Eurovision 2027: How many countries will compete in Bulgaria?

Hello Europe, Bulgaria is gearing up in full steam to welcome the Eurovision bandwagon along with its glam, glitz and glitter for the first  time in ESC history. The country has kicked off preparations for the upcoming 2027 Eurovision Song Contest. How many countries will compete in the contest next year? Will there be any new countries joining the club? Will we see any returning nations? Will there be any withdrawals? Let’s check out who’s heading to Bulgaria next year….

Circa 36-38 countries are expected to partake in the competition next year in the Bulgaria. The maximum number of countries permitted to compete in next year’s contest is 44, whilst the Grand Final will feature a maximum of 26 nations battling for the coveted Eurovision trophy. A maximum of 38 countries will battle in one of the two semi-finals.

10 countries from each semifinal will proceed to the Grand Final, thus 20 nations will join the 2027 Eurovision winning country, Bulgaria and the Big Five ( United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain and France).

A total of 36 countries have confirmed their participation at the upcoming 2026 Eurovision Song Contest in Bulgaria.

The deadline for broadcasters to apply for participation concluded on the 15th September 2026 whilst the grace period for applicant countries to withdraw their application without facing a financial penalty concluded in the middle of October 2026. Last year the EBU extended the grace period until December 2026, it is yet to be seen if the same extension will be implemented again.

The EBU has granted a special extension to both Spain and Slovenia in order to decide on their respective participations at the Eurovision Song Contest in Burgas, Bulgaria.

This article will be updated constantly in the lead up to the EBU’s official announcement of the 2027 Eurovision list of participating countries.

Will we see any debuts in 2027?

Both Kosovo and Kazakhstan are keen to enter the competition but do not currently comply with the EBU’s rules and regulations in order participate in the contest.

Canada’s national broadcaster CBC has been granted full EBU membership on 25th June at the EBU’s General Assembly in Prague. On the 1st of July CBC and the EBU confirmed Canada’s debut and participation at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2027. Hence we will be seeing a new country debuting at the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time since 2015 when Australia debuted in the competition.

Liechtenstein’s broadcaster 1FL TV has to become an full member of the EBU in order to partake in the contest.

Liechtenstein

Liechtenstein‘s national broadcaster 1FL  TV is not an EBU member therefore it is not eligible to take part in the contest.

Kosovo

Kosovo is not a member of the ITU (International Television Union), one of  the key requirements to become an active EBU member. Thus RTK is not an EBU member and is currently ineligible to join the contest. The country is neither a member of the United Nations or the Council of Europe. The Eurovision Song Contest has been broadcast live in the Balkan country in recent years. In 2026 RTK broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest live from Vienna.

Kazakhstan

Kazakh broadcaster Khabar Agency is an associate EBU member since 2016 and thus NOT ELIGIBLE to participate at the Eurovision Song Contest, Kazakhstan has to be formally invited by the EBU to join the competition. It is entirely up to the EBU’s discretion to extend an invite to the country very much like in the case of Australia.The Kazakh broadcaster has been airing the contest for the past years.

Kazakhstan  debuted at the 2018 Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Minsk and has competed in the competition five times.

Canada

Canadian national broadcaster, CBC, has been an associate member of the EBU since 1950, and has not been ELIGIBLE to participate at the Eurovision Song Contest until now.

Canada is keen to enter the Eurovision Song Contest, its federal government had included a budget for a potential Eurovision participation in its 2025 Federal Bugdet.

CBC was in talks with the EBU for a potential participation at the Eurovision Song Contest. UPDATED 25/06/26: CBC/ Radio Canada has been granted full EBU membership and is thus be eligible to compete at Eurovision 2027. UPDATED 01/07/27 CBC /Radio confirms participation at Eurovision 2027 in Bulgaria

Will we see Australia at Eurovision 2027?

The ultimate Aussie Eurovision dream saw the day of light back in 2015 when our neighbours down under were invited to partake in Europe’s favourite television show in Vienna. 2019 saw Australia holding a full fledged national final in order to determine its Eurovision hopeful, thus celebrating its fifth consecutive Eurovision participation. The Aussies continued with their national final in 2020 and 2022.

Until 2019 SBS had to wait for an invite from the EBU and  host broadcaster in order to participate in our beloved song contest, on a year to year basis. This was no longer be necessary until 2023 as SBS Australia and the EBU  sealed a five year deal enabling the country to compete in the song contest for  five years. This deal concluded in 2023. Australia was invited by the EBU and the ESC 2024, ESC 2025 and ESC 2026 host broadcasters SVT, SRG-SSR, ORF to partake in the competition in Malmo, Basel and Vienna respectively.

The Eurovision Song Contest’s Reference Group (the governing body of the competition on behalf of the competing broadcasters) approved the decision to grant Australia and SBS the right to participate at the Eurovision Song Contest for five years, thus securing participation in the competition until 2023.

