Who will compete and when will the decision be made?

Preview of the ESC 2024 - Who will compete and when will the decision be made?

The Eurovision Song Contest has been an international music competition since 1956. The event will be held in Malmö in 2024. There are still a few important dates to go before the final in May.

A look back

Things did not go very well for Germany at ESC 2023. The band Lord of the Lost only came last in Liverpool, where the ESC was held on behalf of Ukraine, behind Great Britain and Serbia. However, the Hamburg-based dark rock band took their poor performance in their stride and reacted to their defeat via Instagram. There, the group led by singer Chris Harms (43) wrote: "Thank you to everyone for this amazing experience! We loved every second of it!"

In contrast, singer Loreen (40) won again in May 2023 with her song "Tattoo", bringing the next edition back to Sweden. She had already been successful at the ESC in Baku in 2012 with the song "Euphoria". Käärijä (30) from Finland came second with "Cha Cha Cha", while Israel came third with Noa Kirel and "Unicorn".

In 2022, Malik Harris (26) also took last place for Germany with "Rockstars". In 2021, Jendrik (29) came second last with "I Don't Feel Hate".

The talent search and the preliminary round

How can things go better for Germany in 2024 and who needs to compete? In the six-part docutainment series "I want to go to the ESC!", Conchita Wurst (35) and Rea Garvey (50) go on a talent search. According to the announcement, the two will act as coaches in "Ich will zum ESC!" and put together their teams from a total of 15 talents. Only the best singers will progress to the next rounds. The first three episodes will be available in the ARD media library from January 25, 2024, episode four will be available from January 30.

Episode five (from February 1 in the ARD media library) will then show who the coaches' favorites are. In the final sixth episode, the audience will decide who will compete live in Berlin on February 16 in the preliminary round of the "Eurovision Song Contest - The German Final 2024". The last episode of "Ich will zum ESC!" can be seen live on February 8 from 10 p.m. on Ersten or in the ARD media library.

The application phase for the preliminary decision ran from September 7 to October 15. According to "Eurovision.de", 693 artists applied, including 495 individual artists. Among others, reality star Kader Loth (50) wants to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest and has already applied for the German preliminary round. She revealed this in an interview with RTL. The 50-year-old celebrated her comeback as a singer with her song "Diva". While recording the hit, she also had the idea to take part in the ESC. The preliminary decision can be seen live on the first channel, via "eurovision.de" and in the ARD media library.

The competition

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the public broadcaster SVT announced last July that the 68th edition of the music competition will take place in Malmö. The final of the Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 11, 2024. In the same week, on May 7 and May 9, the two semi-finals will be held beforehand.

The EBU published the 37 participating countries at the beginning of December. It will be decided by lot which country will compete in which semi-final. Luxembourg has not competed since 1993 and is celebrating a comeback in 2024 with a new television partner. The country has already won the competition five times, including in 1972 with Vicky Leandros. The Big Five countries Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy and Spain as well as Sweden as the winner do not have to qualify, they are automatically seeded for the final.

Malmö beat Stockholm, Gothenburg and Örnsköldsvik to host the competition for the third time (also in 2013 and 1992). This will be the seventh time the ESC has been held in Sweden.

The competition

Some of the acts that will be competing against Germany have already been confirmed: "Friesenjung" Joost Klein (26) will be competing for the Netherlands. Olly Alexander (33), also known as Years & Years, will be competing for Great Britain in Malmö in 2024.

Singer Raiven (27) will compete for Slovenia, musician Aiko (23) will sing for the Czech Republic next year, Mustii (33) will perform for Belgium and Silia Kapsis (17) will compete for Cyprus. Singer Slimane (34) was chosen for France and Marina Satti (36) will sing for Greece.

The farewell

It has also been decided who the German ESC fans will definitely have to do without in 2024. After 25 appearances at the competition as a German commentator, presenter and music expert Peter Urban (75) called it a day after the last ESC final.

"I feel a real sadness right now. Only now have I really realized that my wonderful time at the ESC is now really over forever," the 75-year-old told Bild am Sonntag after his farewell. "I would like to thank the commentators from many countries, who have become friends, and my family, who often had to do without me. Now we can watch together," said Urban at the end of the broadcast. "Above all, I would like to thank you at home for your loyalty, trust and enjoyment of the ESC, even in the years when things didn't go so well for us. It has always been a pleasure and a great honor."