Eurovision Song Festival 1

The Eurovision Song Festival 1 will be the 1st edition of the Eurovision Song Festival. It will take place in the Samsung Aréna in Bratislava, Slovakia. This will be the first time the contest will take place in Slovakia. The contest is expected to consist of two semi-finals on 15 and 16 November and the final on 17 November 2016.

On the 25th of October, the EBO confirmed that a total of forty three countries will be present in the first edition of the Eurovision Song Festival. 1

## Website

Following the EBO statement a new contest would take place, the official website was released on 16 October 2017, with their first article being published on the 16th of October 2016. Here is the link to the official website: http://eurovision-song-festival.weebly.com

## Location

### **Bidding phase**

On 17 October 2016, the EBO confirmed that seven countries were in the race to host the first edition of the Eurovision Song Festival. The host city will be announced on the 18th of October 2016. The head of the contest, Adéla Bronislava, announced that the host city announcement will take place on 11:00 CET.

All countries were allowed to submit as many cities as they wanted for hosting the contest. The broadcasters had to announce the city, the venue and the capacity for the show. In the end, seven cities were submitted to host the contest from seven different countries. The following cities are in the race to host the contest:
  †   Host venue
  ‡   Shortlisted

### **Venue**

It opened in 1940 and held 8,350 people until its full reconstruction started in 2009. The reconstructed arena opened in spring 2011 with one of the most advance game presentation, LED scoreboards and security systems ever built. The system was designed and constructed by Colosseo EAS. It has increased capacity to 10,055 spectators. In the past Samsung arena was called ST Arena and T-Com Arena. So-called "reconstruction" under command of SZLH president's company costs 87 million €.

Beside the reconstruction SZLH president built a new hotel next to arena, which was built without building permit in the beginning. Slovak and Czech ice-hockey players and team staff were accommodated in this hotel during the 2011 IIHF World Championship.

#### **Name**

The Stadium is named in honour of Ondrej Nepela, Slovak figure skater who competed for Czechoslovakia in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and he is the 1972 Winter Olympics figure skating winner.

## Format

On the 16th of October, the EBO confirmed that 2 Semi-Finals and the final were scheduled to take place in the middle of November. There is a jury and a televote. They both decide 50% of the score.

## Participating countries

Participating countries had until 25 October 2016 to submit their applications for participation in the contest. The EBO announced on 25 October that 43 countries would participate in the contest.

All countries debuted in the contest.

## Results

### **Semi-final 1**

Twenty one countries participated in the first semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the final.

### **Semi-final 2**

Twenty one countries participated in the second semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the final.

## Other countries

All countries with a fully EBO membership can take part in the contest anytime they want.

### **Active EBO members**

 Andorra - RTVA said that they proposed their participation to the government, but they didn't received an enthusiastic response. Later, RTVA confirmed a participation was not possible. 23

 Austria - ORF has confirmed that it is not a priority to compete in the Eurovision Song Festival. Later, it was confirmed that Austria will not join the first edition.45

 Kosovo - The EBO, after rumors Kosovo would join, confirmed Kosovo can't join the first edition. 6

 Luxembourg - RTL has confirmed that Luxembourg will not participate in the first edition of the Eurovision Song Festival. 7

 Norway - NRK is still in discussion wether to participate or not. On the 22nd of October, Norway confirmed it won't join this edition.89

 Sweden - SVT has revealed that Sweden will not take part in the first edition.10

### **Associate EBO members**

 Kazakhstan - Kazakhstan has sent a request to participate in the first edition. Kazakhstan is now in discussions with the EBO. However, Kazakhstan was not on the final participants list.111213