The running order for the semi-finals of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest has been announced. Continuing the policy introduced at last year’s contest, the order was decided by the producers of the shows and approved by the EBU, rather than being determined in a random draw – although a draw had been held previously to allocate the participating countries to the respective halves of each semi-final in order to allow them to plan their rehearsal logistics.

You can see the full draw on our 2014 participants page. But what, if anything, can we read into the producers’ decisions?

The first interesting insight is that Armenia, the clear bookmakers’ favourite to win ESC 2014 at the time of writing, has been selected to open the first semi-final. It seems unlikely that the producers would want to “shoot their bolt” by having an entry with massive appeal performing right at the very start of proceedings, so maybe they aren’t as confident in its chances as those who have been betting? On the other hand, if Armenia is such a favourite, it can safely be given the potentially disadvantageous opening slot in the running order without damaging its chances of qualification.

From a geopolitical point of view, the middle of the first semi-final is intriguing, with current adversaries Russia and Ukraine separated by their mutual former Soviet partner Azerbaijan. Of course, as our line-up check series will show, their actual entries could hardly be more different!

For the second year in succession, Romania will close the second semi-final. Some might see this as proof of favouritism, but the producers do claim that their intention is solely to create a good show from a musical perspective, and the alternative – trying to ensure that countries get a fair distribution of “good” and “bad” draws over the years – would be to admit that there is such a thing as a “good” and “bad” draw in the first place!

If we do accept that theory, however, it can’t be denied that the later sections of both semi-finals are bursting with countries whose recent qualification records are poor – San Marino, Portugal, the Netherlands, Montenegro, Macedonia, Switzerland and Slovenia all have late positions – so maybe we’ll get to see some different flags on the Saturday night scoreboard this year.

Keep reading our line-up check posts and our betting articles for further views and analysis on how the running order might affect the outcome of the semi-finals – if it does at all!