The Origin Song Contest 04

Final date
 Venue
 Entries
 Debuting
 System
 Winner

**The Origin Song Contest 04**, often referred to as TOSC 04, was the fourth edition of The Origin Song Contest. It was held in Cologne, Germany, following the country's victory at the third edition with the song "Strangled Love" by Jannine Weigel. It was the first time Germany has hosted the contest. ZDF selected the Lanxess Arena in Cologne as the venue, whilst Markus Lanz and Nina Eichinger were chosen as hosts.

Thirty-five countries participated in the edition. Malta made their debut, whilst Andorra, Norway, Spain and Ukraine returned having been absent the previous edition, whilst Luxembourg returned having last participated three editions ago.

Italy won the edition, achieving their first victory, with the song "Bambola" performed by Betta Lemme. The song scored 122 points, beating runner-up Poland by a margin of ten points. The Netherlands placed third, with Latvia, Malta and the United Kingdom rounding off the top six. Hosts Germany placed fourteenth, whilst Slovenia came last in the final, receiving the least points to date.

## Location

*For more information, see Cologne.*

Cologne (German: Köln) is the largest city in the German federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the fourth populated city in Germany (after Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich). It is located within the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region which is Germany's largest and one of Europe's major metropolitan areas. Cologne is about 45 kilometres (28 mi) southwest of North Rhine-Westphalia's capital of Düsseldorf and 25 kilometres (16 mi) northwest of Bonn.

Cologne is located on both sides of the Rhine, near Germany's borders with Belgium and the Netherlands. The city's famous Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom) is the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Cologne. The University of Cologne (Universität zu Köln) is one of Europe's oldest and largest universities.

### Bidding phase

ZDF invited interested cities to submit an application to host the contest along with the venue that would be used if chosen. Cologne was revealed as the host city on 22 December 2017.

 Cologne | Lanxess Arena | 20,000
 Düsseldorf | ISS Dome | 12,500
 Hanover | TUI Arena | 14,000

## Format

### Semi-final allocation draw

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place on 14th January 2018. The first part of the draw determined in which semi-final the "big 6" would have to vote. The second part of the draw decided in which half of the respective semi-finals each country would perform, with the exact running order determined by the producers of the show at a later date. Fourteen countries would participate in the first semi-final, and fifteen would participate in the second. From each semi-final, ten countries would join the "Big 6" in the final, where a total of twenty-six countries would participate.

The twenty-nine semi-finalists were allocated into six pots, based on their geographical place and cultural similarities. Drawing from different pots helps in reducing the chance of so-called neighbour voting and increasing suspense in the semi-finals. Each time a country was drawn from the pot, its semi-final and half of the semi-final was determined.

The six pots were the following:

* Bosnia-Herzegovina
* Cyprus
* FYR Macedonia
* Greece
* Malta
* Monaco
* Spain
* United Kingdom
* Lithuania
* Russia
* Sweden
 Pot 4
 * Belgium
* France
* Ireland
* Luxembourg
* Netherlands
* Liechtenstein
* Poland
* Switzerland
* Estonia
* Faroe Islands
* Finland
* Norway

### Previews and Betting Odds

*For more information, see Previews and Betting Odds.*

The entries from each participating country were previewed in short recaps called *previews*. The countries were divided into the previews based on when they revealed their entry: the first countries to reveal their entries were in the first preview. Broadcasters can rank each entry in the recap.

The betting odds were based around the country's average rank in its preview. The betting odds represented the chance a country had to win the contest. Poland came first in the betting odds with odds of 2.44, followed by Moldova and Germany with odds of 2.73 and 2.94. The lowest countries in the betting odds were France, Hungary and Russia with odds of 5.11, 5.23 and 5.52 respectively.

France, Hungary and Russia all did not qualify to the final; in fact, Bosnia and Herzegovina was the lowest-scoring qualifier, coming 30th in the betting odds. The betting odds were unsuccessful at calling the winner; Poland placed second whilst Italy won having been placed fifth in the betting odds. In the final, the positions of Latvia and Monaco were predicted correctly, with Lithuania finishing fifteen places higher than predicted and Moldova finishing fifteen places lower. The highest-scoring non-qualifier was Liechtenstein who were seventh in the odds.

## Participating countries

Thirty-five countries participated, a decrease of two compared with the previous edition. Malta made their debut this edition, whilst Andorra, Norway, Spain and Ukraine returned having been absent last edition and Luxembourg after last participating in the first edition. Eight nations withdrew this edition; Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Iceland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia.

### Returning artists

Heren returned to represent Spain having represented the country in the second edition. Magdolna Rúzsa was selected to compete for Hungary after participating for the country in the first edition.

## Results

### Semi-final 1

Fourteen countries participated in the first semi-final. Germany, Italy and Slovenia also voted in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the final.

### Semi-final 2

Fifteen countries participated in the second semi-final. Latvia, Moldova and San Marino also voted in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the final.

### Final

Twenty-six countries participated in the final, with all thirty-five participating countries eligible to vote.

## Incidents

#### Irish entry

Prior to the opening ceremony it was discovered that the Irish entry, "Unbreakable" performed by Shane Filan, was a cover, originally released in 2014 by Jamie Scott. The OBU decided that, due to the organisational and logistical issues a potential entry change would bring, the song would still be eligible to participate.

## Other countries

Every edition, the Origin Broadcasting Union invites all its active members to participate at the contest. The countries below have declined their invitations to participate, with the reasons stated.

* Austria: ORF announced that Austria would withdraw, citing no reason for the decision.

* Bulgaria,  Czech Republic,  Serbia and  Slovakia: The countries had to withdraw from the edition due to the Head of Delegations leaving their posts. It is expected that they will return for the fifth edition.

* Iceland: Following a third consecutive non-qualification, RÚV announced it would take a break to restructure its delegation and approach to the contest. A return in the fifth edition is expected.

* Portugal: Following the Head of Delegation leaving his post, as well as a string of poor results including two last place finishes, Portugal could not participate in the edition.

* Romania: It was announced the country would withdraw due to a lack of time.