Azerbaijan have announced the names of the 5 candidates that will compete for the golden ticket to Düsseldorf. Ilhama Gasimova, Ilqara Ibrahimova, Eldar Gasimov, Aynishan Guliyeva and Nigar Jamal will take part in the Azerbaijani 2011 Eurovision national final, scheduled to be held in Baku on the 2nd of February.

Who will follow the footsteps of Safura?The names of the 5 finalists that will battle for the golden ticket to represent Azerbaijan at the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf.

These are the five Azerbaijani finalists:

• Ilhama Gasimova
• Ilqara Ibrahimova
• Eldar Gasimov
• Aynishan Guliyeva
• Nigar Jamal

Nine acts competed last week for a spot in the country's national final for Eurovision 2011. The original number of acts was ten, but eventually Nicola Barkley pulled out of the process. Also, the final decision was expected to be announced on Friday, but only the SMS voting results were revealed back then. The jury verdict was delayed until today.

Azerbaijan debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008 and its best placing was in 2009 with Arash and Aysel who achieved a 3rd placing with Always.