MaltaMedia.com

The Semi-Final Allocation Draw for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest has taken place in Oslo, Norway with Malta being placed in the 1st semi-final to be held on 25th May.

Eurovision.tv reported that during the Semi-Final Allocation Draw, it was determined which countries will be represented in which of the two Semi-Finals of the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest. The 34 countries represented in the Semi-Finals were drawn from five pots, based on voting patterns of last years as analyzed by the contest’s voting partner Digame. By spreading these countries over two Semi-Finals, the impact of neighbour and diaspora voting is limited and the contest more exciting.

Toni Sant, Artistic Director of the MaltaMedia Online Network, said that “while there may be a scientific way to analyze any country’s placing in a song contest like this, there isn’t really any great advantage to playing in the first or second semi-final at the Eurovision Song Contest.”

He added that “countries manage to make it to the final mostly because they enter songs and/or singers that are most likely to attract votes rather than the sequence in which they appear on the semifinal nights. Having said this, it’s still very considerate of the EBU to spread out the countries that traditionally vote for each other, basing their groupings on voting patterns in recent years.”

Half of the countries were drawn into the first Semi-Final (on the 25th of May) - as drawn:

• Serbia (first half)
• Finland (first half)
• Russia (first half)
• Greece (second half)
• Slovakia (first half)
• Bosnia & Herzegovina (first half)
• Iceland (second half)
• Moldova (first half)
• Malta (second half)
• Portugal (second half)
• FYR Macedonia (second half)
• Latvia (first half)
• Belarus (second half)
• Belgium (second half)
• Poland (second half)
• Albania (second half)
• Estonia (first half)

The other half was drawn into the second Semi-Final (on the 27th of May) - as drawn:

• Switzerland (first half)
• Lithuania (first half)
• Georgia (second half)
• Turkey (second half)
• Ireland (second half)
• Slovenia (second half)
• Sweden (first half)
• Ukraine (first half)
• The Netherlands (second half)
• Bulgaria (second half)
• Croatia (second half)
• Denmark (first half)
• Azerbaijan (first half)
• Cyprus (second half)
• Romania (second half)
• Israel (first half)
• Armenia (first half)

As part of the draw, it was also determined if those countries will perform in the first or second half of the respective Semi-Final, so that each delegation already knows exactly on which day they are expected in Oslo for the rehearsals in May.

The five pots looked like this:

Pot 1: Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, FYR Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia, Switzerland
Pot 2: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden
Pot 3: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Israel, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine
Pot 4: Armenia, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Malta, the Netherlands, Turkey
Pot 5: Bulgaria, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia

There was also a draw to decide which of the two Semi-Finals the so-called ‘Big Four’ (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) and host country Norway will be obliged to broadcast and vote in (as drawn):

• Norway (Second Semi-Final)
• Germany (First Semi-Final)
• United Kingdom (Second Semi-Final)
• Spain (First Semi-Final)
• France (Second Semi-Final)

The next draw, to decide upon the starting order of the songs in each Semi-Final and the Final, will be conducted at the Heads of Delegation meeting in March.

More about Malta’s entry to the Eurovision Song Contest at EurovisionMalta.com.