The big favourites for Eurovision 2023, Sweden and Finland, qualified on Tuesday night for the final in the competition's first semi-final.
This year's Eurovision 2023 is being held in Liverpool as last year’s winner, Ukraine, cannot host the event due to the Russian invasion. The final will take place on Saturday night.
Favoured by the bookmakers, Sweden's Loreen (singing “Tatoo”), a previous winner in 2012, and Finland's Käärijä (singing “Cha Cha Cha”), joined the six countries that automatically qualify for the final: Ukraine and the “big five” – Germany, Spain, France, Italy, the UK – the biggest contributors to the contest.
At the end of this first semi-final, the public voted for Croatia, with the group Let 3 and their song “Mama SC!” – a provocative track that takes a thinly veiled swipe at Vladimir Putin – and is performed in underwear and a vest.
For Switzerland, young singer Remo Forrer and “Watergun,” a pacifist but more conventional song, also clinched a place in the final.
The other countries that qualified were Moldova, Czechia, Israel, Portugal, Serbia and Norway.
The former 2019 winners, the Netherlands, were eliminated, not making the final for the first time since 2015. Mia Nicolai and Dion Cooper were chosen to represent the country with the song "Burning Daylight."
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Ireland, represented by the band Wild Youth, failed to qualify, however, as did Malta, Latvia and Azerbaijan.
The second semi-final, with 16 countries competing including Belgium, will be held on Thursday to select the final 10 finalists.
