus 18 countries will compete in one semi-final and 19 countries in the other, whist the Big 5 ( Spain, United Kingdom, Italy, France and Germany) and the host country Portugal are pre-qualified and have an automatic ticket to the Grand Final on 12 May.

The 37 semi-finalist countries will be divided into several pots and distributed equally into each of the 2 semi-finals by a draw. The distribution of the countries in the pots will be based on the voting pattern in each country in the past years.

This mechanism is used in order to avoid neighbourly voting and countries that tend to vote for each another ending up competing in the same semi-final.

The first draw will determine which country will compete in which semi-final. 19 countries will compete in the 1st semi-final on 8 May, whilst the remaining 18 countries will compete in the 2nd semi-final on 10 May.

The exact running order of the 36 countries competing in the 2 semi-finals on 8 and 10 May will be determined by the producers of the show by late March. The draw will be supervised by EBU’s Executive Supervisor Mr. Jon Ola Sand.

Semi-finalist 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. FYR Macedonia
16. Georgia
17. Greece
18. Hungary
19. Iceland
20. Ireland
21. Israel
22. Latvia
23. Lithuania
24. Malta
25. Moldova
26. Montenegro
27. The Netherlands
28. Norway
29. Poland
30. Romania
31. Russia
32. San Marino
33. Serbia
34. Slovenia
35. Sweden
36. Switzerland
37. Ukraine 

Big 5 + Host Country

1. France
2. Germany
3. Italy
4. Portugal
5. Spain
6. United Kingdom

First/second half of Semi-final Allocation Draw

Another draw will determine the appearance of the country in its respective semi-final (1st half or 2nd half of the semi-final).

Big 5 and Portugal voting in semi-finals

The Big 5 (Italy, France, UK, Spain and Germany) countries and host country Portugal will vote in the semi-finals too. A draw will also determine which country will vote in which semi-final.

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