Eurovision 2026: Semi-Final 1

The First Semi-Final of the 2026 Eurovision: What Changes This Year

Eurovision returns to Vienna for the third time, after 1967 and 2015, following Austria’s 2025 victory with JJ’s “Wasted Love.” The Wiener Stadthalle, which can hold up to 16,000 spectators, will host all three live shows on 12, 14 and 16 May.

Victoria Swarovski and Michael Ostrowski are presenting the contest, with Emily Busvine running the green room – its design reimagined for 2026 as a Viennese coffee house, in a nod to the city’s UNESCO-listed café culture.

This is the smallest Eurovision field since 2003. Just 35 countries are taking part, two fewer than last year, after Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain pulled out in protest at Israel’s continued participation in the contest amid the ongoing attacks on Gaza. Three countries are returning after absences: Bulgaria, Moldova and Romania.

The 2025 contest also left the EBU dealing with controversy over the televoting system, after Israel won the public vote and finished second overall. An investigation by the EBU’s fact-checking initiative revealed that the Israeli Government had conducted an advertising campaign in all participating countries to encourage and boost public votes for Israel’s song.

For 2026, the rules have been updated: national juries are returning to the semi-finals (they hadn’t been used since 2022), the maximum number of votes per payment method has been cut from 20 to 10, and the EBU has tightened guidance to discourage “disproportionate promotion campaigns” by governments or third parties.

 

Which Countries Will Perform on Semi-Final 1

Of the fifteen competing acts, seven perform in the first half: Moldova, Sweden, Croatia, Greece, Portugal, Georgia and Finland. The other eight close the show: Montenegro, Estonia, Israel, Belgium, Lithuania, San Marino, Poland and Serbia. 

Italy and Germany, two of the “Big Five” (now “Big Four” after Spain’s boycott), are also performing on the night as part of the interval acts, and their juries and televoters will both contribute to the result. Austria, France and the United Kingdom will do the same in Semi-Final 2.

Without further ado, let’s get to know the 2026 Eurovision’s first Semi-Final participants a bit better!

 

🇲🇩 Moldova: Satoshi – “Viva, Moldova!”

Best Performance in ESC: 3rd place (2017)

Result in 2025: Did not compete (withdrawn)

Moldova opens the show after a year off. Returning artist Satoshi (real name Vlad Sabajuc) is a 27-year-old rapper and songwriter from Cahul, in southwest Moldova. 

He picked up his stage name from a fascination with Japanese culture, taught himself drums as a teenager, and launched the Satoshi project in 2019. Three albums in, he’s toured Moldova, Romania and beyond, even playing his first London show in 2024.

“Viva, Moldova!” is essentially a love letter to his country, but kept international by switching between Romanian, Italian, Spanish, French, Latin, Hawaiian and English. Co-written with Cătălin Temciuc and Andrei Vulpe, the track features vocals from former Eurovision representative Aliona Moon and a violin part from Vasile Advahov.

The official video was filmed with the JOC National Ballet wearing red-and-white folk costumes. Exactly the kind of bold, pan-European pop stunt Moldova has built a reputation for. Bookmakers have him as a fairly safe qualifier so far.

 

🇸🇪 Sweden: Felicia – “My System”

Best Performance in ESC: 1st place (7 times)

Result in 2025: 4th

Sweden is chasing a record-breaking eighth Eurovision title with Felicia and her Melodifestivalen-winning techno banger “My System.”

Felicia Eriksson is 24, from Tullinge near Stockholm, and was previously the original voice behind the masked project Fröken Snusk. After leaving that project in spring 2025, she rebooted under her own name and now performs in a partial mask, a personal choice tied to childhood social anxiety.

“My System” is a club-leaning track about being unable to break free from a toxic-but-magnetic relationship. The song was written during a Nordic songwriting camp in Iceland and holds the Melodifestivalen record for the most foreign songwriters on a single entry. 

