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Country Contest 15
Il viaggio (The journey)
Dates
Semi-final 1 date 24 April 2018
Semi-final 2 date 26 April 2018
Final date 28 April 2018
Participants
Number of entries 42
Debuting countries None
Returning countries Flag of Hungary Hungary
Flag of Vatican City Vatican City
Withdrawing countries Flag of Belarus Belarus
Flag of Moldova Moldova
Vote
Voting system Each country awards two sets of 12, 10, 8–1 points to their 10 favorite countries.
Country Contest
◄14 Eurovision Heart 16►

The Country Contest 15 will be the fifteenth edition of the contest. Once again, the CCU invited no guest countries, due to the announcement of the World Country Contest.

Format[]

Semi-final allocation draw[]

Once again, countries were allocated to semi-finals based on geographical distance. The pots were announced as the following:

Eastern (8) Northern (8) Southern (15) Western (5)
  • Flag of Azerbaijan Azerbaijan
  • Flag of Bulgaria Bulgaria
  • Flag of the Czech Republic Czech Republic
  • Flag of Hungary Hungary
  • Flag of Kazakhstan Kazakhstan
  • Flag of Poland Poland
  • Flag of Romania Romania
  • Flag of Slovakia Slovakia
  • Flag of Albania Albania
  • Flag of Andorra Andorra
  • Flag of Croatia Croatia
  • Flag of Cyprus Cyprus
  • Flag of Greece Greece
  • Flag of Lebanon Lebanon
  • Flag of Macedonia Macedonia
  • Flag of Montenegro Montenegro
  • Flag of Morocco Morocco
  • Flag of Portugal Portugal
  • Flag of San Marino San Marino
  • Flag of Serbia Serbia
  • Flag of Slovenia Slovenia
  • Flag of Spain Spain
  • Flag of Vatican City Vatican City

Following the semi-final allocation, the CCU announced that this edition would be the last to feature geographical pots. Instead, the pots would be based on each country's average position in the past five editions - in order to make sure to balance the semi-finals accordingly. This was also due to the Southern pot consisting of more countries than any other pot. However, the CCU announced on 22 April 2018 that this change would not be in effect, due to "complaints from various broadcasters and fans".

Semi-final 1[]

France, Italy and Switzerland also voted here. The top eight overall countries qualified to the Grand Final. The ninth and tenth qualifiers were respectively determined by the highest placed televote and jury qualifier which did not place in the top 8 overall.

Draw Country Place Points
01 Flag of Finland Finland 7 142
02 Flag of Kazakhstan Kazakhstan 10 131
03 Flag of Bulgaria Bulgaria 6 152
04 Flag of Portugal Portugal 1 184
05 Flag of Croatia Croatia 18 47
06 Flag of Netherlands Netherlands 14 121
07 Flag of Hungary Hungary 16 116
08 Flag of Ireland Ireland 5 157
09 Flag of Greece Greece 3 168
10 Flag of Andorra Andorra 9 136
11 Flag of Cyprus Cyprus 17 111
12 Flag of Slovakia Slovakia 4 158
13 Flag of Germany Germany 13 124
14 Flag of Monaco Monaco 11 126
15 Flag of Macedonia Macedonia 8 139
16 Flag of Estonia Estonia 12 125
17 Flag of Norway Norway 15 118
18 Flag of San Marino San Marino 2 177

Semi-final 2[]

Belgium, Iceland and Malta also voted here. The top eight overall countries qualified to the Grand Final. The ninth and tenth qualifiers were respectively determined by the highest placed televote and jury qualifier which did not place in the top 8 overall.

Draw Country Place Points
01 Flag of Lithuania Lithuania 18 68
02 Flag of Sweden Sweden 12 134
03 Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom 6 149
04 Flag of Vatican City Vatican City 1 205
05 Flag of Austria Austria 14 115
06 Flag of Serbia Serbia 7 146
07 Flag of Lebanon Lebanon 15 111
08 Flag of Morocco Morocco 5 153
09 Flag of Luxembourg Luxembourg 10 140
10 Flag of Slovenia Slovenia 13 133
11 Flag of Romania Romania 11 134
12 Flag of Azerbaijan Azerbaijan 4 154
13 Flag of Albania Albania 17 79
14 Flag of Poland Poland 3 155
15 Flag of Denmark Denmark 16 104
16 Flag of Spain Spain 2 166
17 Flag of Montenegro Montenegro 8 145
18 Flag of the Czech Republic Czech Republic 9 143

Final[]

The 20 qualifiers from the semi-finals, as well as the top 6 of previous edition took part; all participating countries in the edition voted.

Draw Country Place Points
01 Flag of Belgium Belgium 20 176
02 Flag of Morocco Morocco 24 156
03 Flag of Vatican City Vatican City 1 273
04 Flag of Poland Poland 22 171
05 Flag of Malta Malta 17 184
06 Flag of Italy Italy 7 210
07 Flag of Iceland Iceland 10 201
08 Flag of Serbia Serbia 21 173
09 Flag of Azerbaijan Azerbaijan 19 176
10 Flag of Andorra Andorra 26 143
11 Flag of Switzerland Switzerland 12 189
12 Flag of Finland Finland 23 166
13 Flag of Greece Greece 11 189
14 Flag of Slovenia Slovenia 18 179
15 Flag of Spain Spain 5 237
16 Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom 9 204
17 Flag of Kazakhstan Kazakhstan 16 186
18 Flag of Macedonia Macedonia 13 189
19 Flag of Montenegro Montenegro 14 189
20 Flag of Romania Romania 25 145
21 Flag of San Marino San Marino 2 253
22 Flag of Bulgaria Bulgaria 15 187
23 Flag of Slovakia Slovakia 4 237
24 Flag of France France 6 229
25 Flag of Portugal Portugal 3 240
26 Flag of Ireland Ireland 8 210

Other countries[]

Active CCU members[]

  • Flag of Belarus Belarus: BTRC announced that Belarus would take a break from the contest to "reevaluate their process of selection."
  • Flag of Moldova Moldova: TRM announced that Moldova would withdraw from the contest due to lack of interest in the contest, as evident by bad ratings and failure to qualify for the final.

Eligible non-participants[]

  • Flag of Hungary Hungary: MTVA announced that Hungary would return to the contest in hopes for a successful result.
  • Flag of Kosovo Kosovo: As host country Italy recognizes Kosovo, RTK "may be able to show interest in participating." However, the CCU later ruled out this possibility due to "the non-agreement of a Kosovar participation by several Member Broadcasters, as proven by non-recognition of the country."
  • Flag of Vatican City Vatican City: After last competing in the 10th contest, VR announced its return to support their neighbors, Italy, who are hosting the contest for the first time since the third edition, despite winning two prior times.
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