Country Contest

## CCU Ultimate Country Ranking

On 7 June 2019, the CCU announced the addition of the CCU Ultimate Country Ranking, based on all previous 21 editions of the contest. It is exclusively based on appearances in the finals, with non-qualifications being considered as "withdrawals" (==). A country must have been in at least 5 finals to be included in the ranking. The CCU also confirmed that associate countries would not be included, considering their limited participation.

Controversially, CCU member winners Vatican City and Turkey were not included, due to their four and three respective finals. Additionally, winners Brazil and Greenland were not included due to their associate status; however, should they had been allowed, they would not qualify due to participating in four and two finals respectively. The CCU however, defended these rules, stating that "having countries with less than 5 final appearances would make the rankings insufficient, due to lack of results data, which would be an advantage for some, or disadvantage for others."

With Iceland and Italy both having been eliminated at Country Contest 22, France became the first country to compete in 20 finals, and would now take the lead under most finals participation after the three-way tie the prior edition.

On 14 June 2019, the CCU confirmed that they would use the ranking to determine the allocation draw for Country Contest 23, in order to balance out the semi-finals. However, no permanent decision regarding the allocation draw would be taken until the aftermath of the contest, and duration after. Countries not inclunded in the ranking would be allocated depending on the number of finals they competed in.

On 15 June 2019, the CCU confirmed that an updated ranking based on the 22 editions of the contest would be used. No new countries qualified for the ranking, despite some margining in. Greenland would be grouped with the non-rankers.

## Medal table

 United Kingdom | 1
 Sweden | 1

## Hosts

Typically, the winner of an edition is the automatic host of the next edition, but should they decline the right is given to the runner-up country, and so on.

### **Special instances**

* Russia hosted the fifth edition after winners  Italy and runners-up  San Marino declined to host the contest, citing costs of hosting the event.
* France hosted the sixth edition after winners  Luxembourg declined due to "costs related to hosting the event." Unlike last edition, they were appointed by RTL as a neighboring country, however the CCU did not allow this from then on.
* United Kingdom hosted the eleventh edition due to winners  Brazil and runners-up  South Africa both not being eligible to host the contest.
* Portugal hosted the sixteenth edition due to winners  Vatican City and runners-up  San Marino not having suitable venues for the contest.

### **Countries which have hosted twice**

* France became the first country to do so after RTL appointed them to be the hosts of #06.
* Italy became the second country after rightfully hosting #15, despite missing out on hosting 1 edition.
* Portugal became the third country after it won the bidding stage to host #16.
* Iceland became the fourth country after rightfully hosting #04 and #16, the only to do so.