The Netherlands to compete in the first semi-finals of the Eurovision Song contest

The Netherlands will compete in the first semi-finals of this year’s Eurovision Song Festival. This was the result of a draw in Basel, where the event will be held. Claude, the Netherlands representative in this year’s event, will perform in the second part of the first semi-finals.

The singer will battle with candidates from Azerbaijan, Albania, San Marino, Sweden, Belgium, Ukraine, Slovenia, Cyprus, Iceland, Estonia, Poland, Croatia, Portugal, Norway, and Latvia for the 10 spots that guarantee participation in the finals.

The second semi-finals will see 15 countries perform for 10 places, which is one country less than the first semi-finals. The countries competing in this include Israel, Austria, Denmark, and Luxemburg. The first semi-finals will take place on Tuesday, May 13, and the second semi-final will occur two days later.

The semi-final draw is considered by many as the start of the song festival season. The mayor of the city that hosted the event last year hands over the event to the successor prior to the draw.

There are 37 countries in total competing in the 69th edition of the event. Moldova was originally one of these, but the country pulled out of the event at the beginning of this month.

Six countries are already confirmed to be participating in the finals. These are: Switzerland, who won last year, Italy, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom. They are a part of the so-called “big five” and are awarded a spot in the finals because they contribute more to financing the event than the others.