Who competes and how to watch live

After juries and spectators around the world have found the best competitor from Switzerland as the best competitor, they are preparing to crown a new champion in the annual fever dream of Europe from a singing competition. That's right – it is the week of the Eurovision Song Contest. This year the music battle started with the first semi -finals in Basel, Switzerland on May 13th. A second semi -finals on May 15 leads to 26 countries that face the Grand Final on May 17th. Who has qualified for the final so far and its participation was protested? Here, everything you need to know about Eurovision 2025, including the way and when you can set live appearances of these melodies (yes, even if you are in America).

The annual singing competition of the European Broadcasting Union adapts against each other in Europe (and on a few other continents), each of which is involved through their own national channels. All countries take part with an original song, which is sometimes selected internally and sometimes selected after winning a national competition. In two semi -final rounds and a grand finale, singer play the song of his country live and compete for points from country juries and voices of spectators around the world. Historically, the performances can become quite rude.

The winner does not get any money … but you earn the right to organize the next Eurovision to his country. They also have a shot to achieve fame. Remarkable past winners are ABBA, Celine Dion and Måneskin.

From disqualifications like last year, 26 countries will fight it on Saturday. The “Big Five” – ​​France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Great Britain – pay a lot of money for Eurovision and always automatically qualify due to their financial contributions. As a host this year, Switzerland does not have to worry about securing a place. After the first semi -final on May 13th we selected 10 countries for progress, we have now 16 confirmed qualifications that have so far led to the grand finale:

The last 10 competitors are selected from the countries that compete in the second semi-final Australia, Montenegro, Ireland, Latvia, Armenia, Austria, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, Georgia, Denmark, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Serbia, Finland and (controversial) on May 15.

Yes indeed. Just like last year, there were protests on the decision of the EBU to enable Israel to take part in the continued war in Gaza. (Such a step would not be unprecedented, Russia was previously disqualified by Eurovision in 2022 after its invasion of Ukraine.) Palestinian flags and symbols from Eurovision were banned during the return in 2024. According to CNN, EBU has lifted this policy for this year's viewers – although artists are now only allowed to wave the official flag of their country. (This means that actors are also prohibited from displaying rainbow stolz flags.)

Well, where are you The semi -finals on May 13th and 15th both have the same start time as the Grand Final May 17th: 3 p.m. If you are in a competing country, your national broadcaster Eurovision will broadcast on TV – and frankly you can probably simply go to a local bar or club and play on a screen. In many countries you can also set the YouTube channel from Eurovision.

In the United States, however, Peacock has exclusive streaming rights, which means that you can catch Eurovision live for the costs of a subscription (plans start at 7.99 USD/month). The Americans can also sound on what sounds best by voting on the Eurovision website as part of the “resid of the world” … Because despite the fact that Estonia's representative Jojo Siwa would be there, Eurovision is not yet part of the American vision.