Fifteen countries competed in the first semifinal of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 on Tuesday evening. Norway, Albania, Sweden, Iceland, the Netherlands, Poland, San Marino, Estonia, Portugal and Ukraine are the countries that will compete in the Grand Final on the stage in Basel, Switzerland, on May 17, IPN reports.
The countries that qualified were announced in random order, which does not reveal the obtained score.
Slovenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Croatia, and Cyprus were eliminated.
The first semifinal also featured representatives of Spain and Italy, countries that are part of the “Big Five”, and Switzerland, the host country. They automatically qualify for Saturday’s final. The other countries of the “Big Five” will contend in the second semifinal, on May 15.
The qualification was decided exclusively by televoting, without the involvement of the national juries. Even if the Republic of Moldova does not participate in the contest this year, Moldovans can vote for their favorites online, through the Eurovision application. The option of voting by phone or text message is not available this year in the Republic of Moldova.
Moldova made its debut at Eurovision in 2005, being represented by the band Zdob si Zdub, with the song “Boonika bate toba”. The best result obtained in the final was the 3rd place in 2017 in Kiev, Ukraine, when Moldova was represented by SunStroke Project, with the song “Hey, Mamma!”
Last year’s edition of the contest took place la Malmo, Sweden. Nemo brought Eurovision to Switzerland with the song “The Code”.
