|
The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 will be the 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It will take place on May 10 and May 12, 2007, in Helsinki, Finland. Finland earned the right to host the event due to the rock band Lordi winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 as Finland's representatives. The victory in Athens, Greece on the May 20 2006 was Finland's first in their history of competing in the Eurovision Song Contest. It also meant that the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 will be the first Eurovision Song Contest to be arranged in Finland. It was announced on June 21, 2006, by the Finnish national broadcasting company YLE, that the contest will be held at the Hartwall Areena in Helsinki. The Hartwall Areena, Finland's largest ice hockey arena, was always the favourite to be chosen to host the contest. The city of Helsinki has the best connections and facilities in the country, therefore allowing as many people as possible to experience the Eurovision Song Contest. A budget of €13 million was also presented for arranging the contest. Other bids to host the contest came from the Helsingin jäähalli (Helsinki ice hockey arena) in Helsinki, the Helsinki Fair Centre in Helsinki, VR Konepaja in Helsinki, LänsiAuto Areena in Espoo, Suurhalli in Lahti, Levi in Finnish Lapland, Lappi Areena in Rovaniemi, Pirkkahalli in Tampere, Ratina stadium in Tampere, and Elysée Arena in Turku, but they did not receive the honour . One week before the Hartwall Areena was chosen, Ville Vilén, one of the managers responsible for the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, said that only venues with a capacity of 10,000 or more would be taken into consideration, thus ruling most of the cities to be out of contention . During the Heads of Delegation meeting in March 2006, it was announced that qualification for the 2007 final would change from previous years, so that only the top six placed countries from the 2006 final, along with the four largest financial contributors to the EBU (the Big Four) automatically qualified, with the remaining places being filled by the top fourteen placed countries from the 2007 semi-final. However, in a press conference just before the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, the EBU stated that these changes to the qualification system would not take place , meaning that fourteen countries (the top ten placed countries from the 2006 final and the Big Four) automatically qualifying for the final, and ten others qualifying from the semi-final. The maximum number of countries allowed to participate will still be forty. The EBU Reference Group met in Helsinki in September 2006, and are happy with the preparations for the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 . Svante Stockselius suggested that there would be a record number of participating countries. Despite the fact that the maximum number of participating countries is forty, it is possible that there will be more than this. Though they did not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Montenegro, Georgia, and Austria have all confirmed that they will in 2007, and it seems likely that Azerbaijan will also show interest in entering. Therefore, if all of the entrants from the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 returned, then that would mean that at least forty-two countries would intend to participate.
Participating countries
The final The participating countries of the final should be: The semi-final As the maximum number of participating countries for the Eurovision Song Contest remains at 40, only 26 countries can participate in the semi-final. Countries which participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 are the most likely to have assured their places. The participating countries of the semi-final could be: Eligible countries that will not enter Countries that cannot enter, but will broadcast the contest Of the countries which cannot participate, Australia, Kosovo and Puerto Rico have all broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest in recent years, so they are likely to do so again. Japan, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands Antilles and Suriname may as well, as they have also broadcast the contest in the past. While Liechtenstein has no television broadcaster of its own, Liechtensteiners can watch the contest on Swiss or German television. The official Eurovision Song Contest website will also provide streaming. National selections The participating countries will each select one song to represent them. | ||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||
 |
|
| |