The Vienna staging features Felicia surrounded by lasers, fighting them off and then bending them to her will – full Eurodance theatre. With consistent top-three odds for outright victory, Sweden will fancy their chances of yet another final on Saturday.

 

🇭🇷 Croatia: Lelek – “Andromeda”

Best Performance in ESC: 2nd place (2024)

Result in 2025: Semi-Final (12th)

After Baby Lasagna nearly took it home in 2024 and Marko Bošnjak failed to qualify last year, Croatia turn to a five-piece female ethno-pop group from Zagreb. 

Lelek formed in 2024 and came fourth at Dora 2025 with “The Soul of My Soul” before winning Dora 2026 outright with both jury and public vote. The current members – Inka Večerina Perušić, Judita Štorga, Korina Olivia Rogić, Lara Brtan and Marina Ramljak – build their sound on traditional polyphonic Croatian singing pushed through modern production.

“Andromeda” is one of the most thematically heavy songs in the contest. The lyrics reference the historical experience of Croatian Catholic women in Bosnia and Herzegovina, who tattooed crosses on their bodies as marks of identity and resistance during Ottoman rule.

It’s atmospheric and cinematic, with the kind of slow build that rewards a strong vocal closer. Croatia has an inconsistent history with qualifying for the final, but the song’s emotional weight and quality have bookmakers placing them comfortably inside the top 10.

 

🇬🇷 Greece: Akylas – “Ferto”

Best Performance in ESC: 1st place (2005)

Result in 2025: 6th

Greece are sending a viral act for the second year running. Akylas, a young self-taught singer-songwriter from northern Greece, became known in 2024 thanks to TikTok covers and his hit single “Atelié.”

He studied at Serres Music School and trained in theatrical workshops in Thessaloniki before moving to Athens. “Ferto” (Greek for “bring it”) won Sing for Greece 2026 and currently sits inside the top three of the overall winner odds.

The song is a mix of Greek, Spanish, French and English, blending the energy of a TikTok-friendly hook with surprisingly dark subject matter. It’s about ambition and overconsumption: the chorus demands designer watches, sashimi tuna, yachts, while a softer mid-section is addressed directly to the singer’s mother, reflecting on what they went without.

The Vienna staging leans into both extremes – cat ears and high-camp choreography giving way to a sudden, stripped-back, mum-focused moment that’s already pulling strong reactions in rehearsal videos.

 

🇵🇹 Portugal: Bandidos do Cante – “Rosa”

Best Performance in ESC: 1st place (2017)

Result in 2025: 21st

Portugal followed up Salvador Sobral’s 2017 win with relatively quiet years before NAPA’s “Deslocado” became a sleeper hit in 2025. This year’s entry leans even further into Portuguese tradition.

Bandidos do Cante are a five-piece male vocal group from Beja, in the Alentejo region. The group is made up of childhood friends raised on Cante Alentejano, the polyphonic singing tradition recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. They released their debut album “Bairro das Flores” in January 2026.

“Rosa” is a quiet, reflective folk-pop ballad about lost love and longing, told through the metaphor of an overgrown garden the narrator failed to tend. It won Festival da Canção 2026 with the public vote and second place from the jury.

13 of the 16 Festival da Canção participants signed an open letter saying they would refuse to represent Portugal at Eurovision if Israel was permitted to compete. Bandidos do Cante were one of the few who chose to go ahead.

The song’s reflective tone could either work as a palate-cleanser in a noisy semi-final or get drowned out by louder acts, and bookmakers currently have them right on the qualifying line.

 

🇬🇪 Georgia: Bzikebi – “On Replay”

Best Performance in ESC: 9th place (2010, 2011)

Result in 2025: Semi-Final (15th)

This is one of the more emotional comeback stories of the year. Bzikebi’s members were just 10 years old when they won Junior Eurovision for Georgia in 2008 with “Bzz” – the first JESC entry ever performed in a made-up language, and the start of Georgia’s record-setting four Junior wins.

