Who’s in Eurovision 2025 Grand Final? All countries in running to win

We have our first batch of Eurovision 2025 finalists! (Picture: AP)

The final of the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest is now taking shape, as the first 10 acts to compete for the win have been revealed.

Tonight, the semi-finals kicked off in epic style live from Basel, Switzerland, where the competition is being held after Nemo’s win with The Code in 2024.

Millions tuned in to watch 15 countries take to the stage with their entries, all hoping to make it to the Grand Final on Saturday, May 17.

We already know that the Big 5 have a pass to the final, as they contribute the most financially to the EBU. These countries are France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

As for who will join them, 10 places were awarded tonight to Norway, Albania, Sweden, Iceland, the Netherlands, Poland, San Marino, Estonia, Portugal, and Ukraine.

Unfortunately, this means Slovenia, Belgium, Azerbaijan, Croatia, and Cyprus have reached the end of their Eurovision journeys this time around, having failed to advance any further.

Representing Sweden, Kaj are currently this year’s favourites to win (Picture: Baden Roth/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock)

On Thursday night, the remaining semi-finalists will perform and face the public vote.

Still in with a chance of making the final are Australia, Montenegro, Ireland, Latvia, Armenia, Austria, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, Georgia, Denmark, Czechia, Luxembourg, Israel, Serbia, and Finland.

Also on Thursday, we’ll get our first look at the production for the UK entrant, as girl group Remember Monday performs What the Hell Just Happened?

Tonight, the semis kicked off with a prerecord of the Swiss landscape and an opening number that included a revamped version of Nemo’s winning tune.

At the arena in St Jakobshalle, various dancers performed to get the energy up before hosts Hazel Brugger, Sandra Studer, and Michelle Hunziker took to the stage.

Ukraine was the final country to be confirmed for this weekend’s final (Picture: Baden Roth/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock) Albania was also among the 10 countries who secured a place in the final in the first semi (Picture: Nderim Kaceli/Shutterstock)

Brugger began by saying this is ‘the biggest welcome home party that Eurovision has ever seen,’ as the contest comes back to Switzerland, where it started more than six decades ago.

This year’s favourites are Sweden’s act Kaj, who sailed through with ease thanks to their coordinated dance to their song Bara Bada Bastu (Just Sauna).

Their performance saw dancers acting as lumberjacks in a fake sauna wearing towels, while the Swedish-speaking singers, from Finland, were dressed in dark green suits.

The atmosphere was undeniably electric in the arena, and the group seemed to receive the biggest applause of the night, as the bookies currently give them a 41% chance of Eurovision victory.

Should they triumph this weekend, their win would defy tradition, given that Sweden’s previous three winning entries (Euphoria and Tattoo, both by Loreen, and Heroes by Mans Zelmerlow) were all sung in English. Bara Bada Bastu, meanwhile, is sung in Swedish.

Iceland’s entrant Vaeb has been compared to X Factor icons Jedward (Picture: Baden Roth/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock)

Closest to them in the bookmakers’ leaderboard are Austria and France, with a respective 19% and 6% chance of winning.

Elsewhere tonight, Eurovision viewers were given a sweet blast from the past as Canadian singer Celine Dion delivered a pre-recorded video message, having won the contest for Switzerland in 1988.

The My Heart Will Go On hitmaker spoke in both French and English as she told viewers that Eurovision ‘has always held a special place in [her] heart’.

The second Eurovision 2025 semi-final takes place on Thursday and airs on BBC.

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