By Neil Durham

WHEN? 12 May 2026 HOW TO WATCH? BBC1 in the UK at 8pm

WHERE? Wiener Stadthalle, Vienna

Juries return to the semi finals for the 1st time since 2022 and the 1st semi is notable for the appearance of the contest’s runaway favourite at the time of writing – Finland (pictured) – and controversial inclusion of Israel.

• Read on for reasons including Akylas, Satoshi & Noam Bettan

1. MOLDOVA Satoshi Viva Moldova! (Vlad Sabajuc) PREDICTION: Qualifier

5 countries – Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Iceland and Slovenia – withdraw in protest at Israel’s participation and Moldova is 1 of 3 countries returning. Moldova didn’t compete in 2025 due to economic reasons and Viva Moldova! is predominantly in Romanian. It’s uptempo turbo folk – including a ‘Moldova is on duty’ hook – that will be familiar from some of the country’s most successful top 10 Eurovision placings.

2. SWEDEN FELICIA My System (Audun Agnar Guldbrandsen, Emily Harbakk, Felicia Eriksson, Julie Bergan, Theresa Rex) PREDICTION: Qualifier

FELICIA is the former Fröken Snusk, who performed in a balaclava and competed with Unga & fria (Young & Free) in Melodifestivalen in 2024, where she just missed out in the Andra Chanson. My System is captivating electronic dance music (EDM) which is spectacularly performed in the EDM genre which often doesn’t require it. A potential Eurovision winner.

3. CROATIA Lelek Andromeda (Filip Lacković, Lazar Pajić, Tomislav Roso, Zorica Pajić) PREDICTION: Qualifier

5-strong female folk group create a witchy vibe while wearing markings reminiscent of the Catholic folk custom sicanje, tattoos worn by ethnic Croats to ward off Ottoman violence or forced conversion. The lyrics speak of the subjugation of women. It’s a little bit shouty, staged with fire and candles while reminding of Czechia’s similar Vesna which finished 10th in 2023 with My Sister’s Crown.

4. GREECE Akylas Ferto (Bring it) (Akylas Mytilinaios, Orpheus Nonis, Theofilos Pouzbouris, Thomas Papathanasis) PREDICTION: Qualifier

There’s an irreverence about the computer game national final staging that reminds of Estonia’s Tommy Cash who finished 3rd last year. Happy for Akylas that he has a moment here to impress vocally. The song feels a little all over the place and in no way reflecting its current strong showing in the odds.

5. PORTUGAL Bandidos do Canta (Singing bandits) Rosa (Pink) (Duarte Farias, Francisco Pereira, Francisco Pestana, Francisco Raposo, Gonçalo Narciso, Gui Alface, José Carlos Coelho, Almeida Tavares, Luis Aleixo, Miguel Costa) PREDICTION: Qualifier

A Portuguese musical group originating from Beja, in the Alentejo region, including Miguel Costa, Duarte Farias, Francisco Raposo, Luís Aleixo and Francisco Pestana. An old-fashioned yet sweet song well sung but drearily executed in its national final performance. Lots of potential to stage it better in this semi for it though.

6. GEORGIA Bzikebi (Wasps) On Replay (Giga Kukhianidze, Lizi Japaridze) PREDICTION: Qualifier

Georgia’s Wasps won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2008 with the song Bzz and become the 4th act to make the jump to the main show. Not yet seen the live performance but we’re enjoying the Steps-on-a-budget vibe of the video. Hopefully this won’t buzz off early but it’s borderline to qualify.

7. FINLAND Linda Lampenius & Pete Parkkonen Liekinheitin (Flamethrower) (Antti Riihimäki, Lauri Halavaara, Linda Lampenius, Pete Parkkonen, Vilma Alina Lähteenmäki) PREDICTION: Qualifier

The runaway victor in its national final and current favourite to take home the whole thing. There are flames, an uptempo song with a strong female fiddler and some memorable staging. It’s in Finnish which may be to its detriment and we wonder whether a few sections may switch to English although it doesn’t currently look to need it.

