Tomorrow, two of the landmarks of every Eurovision Song Contest season will take place – the Host City Insignia exchange and the semifinal allocation draw. It is worth to mention that Slovakia, despite confirming withdrawal some ten days ago, will be drawn into one of the Eurovision 2011 semifinals. Therefore, the number of participating countries seems to bring back to 43.
Düsseldorf will be handed over the honour of hosting the Eurovision Song Contest from Oslo and Bærum. The ceremony, hosted by 2011 Eurovision Song Contest hostess Judith Rakers, will take place at 15:00 CET at the Apollo Theatre and is expected to be attended by hundreds of guests and journalists.
The semifinal allocation draw will decide in which of the two semifinals each participating country will compete, except Israel, that is already granted a spot in the second semifinal due to the celebration of the Memorial Day on the day of the first semifinal. The broadcasters will also know if their representatives will have to perform in the first or in the second half of the shows.It will also be determined which Semi-Final the 'Big Five' (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) will have to broadcast and vote in.
The 38 countries to participate in the semifinals will be drawn from six pots, based on the 2010 voting patterns. This system intends to reduce the effects of bloc voting, making the shows more exciting and less predictable.
Half of the countries will be drawn into the first Semi-Final, the other half into the second Semi-Final. Below you can see the composition of the pots:
Pot 1
- Albania
- Bosnia & Herzegovina
- Croatia
- FYR Macedonia
- Serbia
- Slovenia
- Switzerland
Pot 2
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- Iceland
- Norway
- Sweden
Pot 3
- Azerbaijan
- Belarus
- Georgia
- Israel
- Moldova
- Russia
- Ukraine
Pot 4
- Armenia
- Belgium
- Cyprus
- Greece
- The Netherlands
- Turkey
Pot 5
- Ireland
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Malta
- Portugal
- Romania
Pot 6
- Austria
- Bulgaria
- Hungary
- Poland
- San Marino
- Slovakia
No webcast will be made available. The draw will be transmitted via Twitter.
