Country Contest 11

The Country Contest 11 was the eleventh edition of the contest. It is the contest with the most amount of withdrawals, with 19 countries leaving the competition; six being permanent members. Although several countries managed to make the top four, the CCU stated that it would take time to process their application into the CCU.
The contest is the first since the fifth edition that had only countries exclusive to the Country Contest Union, after six editions with Australia, Brazil, South Korea/Africa and the load of countries in tenth. However, Brazil was listed as one of the competing countries in order to defend their winning title.
With the previous contest taking place in June 2017, the contest was delayed by over four editions due to financial issues within the CCU. The CCU later announced that the contest would "take place sometime in October 2017." The CCU also decided to revive their "Country Games" idea, which took place prior to the Country Contest.
== Confirmation period ==
=== Confirmed countries ===
The following countries, which participated in the previous edition, confirmed their participation for the contest:
* 
* 
* 
* (co-host)
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* (host)
Additionally, returned to the contest.
=== Associate countries ===
The following countries participated as associates in the previous edition, and forcefully withdrew (save Brazil):
* 
* 
* (participant)
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
=== Withdrawing countries ===
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
== Semi-final 1 ==
Brazil, United Kingdom and Morocco also voted here. The top ten countries qualified to the Grand Final.
Draw	Country	City	Place	Points
01 	 	 	14 	102
02 	 	 	8 	146
03 	 	 	15 	73
04 	 	 	1 	204
05 	 	 	7 	148
06 	 	 	4 	176
07 	 	 	3 	188
08 	 	 	12 	122
09 	 	 	5 	151
10 	 	 	16 	63
11 	 	 	13 	104
12 	 	 	11 	127
13 	 	 	9 	132
14 	 	 	6 	149
15 	 	 	10 	128
16 	 	 	2 	190
== Semi-final 2 ==
Iceland, Italy and Switzerland also voted here. The top ten countries qualified to the Grand Final.
Draw	Country	City	Place	Points
01 	 	 	5 	165
02 	 	 	8 	141
03 	 	 	13 	101
04 	 	 	16 	83
05 	 	 	9 	128
06 	 	 	4 	168
07 	 	 	1 	212
08 	 	 	15 	88
09 	 	 	12 	112
10 	 	 	2 	185
11 	 	 	10 	120
12 	 	 	14 	97
13 	 	 	11 	117
14 	 	 	7 	150
15 	 	 	6 	162
16 	 	 	3 	174
Split jury/televote results	Split jury/televote results	Split jury/televote results	Split jury/televote results	Split jury/televote results
Place 	Televoting 	Points 	Jury 	Points
1 	 	114 	 	117
2 	 	100 	 	116
3 	 	95 	 	102
4 	 	86 	 	98
5 	 	83 	 	93
6 	 	82 	 	84
7 	 	76 	 	80
8 	 	69 	 	80
9 	 	57 	 	74
10 	 	57 	 	73
11 	 	57 	 	47
12 	 	54 	 	40
13 	 	48 	 	36
14 	 	44 	 	31
15 	 	40 	 	31
16 	 	39 	 	0
== Final ==
Qualifiers from the semi-finals, as well as the top 6 of previous edition took part.
Draw	Country	Place	Points
01 	 	20 	154
02 	 	23 	126
03 	 	22 	130
04 	 	6 	190
05 	 	13 	175
06 	 	1 	335
07 	 	11 	180
08 	 	21 	152
09 	 	7 	187
10 	 	10 	183
11 	 	26 	33
12 	 	18 	161
13 	 	4 	198
14 	 	19 	159
15 	 	3 	207
16 	 	9 	185
17 	 	5 	194
18 	 	17 	163
19 	 	24 	115
20 	 	25 	97
21 	 	16 	168
22 	 	2 	214
23 	 	15 	172
24 	 	8 	186
25 	 	14 	174
26 	 	12 	176
== Format ==
=== Country limit ===
The CCU announced on 9 June 2017 after the deadline that effective next edition, the contest would be limited to 46 countries. This comes after the tenth contest had a record breaking amount of 58 countries, which meant three semi-finals had to take place; this which CCU does not want to happen again. 
The CCU initially predicted that 46 countries would take part this edition, but the withdrawals of 9 regular participants caused the number to change to 38. A statement from the CCU read, "The eleventh Country Contest will see 38 countries taking part to be crowned the winner; the lowest number since the 7th edition. Despite the original prediction of 46 participating countries, a number of factors had led to the 9 regular withdrawals; the months-long hiatus from the jubilee edition, the "constant qualifications" from countries and the growing interest of the Country Contest."
On 10 November 2017, CCU announced that due to the number of complaints from withdrawing countries this edition, that a new system would be implemented to be first used next edition. However, CCU refused to disclose any other details regarding the new system.
=== Big 6 ===
The fifth edition for the first time had semi-finals, in which the Top 3 of the previous edition auto-qualified. From the seventh to tenth edition, four countries were always auto-qualified to the grand final from being in the top four previous edition. However, on 5 November 2017, CCU announced that the Big 4 would expand to the Big 6 given the constant expansion of the contest. From the previous edition, only the top 6 regular participating countries were counted with an exception for winning country Brazil. This requirement meant that, Switzerland, which placed tenth was counted as part of the Big 6.
== Incidents ==
=== Liberland jury/televote disagreement ===
On 18 November 2017, the CCU revealed the full semi-final and final split results, which included debutant Liberland. Liberland's performance in semi-final 2 saw the country place last, just 5 points away from surpassing Turkey. Despite placing last overall, the televoters ranked Liberland 5th out of the field of 16 candidates, earning 83 points. Contrary to the televoting, Liberland was placed last with the juries receiving nul points. LTC argued that this was an "unfair boycott" from the juries which is why they should have a "televote qualifier" and "jury qualifier" to "disable such bias." (However, this system would have allowed Azerbaijan and already-qualified Lebanon to qualify leaving San Marino, not helping Liberland anyways.) The CCU stated that they had taken their idea into suggestion.
Nonetheless, fans stated that the Liberland televote result was a result of "troll voting", which is why the country did not receive any jury votes, stating that it only proved the "consistency" and "professionalism" of the jurors.
== Other countries ==
* : Participating four editions since returning in the 7th edition, Albania never qualified leading to the broadcaster's withdrawal.
* : TVC sent an application to join the Country Contest Union to participate in the Contest on October 27, 2017, which was rejected on October 30 due to the "non-existent approval from the Spanish government."
* : With Georgia also having failed since its return in 7th edition, never qualifying, the broadcaster decided to withdraw.
* : IPBC announced that the country would not return to the contest in the near future; this being due to CCU's rejection. Regarding this, the CCU stated that the broadcaster had not existed long, so it is just a "matter of waiting."
* : With previous unsuccessful attempts to join the Country Contest Union on June 6, 2016 with the defunct LBTV and LTC's May 22, 2017, LTC sent representatives to Serbia and Croatia leading to their approval of participation in their application to the CCU sent on September 25, 2017; the CCU then formally accepted the application on October 30, 2017, leading to LTC's confirmation of debut in the Contest. Some journalists claimed that Liberland's debut was a result of Albania and Montenegro's withdrawal which meant less points for Serbia and Croatia.
* : Despite RTCG's return in the previous edition, the broadcaster announced that it would withdraw due to lack of funding.
* : BBC Scotland stated that they "were waiting for an answer from CCU," hoping that the country can participate "within months."
* : RTVE announced on 7 June 2017 that Spain would withdraw from the contest due to "reforming Spain's participation format." Having only missed the contest twice, it's the first absence for 7 editions.