Australia was invited to participate at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna as a one off occasion, but our neighbours down under embraced the contest with such enthusiasm they have been invited to every edition since 2015.

The Aussies have won the hearts of Eurovision fans near and far, achieving 6 Top 10 placings in their eleven year Eurovision history.

The EBU and BNT the Eurovision 2027 host broadcaster have extended an invite to our Aussie friends to compete at Eurovision 2027. We will see Australia competing at the Eurovision Song Contest in Burgas.

Will there be any returning countries? 

Spain, Slovenia and Iceland are yet to confirm if they will return or not to Eurovision in 2027.

• Belarus-Belarusian national broadcaster, BTRC, has been expelled from the EBU and is thus ineligible to join the competition next year. Hence we will not see Belarus compete at Eurovision 2027.
• Morocco debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1980 and has not competed since, we don’t expect the Northern African country to compete in the contest next year either.
• Russia was set to compete at the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest in Turin but was  excluded from partaking in the competion by the EBU in the wake of the war in Ukraine. The Russian broadcasters have been suspended from the EBU. Hence we will not see the country returning to the competition next year either.
• Bosnia & Herzegovina will not to return to the contest in 2027 either due to to the finacial hurdles and hefty debt BHRT is currently facing along with the sanctions from the EBU. The country withdrew from the competition in 2017 and has not returned since.
• Andorra will not return to the contest in 2027. The country withdrew from the competition in 2010 and has not returned since. The landlocked country’s national broadcaster RTVA has confirmed to ESCToday that Andorra will not return to Eurovision in 2027 in Bulgaria.
• Ireland will not return to the contest in 2027. RTE  maintains the same position as last year when it withdrew from the contest in 2026. On the 17th of September RTE released a statement regarding its non-participation at Eurovision 2027 due to Israel’s participation.
• Netherlands will not return to the contest in 2027. NPO initially confirmed its participation at the Eurovision 2027 after AVROTROS’ withdrawal, but due to the lack of support from broadcasters it has decided not to compete at Eurovision 2027.
• Slovakia withdrew from the competition in 2013 and has not returned since. RTVS is considering to return to the competition in the near future. Slovakia will not return to Eurovision in 2027 either.
• Turkey withdrew from the event in 2013 citing that it did not agree with the new rules of the competition and has not returned since.  TRT will not return to Eurovision in 2027 either.
• The Netherlands withdrew from the Eurovision Song Contest in 2026 due to Israel’s participation at Eurovision 2026 in Vienna.  (UPDATED) AVROTROS announced on 24/08/2026 that it will not compete at Eurovision 2027 due to Israel’s participation in the contest and it is handing back the Dutch participation’s responsibility to NPO. The Dutch participation at ESC 2027n now lies in the hands of the NPO. (UPDATED)  NPO confirmed that the Netherlands would return to Eurovision in 2027 on 23/09/2026.  (UPDATED) NPO announced on 27/10/2026 that it had decided not to participate at Eurovision 2027 due to lack of support from its broadcasters and given the current geopolitical scenario.
• Monaco withdrew from the competition in 2007 and has not returned since. The last time Monaco competed at the Eurovision Song Contest was in 2006, back then the Monegasque national broadcaster TMC was responsible for the microstate’s participation at Eurovision. In recent years TMC merged into French broadcaster TF 1 and is no more a member of the EBU. Herafter Monaco launched a new national broadcaster TVMONACO on September 1st 2023, the new broadcaster is full EBU member since March 2024 and is thus eligible to compete at the Eurovision Song Contest. TVMonaco will not compete at ESC 2027.
• Hungary decided to withdraw from the competition in 2020 and has not returned since. Hungary’s new Prime Minister has hinted that the country might return to the competition. We are yet awaiting for its national broadcaster to make a decision regarding a potential return in 2027.(UPDATED) On 3rd September the Hungarian national broadcaster announced that it had held talks with the EBU regarding its return to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2027 and that the EBU had reportedly reduced its participation fee significantly and had granted the Hungarian national broadcaster an extended deadline until early December in order to confirm its participation at the ESC 2027. Hungary will not be returning to Eurovision in 2027 either.

Who will withdraw?

• Czechia– CT has withdrawn from competing at the Eurovision 2027 due to budget cuts.

Confirmed countries

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

Will there be any returns?

1. Slovenia
2. Spain
3. Iceland

Will not return

1. Russia
2. Belarus
3. Bosnia & Herzegovina
4. Morocco
5. Andorra
6. Ireland
7. Czechia
8. The Netherlands
9. Monaco
10. Slovakia
11. Turkey
12. Hungary

Will there be any debuts?

• Canada- CBC/Radio Canada will debut at the Eurovision Song Contes 2027 in Burgas.

Will not debut

• Liechtenstein
• Kazakhstan
• Kosovo

The 2027 Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to be held on 11, 13 and 15 May at the Burgas Arena in Burgas in Bulgaria.

The official list of competing countries at the Eurovision Song Contest 2027 is expected was  released by the EBU on October 28th.