They reunited as an interval act at Junior Eurovision 2025 in Tbilisi, which sparked the rumours that brought us here.

“On Replay” is composed by Giga Kukhianidze, the same songwriter behind “Bzz” and many of Georgia’s later JESC entries, with lyrics by Lizi Japaridze (who herself competed at Junior Eurovision 2014).

The song is a high-tempo electro-pop track, designed for repeat listens and big stage choreography. Georgia broke a six-year non-qualification streak in 2024 with “Firefighter” before missing the final again last year. Bzikebi sit just on the qualifying line in current betting markets, the kind of position where a strong rehearsal can tip everything.

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Italy interval performance: Sanremo 2026 winner Sal Da Vinci performs “Per Sempre Sì” after Georgia’s set. The Neapolitan disco-funk track has gone viral on TikTok thanks to a ring finger gesture in the chorus that’s already been copied by half the Eurovision delegations.

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🇫🇮 Finland: Linda Lampenius and Pete Parkkonen – “Liekinheitin”

Best Performance in ESC: 1st place (2006)

Result in 2025: 11th

Finland are the bookmakers’ favourite to win the entire contest. The duo behind “Liekinheitin” (Finnish for “Flamethrower”) pairs internationally acclaimed classical violinist Linda Lampenius with pop-rock singer Pete Parkkonen, who first broke through on Finnish Idol in 2008 and won Dancing with the Stars Finland in 2014.

There’s a 20-year age gap between them, but the on-stage chemistry has been one of the talking points of the entire pre-season.

“Liekinheitin” is a dramatic Finnish-language pop-rock song about an obsessive, contradictory relationship, all flame metaphors and heat-and-cold imagery, anchored by Lampenius’s violin. It won UMK with a record 570 points and broke Käärijä’s televote record on the way. The track has been topping Finnish charts since release.

Finland have only won Eurovision once (Lordi in 2006), but Käärijä came second in 2023 and Erika Vikman finished a respectable 11th last year, so there’s a strong recent track record. With Finland sitting at the top of the favourites and consistent positive odds for the overall win, this is the entry to beat.

 

🇲🇪 Montenegro: Tamara Živković – “Nova zora”

Best Performance in ESC: 13th place (2015)

Result in 2025: Semi-Final (16th)

Montenegro returned to Eurovision last year after a two-year break and finished bottom of Semi-Final 2 with just 12 points. They’re back with a much heavier-hitting entry. 

Tamara Živković is 26, born in Kotor, classically trained as a flautist, and currently a third-year performing arts student at the Faculty of Music Arts in Belgrade. She came ninth at Montesong 2024 before winning Montesong 2025 outright with the jury vote and second in the public vote.

“Nova zora” (“New Dawn”) is a darker, more dramatic electro-pop track than most of the field. Written by Serbian songwriter Boris Subotić, who also co-wrote Montenegro’s 2025 entry, the song builds from quiet verses into a thunderous chorus, mixing Montenegrin and English lyrics around themes of women’s empowerment and liberation.

If it lands on the night, it could give Montenegro their first qualification since 2015. The odds have them on the right side of the qualifying line, but only just.

 

🇪🇪 Estonia: Vanilla Ninja – “Too Epic to Be True”

Best Performance in ESC: 1st place (2001)

Result in 2025: 3rd

After Tommy Cash’s “Espresso Macchiato” finished third in 2025, Estonia goes a different route entirely with a legacy reunion. 

Vanilla Ninja are an all-female Estonian rock band founded in 2002. They became one of Estonia’s biggest pop exports of the mid-2000s, especially across German-speaking Europe, with hits like “Tough Enough” and “Blue Tattoo.” In 2005 they represented Switzerland with “Cool Vibes” and finished eighth, leading parts of the voting sequence on the night.