8. MONTENEGRO Tamara Živković Nova Zora (New dawn) (Boris Subotić) PREDICTION: non-qualifier

Montenegro’s 14th appearance at Eurovision and it’s only made the final twice. Adio by Knez in 2015 is its best finish of 13th. This boasts a strong vocal and in a Eurovision which might be a little more skewed East than normal because of its boycotting participants this could make the final particularly in a semi with both neighbours Serbia and Croatia in.

9. ESTONIA Vanilla Ninja Too Epic To Be True (Sven Lõhmus) PREDICTION: Qualifier

A song of the month for us in December when we wrote: ‘Big in Estonia, Germany and Austria, in 2005 Vanilla Ninja represented Switzerland with the song Cool Vibes finishing 8th in Ukraine. Too Epic To Be True reminds of Voice of The Beehive and The Bangles and is written by Sven Lõhmus who’s penned a number of Estonian Eurovision entries enjoying most success with Rändajad (Wanderers) by Urban Symphony which finished 6th in 2009 in Moscow.’ Victorious in a tight vote in Eesti Laul, this was given a retro performance with a Kiss Cam, cheating couples beware!

10. ISRAEL Noam Bettan Rebecca (Nadav Aharoni, Tzlil Klifi, Yuval Raphael) PREDICTION: Qualifier

Given the 5 country boycotts at Israel’s participation it is perhaps ironic that its entry is quite so middle-of-the-road. Its co-write credit for the participant who finished 2nd last year is perhaps the most notable thing about it.

11. BELGIUM Essyla Dancing On The Ice (Alice Van Eesbeeck, Barbara Petitjean, Emil Stengele, Nicolas d’Avell) PREDICTION: non-qualifier

We’ve yet to see a live performance although the promo video presents the song and its striking bass hook in a pleasantly eerie and realised form.

12. LITHUANIA Lion Ceccah Sólo quiero más (I just want more) (Aurimas Galvelis, Tomas Alenčikas) PREDICTION: non-qualifier

Now here’s an oddity. No Spain this year and we have a chorus at least in part in Spanish. A meandering effort which appears to only have 1 gear change. We spent the entire national final performance worrying how he was going to get the silver facepaint off.

13. SAN MARINO Senhit ft Boy George Superstar (Anderz Wrethov, George Alan O’Dowd, Julie Aagaard, John-Emil Johansson, Thomas Stengaard, Senhit Zadik Zadik) PREDICTION: Qualifier

US rapper Flo Rida had a little more work to do than Boy George currently when he appeared onstage with Senhit in Rotterdam in 2021 finishing 22nd. We love Culture Club, appreciate the predominantly Swedish writing team and Senhit’s enthusiasm but would be looking for a little more from a featured credit for Boy George than the current repetition of the same 2 lines towards the end of the song.

14. POLAND Alicja Pray (Alicja Szemplińska, Sinclair Alan Malcolm, Weronika Gabryelczyk) PREDICTION: non-qualifier

Alicja was set to represent Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song Empires before the event was cancelled. She won season 10 of The Voice of Poland in 2019. The song is an improvement and this is bluesy and gospelish although slightly oddly performed.

15. SERBIA Lavina Kraj Mene (End of me) (Lavina, Ivan Jegdić) PREDICTION: non-qualifier

Serbia won Eurovision on its debut in 2007 in Helsinki with Marija Šerifović’s Molitva (Prayer) and we made the trip to Belgrade the following year for a memorable final where Russia won. Serbia failed to make the final last year and this is dark rock facing a similar fate. A very long 3 minutes which accurately reflects how the listener feels in its final 60 seconds.

• Main picture via Facebook courtesy European Broadcasting Union Tickets
• Have you seen a Eurovision semi final before and what do you think of this 1? 
• Let us know what you thought in the comments below. Our predictions for the pre-qualified 2026 Eurovision Song Contest finalists. Semi 2 predictions Updated final predictions
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