The most anxiously awaited moment of the year is about to arrive! The final of the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest is going to take place tonight at the Baku Crystal Hall. Twenty-six nations will fight to become the winner of this year’s edition of the contest – the host country Azerbaijan, the so-called ‘Big-5’ (Germany, United Kingdom, France, Spain and Italy) and 20 countries to qualify from the semifinals. Who will Azerbaijan pass the baton to?

The show

The broadcast starts at 21:00 CET (0:00 Baku time) and will be hosted by Nargiz and Leyla, TV presenters, and Eldar, who won the trophy for Azerbaijan last year. In this show, all 42 countries competing in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest will be voting. The result will be determined by a 50/50 split between national expert juries and televoting. The combined scores will create the final outcome. In yesterday’s Jury Final, the expert juries already determined their votes by watching the live performances.

As esctoday.com revealed earlier this month, the opening and interval acts are the mugham legend Alim Gasimov, Natig rhythm band, Azerbaijan National Dance Ensemble, and singer and composer Emin. Also, local and foreign dance groups and singers will perform.

How to watch

• Live on the public broadcasters of all 42 participating countries at 21:00 CET (0:00 Baku time)
• Webcast (eurovision.tv official)
• Other webcasts provided by various European public broadcasters will be available as well

Participants