There might be four countries that reached the Eurovision Song Contest final tonight that are even luckier than the other six: those that reached the final for the very first time. These are the debutants Serbia and Georgia as well as Belarus and Bulgaria.
Serbia
After the seperation of Serbia and Montenegro, both countries took part for the first time. While Montenegro failed to qualify, Marija Serifovic and her big ballad Molitva reached the final. She was already tipped as one of the most obvious finalists and she also reached the third place in the Big Poll.
Georgia
Georgia and the song Visionary dream by Sopho Khalvashi might be the surprising debutants to qualify. In the Big Poll this entry was 18th and only few other prediction polls saw it as a certain qualifier. Last year, neighbouring country Armenia reached the final on its debut to finish 8th – maybe this is a good sign?
Belarus
Since 2004, when they entered the contest, Belarus has been trying to reach the final but was never in the top10 of a semi final. Koldun was the first representaitve who made it. In 2004 My Galileo was seen as a certain qualifier and didn't reach the final. One year later, Angelica Agurbash had to face the same destiny. Nevertheless, Koldon reached the top10 in most prediction polls (he was 5th in the Big Poll).
Bulgaria
Similar, but a bit less dramatic is the Bulgarian history in the contest. Neither in 2005, when they debuted, nor in 2006 they reached the final. Nevertheless it hasto be mentioned that both Kaffee and Mariana Popova had serious chances to make it according to the polls. Elitsa & Stoyan will therefore be the first Bulgarian representatives in a song contest final. In the prediction poll, they dropped out of the top10 but nevertheless, they saw pretty good betting odds.