The 2022 Eurovision Song Contest Semi-final Allocation Draw and Host Insignia Handover Ceremony is set to take place at Turin’s iconic Palazzo Madama on Tuesday 25 January.

La Stampa, one of Italy’s leading newspapers, is reporting that the 2022 Eurovision Semi-final Allocation Draw will be he held at the Palazzo Madama. The event will be streamed live on the official Eurovision Song Contest Youtube Channel. Circa 100 persons are expected to attend the event.

The Madama Palace was the first senate of the Kingdom of Italy and today the iconic palace houses the Museum of Ancient Art in Turin.

The Mayor of Rotterdam will officially hand over the Eurovision baton to the Mayor of Turin Mr. Stefano Lo Russo during the Host Insignia Handover Ceremony.

Semi-final Allocation Draw

The 2022 Eurovision Semi-final Allocation Draw is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 25 January in Turin.

A total of 41 countries will partake at the forthcoming 2022 Eurovision Song Contest in Turin. 36 countries will compete in the semi-finals whilst a total of 25 countries will compete in the Grand Final on 14 May.

How many countries will compete in each semi-final?

A total of 36 countries will fight for the golden ticket to the Grand Final in one of the two semi-finals on 10 and 12 May. Thus 18 countries will compete in each of the two semi-finals, whist the Big 5 ( Spain, United Kingdom, Italy, France and Germany) have a direct ticket to the Grand Final on 14 May.

The 36 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.

The exact running order of the 36 countries competing in the 2 semi-finals on 10 and 12 May will be determined by the producers of the show by late March. The draw will be supervised by EBU’s Executive Supervisor Mr. Martin Osterdahl.

Semi-finalist countries

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

Big 5

1. France
2. Germany
3. Italy
4. Spain
   
5. 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 voting in semi-finals

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

The 2022 Eurovision Song Contest will be a co-production by Italian national broadcaster RAI and the EBU.

The 2022 Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to be held on 10, 12 and 14 May at the Pala Olimpico in Turin, Italy.

Cover Photo credit: Wikepedia