The grand final of the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest takes place tonight in Liverpool, UK.
The first semi-final took place on Tuesday night, and saw Croatia, Czechia, Finland, Israel, Moldova, Norway, Portugal, Serbia Sweden, and Switzerland get through.
The second semi-final took place on Thursday night, and saw ten more countries – Albania, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovenia, through to the final.
These 20 countries will also be competing against last year’s winner: Ukraine, and ‘The Big 5’ – France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, who automatically qualify for the final each year.
‘The Big Five’ (formerly known as ‘The Big Four’) are the group of countries who make the biggest financial contributions to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
In 2000, a rule was introduced which grants these countries direct entry into the final of the Eurovision Song Contest each year, regardless of their position in the previous year’s contest, fear of relegation, or perform during a semi-final.
The rule originally applied to France, Germany, Spain and the UK; but when Italy made its return the annual contest in 2011, direct access to the grand final was bestowed upon them.
This year, the UK’s Mae Muller will perform I Wrote A Song, Germany’s Lord Of The Lost will sing Blood & Glitter, and France’s La Zarra will sing Évidemment.
Meanwhile Italy’s Marco Mengoni will perform Due Vite, and Spain’s Blanca Paloma will sing EAEA.
Finally, TVORCHI will perform Heart of Steel on behalf of Ukraine, last year’s winner.
The grand final of the 67th Eurovision Song Contest airs tonight at 8pm on RTÉ One.
