VIENNA (AP) 鈥� The lineup for the final of the has been decided, with five more countries sent home after the second semifinal on Thursday.
Fifteen countries battled for 10 of the 25 spots in Saturday’s finale of the , with the results decided by votes from national juries and viewers around the world.
Those heading for the final include Denmark鈥檚 S酶ren Torpegaard Lund with the sultry 鈥淔酶r Vi G氓r Hjem鈥� (鈥淏efore We Go Home鈥�), Australian star with power ballad 鈥淓clipse鈥� and Bulgarian singer Dara with the catchy 鈥淏angaranga.鈥�
Singers Daniel 沤i啪ka from Czechia, Lel茅ka from Ukraine, Alis from Albania, Aidan from Malta, Antigoni from Cyprus, Alexandra C膬pit膬nescu from Romania and Jonas Lovv from Norway also qualified. Performers from Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Armenia, Switzerland and Latvia were eliminated.
Ten other acts secured a place through a semifinal on Tuesday, including Finland鈥檚 Pete Parkkonen and Linda Lampenius, Greek rapper Akylas, Serbian goth metal band Lavina, Moldovan folk-rapper Satoshi and Israeli singer Noam Bettan.
The U.K., France, Germany and Italy automatically qualify for the final because they are among the contest鈥檚 biggest funders. Austria, , gets a place in the final as host country.
Protests and political tensions
The contest鈥檚 motto is 鈥淯nited by Music,鈥� and it aims to steer clear of politics 鈥� often unsuccessfully. Russia was expelled in 2022 after its .
The 2024 contest in , and last year鈥檚 event in , saw that called for Israel to be expelled over the conduct of its . A demonstration against Israel鈥檚 participation is planned ahead of Saturday鈥檚 final in Vienna.
Five countries 鈥� Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Iceland 鈥� are boycotting Eurovision this year because of Israel鈥檚 inclusion.
Israel has also faced allegations it ran a rule-breaking marketing campaign to get votes for its contestants. The European Broadcasting Union, which runs Eurovision, has toughened voting rules in response, halving the number of votes per person to 10 and tightening safeguards against 鈥渟uspicious or coordinated voting activity.鈥�
Israel鈥檚 Bettan was met with some protest chants when he performed in Tuesday鈥檚 semifinal. Unlike in previous years, Palestinian flags are being allowed in the arena and Austrian broadcaster ORF says it will not mute any booing.
The five-country boycott is a revenue and viewership blow to an event that organizers say was watched by 166 million people around the world last year. Bulgaria, Moldova and Romania have returned after skipping the event for artistic or financial reasons in recent years, but the number of participants is still the lowest since 2003.
Still, Eurovision is eyeing expansion, with a spinoff Eurovision Song Contest Asia in November.
Contest director Martin Green said Thursday he is hopeful Hungary will return to Eurovision for the first time since 2019 now that Prime Minister P茅ter Magyar has replaced the nationalist-populist leader Viktor Orb谩n.
And he said the door remains open to the five boycotting countries.
鈥淲e鈥檝e made it very clear to them we can鈥檛 wait for them to come back,鈥� Green said.
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