Country Contest 9

Semi-final 1 date
 Semi-final 2 date
 Final date
 Venue
 Number of entries
 Debuting countries
 Voting system

The **Country Contest 7** was the seventh edition of the contest. It featured the return of the semi-finals and revelation of split voting results.

## Semi-final 1

Turkey and Serbia also voted here. The top nine countries qualified to the Grand Final.

## Final

Qualifiers from the semi-finals, as well as the top 4 of previous edition took part. Additionally, Brazil voted due to Vatican City's withdrawal.

## Incidents

### Brazilian withdrawal

As Brazil did not enter the top 4 of the last edition, ultimately placing fifth, the nation had to withdraw allowing other guest countries to take its spot. The CCU later stated they had made a deal with Asia and Africa to allow South Korea and South Africa to participate to broaden interest of different continents. However, the CCU stated that North America were "not in their plans" of broadening despite the interest from US.

## Other countries

### **Active CCU members**

* Montenegro – RTCG announced its withdrawal citing lack of sponsors and general interest in the contest. It was rumored that this comes after Montenegro failed to qualify, and uses a possible return as a method to win the contest; this which RTCG denied.
* Slovakia – RTVS stated that seeing that Czech Republic did not qualify, there was no reason for them to return. They added that a return would be "very possible" in the event of a qualification.
* Sweden – As some people questioned whether or not Sweden could return, SVT stated that they would not look into returning anytime soon. TV4 then said they would look into participating telling fans to 'make noise' for a potential return. In the end, no return was secured.
* United Kingdom – BBC announced that they would not return this edition but stated that the nation would return "sooner than later." ITV stated that they had no intentions in participating at the contest.
* Vatican City – Despite finishing as the runner-up last edition and the successful coverage, RV announced its withdrawal citing lack of funds though being very optimistic about the result.

### **Associate members**

* Argentina – Telefe announced that the contest would not be broadcast in Argentina owing to Brazil's controversial withdrawal.
* Brazil – Since the country did not place in the top four last edition, RC was forced to withdraw. However, RC announced that it would continue to broadcast the contest thanks to its high ratings. Many fans did not think it was a "coincidence" that the country lost the top four position by 2 points, arguing that it was rigged by the CCU to allow new guest countries. The CCU announced before the contest started that Brazil would be voting in a semi-final and a final, this being a result of Vatican City's withdrawal.
* Colombia – RTVC SMP stated their regrets that Brazil was no longer in the contest, removing the contest from its schedule.
* United States – Although the ratings did not appear so high, Freeform decided to broadcast the contest once again reassuring its want to participate (despite the CCU statement).

### **Non-CCU members**

* Israel – IPBC stated that once they were to be accepted into the CCU, they would take the contest more seriously. However, they urged fans to constantly contact CCU so they could be looked into as a new member.