“Too Epic to Be True” is a stadium-rock anthem written by Sven Lõhmus, one of Estonia’s most prolific pop songwriters. Guitar riffs and a punchy chorus designed to stick on first listen.

The current line-up – Lenna Kuurmaa, Piret Järvis and Kerli Kivilaan – won Eesti Laul 2026 by just three percentage points in one of the closest national finals on record. Bookmakers have them sitting just outside the predicted top 10 in the odds, with very tight margins separating them from Georgia, Poland and Portugal.

 

🇮🇱 Israel: Noam Bettan – “Michelle”

Best Performance in ESC: 1st place (1978, 1979, 1998)

Result in 2025: 2nd

Israel return after a controversial 2025 contest in which Yuval Raphael won the televote and finished second overall, prompting calls for an audit of the voting system and the boycotts mentioned earlier.

Their 2026 representative is Noam Bettan, a 28-year-old singer-songwriter from Ra’anana, born to a French Jewish family that emigrated from Grenoble. He started his music career after serving in the IDF. He won the twelfth season of HaKokhav HaBa (Rising Star) in January 2026 and was internally allocated the song shortly after.

“Michelle” was co-written with last year’s runner-up Yuval Raphael and is sung mostly in Hebrew and French, with one verse in English. The song deals with leaving a toxic relationship, framed around a fictional ex-lover called Michelle. 

Bookmakers have Israel as a near-certain qualifier, but with the largest split between televote and jury projections in the field. A pattern that has stayed constant for a while.

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Germany interval performance: Sarah Engels follows with “Fire,” her empowerment-pop entry that won Das deutsche Finale 2026 in late February. Engels first came up via DSDS in 2011 and is currently playing Satine in the Cologne run of Moulin Rouge!.

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🇧🇪 Belgium: Essyla – “Dancing on the Ice”

Best Performance in ESC: 1st place (1986)

Result in 2025: Semi-Final (14th)

Belgium are coming off two consecutive non-qualifications and the country was – briefly – at risk of withdrawing from the 2026 contest entirely. 

The unions of both Belgian public broadcasters had called for a boycott, but French-speaking RTBF (whose turn it is to choose this year, alternating with Flemish VRT) confirmed the country’s participation and went with an internal selection. Essyla is the chosen artist.

Born Alice Van Eesbeeck (her stage name is “Alice” reversed), she’s a 30-year-old singer-songwriter from Perwez in Walloon Brabant. She finished runner-up on The Voice Belgique in 2020 to Jérémie Makiese, who later represented Belgium at Eurovision 2022.

“Dancing on the Ice” is a modern electro-pop track, written by Essyla with Nicolas d’Avell, Emil Stengele and Barbara Petitjean. Belgium have struggled to qualify in recent years, with current odds putting them just below the line, but the song has been picking up momentum since rehearsals began.

 

🇱🇹 Lithuania: Lion Ceccah – “Sólo quiero más”

Best Performance in ESC: 6th place (2006)

Result in 2025: 16th

This is Lion Ceccah’s fifth attempt at representing Lithuania, and arguably one of the most distinctive entries in the whole contest. 

Real name Tomas Alenčikas, he’s a 34-year-old singer, songwriter and stage performer from Vilnius. Trained in violin, ballroom dance and musical theatre, he’s also one of the most prominent figures in Lithuania’s drag culture. He’s the founder of Studio 91, the country’s first dedicated drag art space. 

He came second at Eurovizija.LT 2025 with “Drobė” before winning the 2026 edition with more than 38,000 public votes, double the runner-up’s total.

“Sólo quiero más” (Spanish for “I just want more”) is a multilingual electro-pop track combining Lithuanian, Spanish, English, French, German and Italian. Co-written with Aurimas Galvelis, the song is built around an internal drive that doesn’t switch off in a chaotic world. 

Bookmakers currently have Lithuania comfortably inside the predicted top 10 but not a stone-cold lock.

