April 2017

Final date
 Venue
 Interval act
 Entries
 Debuting
 Returning
 System
 Winner
 ◄ February 2017  June 2017 ►

**Europe Song Contest 08**, will be the eighth edition of Europe Song Contest. It will take place in Sweden, following Tove Lo's victory in the seventh edition. It will be the first time that Sweden will host the contest.

SVT selected Friends Arena as the venue for the contest while Mariette and Loreen selected as the hosts.

Twenty-six countries indicated that wants to participate. Austria and Latvia are returned to the contest, both having been absent from the fifth edition. Turkey returned after 3 omission editions. They participated last in the fifth edition. Romania, Russia and Ukraine returned after 2, omission editions. All of them participated last in the sixth edition.

Moldova, Norway and Slovakia decided that they wouldn't participate in the eighth edition.

The winner of the eighth edition was Finland with the song "Circle of Light" performed by Emma, which scored 185 points and brought the trophy to Finland. It was the first time that Finland won the contest. Finland won the contest with a record number of the Europe Song Contest. With 149 points the runner-up was Belgium.

## **Location**

*For further information see Stockholm*
**Stockholm** is the capital of Sweden and the most populous city in the Nordic countries; 932,917 people live in the municipality, approximately 1.5 million in the urban area, and 2.3 million in the metropolitan area. The city is spread across 14 islands on the coast in the south-east of Sweden at the mouth of Lake Mälaren, by the Stockholm archipelago and the Baltic Sea. The area has been settled since the Stone Age, in the 6th millennium BC, and was founded as a city in 1252 by a Swedish statesman Birger Jarl. It is also the capital of Stockholm County.

     **Friends Arena** is a retractable roof multi-purpose stadium located next to the lake Råstasjön in Solna, just north of Stockholm City Centre. Since its opening, it has served as Sweden's national stadium (Swedish: Nationalarenan) for football. The main tenants of the stadium are Sweden's national football team and Allsvenskan football club AIK; both relocated from their previous home at the Råsunda Stadium. The venue has a total capacity of 65,000 at concerts and 50,000 seated at football matches, but the stadium can be scaled down to provide for smaller events with approximately 20,000 guests. Friends Arena is the biggest football stadium, and indoor venue, in the Nordic countries.

SVT announced on 18 March 2017 that the bids from Stockholm, Malmö and Gothenburg had been shortlisted for further consideration. On 22 March, SVT announced, that the host city of the eighth edition will be Stockholm.

 Malmö | Malmö Arena | 15,500
 Gothenburg | Scandinavium | 14,000

## **Presenters**

On 22 March 2017, it was announced that the presenters for the contest would be Mariette and Loreen. It will be the first time that the Europe Song Contest will be presented by a female duo.

### **Final**

26 countries participated in the final, with all participating countries eligible to vote. The running order for the final was revealed after the deadline of the songs on 31 March.
Austria and Latvia are returned to the contest, both having been absent from the fifth edition. Turkey returned after 3 omission editions. They participated last in the fifth edition. Romania, Russia and Ukraine returned after 2, omission editions. All of them participated last in the sixth edition.

The winner of the eighth edition was Finland with the song "Circle of Light" performed by Emma, which scored 185 points and brought the trophy to Finland.It was the first time that Finland won the contest. Finland won the contest with a record number of the Europe Song Contest.

With 149 points the runner-up was Belgium.

## **Scoreboard**

### **12 points**

Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the final:

### **Voting and spokespersons**

The spokespersons announced the 12-point score from their respective country's national jury in the following order:

1. United Kingdom – Louisa Johnson (British representative in December 2016)
2. Finland – Krista Siegfrids
3. Ireland – Niall Horan (Irish representative in December 2016)
4. Latvia – Katrina Bindere
5. Greece – Kalomira
6. The Netherlands – Sharon Doorson
7. France – Nabilla Benattia
8. Germany – Anke Engelke
9. Ukraine – Tina Karol
10. Sweden – Måns Zelmerlöw (Swedish representative in April 2016)
11. Romania – Cezar
12. Albania – Lindita Halimi (Albanian representative in April 2016)
13. Bulgaria – Poli Genova
14. Belgium – Blanche
15. Austria – Andi Knoll
16. Russia – Elena Temnikova
17. Estonia – Elina Born
18. Turkey – Tolgahan Sayışman
19. Australia – Kylie Minogue
20. Hungary – Gábor Gundel Takács
21. Poland – Margaret (Polish representative in January 2016 and in October 2016 )
22. San Marino – Valentina Monetta
23. Denmark – Emmelie De Forest (Danish representative in June 2016 and in February 2017)
24. Spain – Shakira (Spanish representative in October 2016)
25. Italy – Antonella Lo Coco (Italian representative in October 2016)
26. Lithuania – Aistė Pilvelytė

## **Participation map**

 Participating countries

 Countries that participated in the past but not in April 2017

## **External links**

* Facebook
* Instagram
* YouTube
* Dailymotion
* Official page