Not long now, until we learn in which all the semi-final countries will be competing in. Of course, there are a few things that needs to be settled, so let’s clear up how the upcoming 2025 contest will be like, before we dive further into the pots.
Things You Should Know
To begin with, an unfortunate reminder of the big news of last week, when Moldovan broadcaster (TRM) decided to pull out of participating in the 2025 contest. The reason this is important, is because the total number of participants, will now be 37 instead of the originally announced 38 broadcasters.
Moldova not being either a BIG 5 nor the host country, means that Moldova originally would’ve had to take part in one of the two semi-finals. As a kind reminder, the BIG 5 consists of the 
United Kingdom, 
France, 
Spain, 
Germany and 
Italy. While this year’s host country is 
Switzerland. These 6 mentioned countries will not compete in the semi-finals, but instead be pre-qualified for the final.
That leaves 31 countries to compete in the semi-finals. However, all the pre-qualified countries will still play a role in the semi-finals, where acts from these 6 pre-qualified countries will perform and vote in either of the two semi-finals as well. Clearly, there’s an odd number, so one semi-final will feature 15 countries, while the other semi-final will feature 16 countries.
Now then, these are the pots for the 2025 contest:
- Pot 1
Belgium
Czech Republic
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Netherlands
- Pot 2
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Georgia
Israel
Poland
Ukraine
- Pot 3
Albania
Austria
Croatia
Montenegro- Serbia
Slovenia
- Pot 4
Cyprus
Greece
Ireland
Malta
Portugal
San Marino
- Pot 5
Australia
Denmark
Finland
Iceland
Norway
Sweden
What’s different from last year? Well, a few of the pots have been re-arranged for the most part. Usually pot 1 is mostly ex-Yugoslavic bloc, while pot 2 is mostly a Nordic bloc. Instead the mostly Nordic bloc is moved to pot 5, while the mostly ex-Yugoslavic bloc is moved to pot 3.
Pot 3 and 4 are mostly the same and what was expected. The greatest change, would probably be pot 1, which is the only pot to contain 7 countries, which will consist of all the Baltic-states and all the Benelux-states, plus Czechia.
Noticeable is also how Estonia has been moved together with the Baltics and no longer is in the Nordic pot, meanwhile Poland has been moved in the mostly ex-Soviet bloc.
The allocation draw will take place on the 28th of January at 12:30 CET, and can be watched on the link below:
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Source(s): Eurovision.TV