 

🇸🇲 San Marino: Senhit feat. Boy George – “Superstar”

Best Performance in ESC: 19th place (2019)

Result in 2025: 26th

After last year’s Gabry Ponte experiment ended with last place in the Grand Final, San Marino fly the most recognisable guest name of the season: Boy George. 

The Culture Club frontman teams up with returning Eurovision artist Senhit (real name Senhit Zadik Zadik) for the empowerment track “Superstar.” It’s Senhit’s fourth time representing the microstate, after 2011, the cancelled 2020 edition and 2021’s “Adrenalina” with Flo Rida.

Boy George didn’t actually appear at the San Marino Song Contest final in person – his vocals were played back – but the two have since started rehearsing together and performed live together at the London Eurovision Party in April. 

San Marino are currently the rank outsiders in this semi-final, but a celebrity collaboration like this one shouldn’t be written off entirely.

 

🇵🇱 Poland: Alicja – “Pray”

Best Performance in ESC: 2nd place (1994)

Result in 2025: 14th

Alicja Szemplińska is finally getting her Eurovision moment after a six-year wait. She won The Voice of Poland in 2019 at 17, then won Szansa na Sukces 2020 with “Empires” – only for the contest to be cancelled because of COVID. 

Unlike many 2020 artists, she wasn’t internally reselected for 2021, so her Eurovision dream was put on hold. She came sixth in the 2023 Polish selection before winning in 2026.

“Pray” is unlike most of what Poland has sent recently. The track blends RnB, gospel and hip-hop, showcasing Alicja’s full vocal range, with co-writing credits going to her, Sinclair Alan Malcolm and Weronika Gabryelczyk. 

Despite the title, it’s not a religious song. Alicja describes it as a personal prayer about fighting for your dreams, which lands a bit differently when you know her backstory.

The Vienna staging is built around a single imposing prop with formally dressed backing dancers, and the focus is squarely on her connection with the camera. In current betting markets she’s right in the mix for the final qualifying spot, neck-and-neck with Georgia, Estonia and Portugal.

 

🇷🇸 Serbia: Lavina – “Kraj mene”

Best Performance in ESC: 1st place (2007)

Result in 2025: Semi-Final (14th)

Serbia close the show with their heaviest Eurovision entry to date. After Princ failed to qualify in 2025 (Serbia’s worst Eurovision result ever), Pesma za Evroviziju ’26 went a completely different direction.

Lavina are a six-piece progressive metal band from Niš, formed in 2020. They released their debut album “Odyssey” in 2022 and have built a following on the regional alternative scene.

“Kraj mene” plays on a double meaning in Serbian – both “the end of me” and “by my side.” The song builds gradually from whispered verses into screams and growls, all anchored by lead singer Luka Aranđelović’s emotional delivery.

It’s their first ever song in Serbian, written collectively by all six band members with Ivan Jegdić. Lavina won both the jury and public vote at the national selection by a wide margin, with more than 29,000 SMS votes. Bookmakers have them comfortably inside the top 10.

 

Predictions: Who’s Heading to the Grand Final?

Based on current odds and rehearsal reports, the bookmakers’ top four qualifiers are Finland, Greece, Sweden and Israel. Beyond those, Moldova, Croatia and Serbia all look comfortably placed. Lithuania and Montenegro round out the predicted top nine.

The interesting fight is for the tenth spot. Four acts – Georgia, Estonia, Poland and Portugal – are separated by tiny margins. Any of them could grab it, and any of them could miss out.

Belgium and San Marino are the predicted casualties on paper, though both have been quietly building goodwill in the fan press.

With juries returning to the semi-finals for the first time since 2022, things may be trickier to call than last year, when public vote alone determined who advanced.

The first Semi-Final airs live on Tuesday 12 May at 8pm UK time. The second Semi-Final follows on Thursday 14 May, before the Grand Final on Saturday 16 May.

 

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