The draw to determine which countries will take part in which of the semi-finals of the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest was held early this afternoon at Vienna City Hall.
As in recent years, the countries had previously been divided into “pots” based on their voting history with the aim of ensuring a balanced spread across the two semi-finals. It was decided in advance that there would be 16 countries in the first semi-final and 17 countries in the second semi-final. To allow the delegations to make their travel plans based on the preliminary rehearsal schedule, the participating countries were also assigned to either the first or second half of the respective show.
The draw was as follows:
| SEMI-FINAL 1 | SEMI-FINAL 2 |
| First half | First half |
| Armenia Belgium Estonia Finland Greece Macedonia Moldova Netherlands |
Czech Republic Ireland Lithuania Malta Montenegro Norway Portugal San Marino |
| Second half | Second half |
| Albania Belarus Denmark Georgia Hungary Romania Russia Serbia |
Azerbaijan Cyprus Iceland Israel Latvia Poland Slovenia Sweden Switzerland |
The “big five” countries, who are already qualified for the grand final, and host nation Austria were also assigned to the semi-finals that they are required to broadcast and vote in:
Spain, Austria and France will vote in the first semi-final on Tuesday 19 May.
Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom will vote in the second semi-final on Thursday 21 May.
As in 2013 and 2014, the exact order of performance will be decided by the producers once all the entries have been chosen, the aim being to create a varied and interesting running order. You can see the full list of the entries chosen so far by clicking here!
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