Eurovision is coming to Liverpool, after the 2023 contest was awarded to the host city following the inability of holders Ukraine to stage the event, due to the ongoing invasion of their country by Russia. The semi-final draw took place on Tuesday evening as excitement starts to build. We take a look at the betting markets for those looking to get a bet on early…
It won’t shock anyone that the defending champions are a short-price to win again. Ukraine are 3/1 with us and considering half the votes come from the general public, you can see why. Across Europe, there will be a groundswell of love for the country – whoever is their act – as a message of solidarity with what they are going through. It isn’t much but we saw in 2022 that it was enough to comfortably get them the victory and a repeat performance this year would shock no-one.
As the holders, they do not have to qualify via the semi-finals to get one of the spots in the final on Saturday 13 May. The ‘Big 5’ members of the European Broadcasting Union also get straight passage to the main show. Of those five, both the UK and Italy have odds of 8/1 to win the whole thing. The United Kingdom entry last year did surprisingly well and managed to finish second, hence why the event is being staged over here this time around.
Germany last won with the still catchy tune of ‘Satellite’ sung by Lena but they’ve struggled since and came last in 2022 amassing only six points. They sit at 50/1, with Spain at 20/1 and France at 16/1 for the automatic qualification countries.
Australia were only meant to be involved for one year but they keep coming back and they have every chance of being a legitimate contender according to the early prices with odds of 12/1. Sweden often also send a strong act to the competition and they last tasted victory in 2015 with ‘Heroes’ by Mans Zelmerlow. 6/1 and second-favourites in the early betting for the Swedes.
My personal favourite winner in recent years was Emmelle de Forest’s song ‘Teardrops’ which gave Denmark the win back in 2013. As I’m typing this now I’ve got it playing on a YouTube video beside me but they are one of 11 countries rated as a 100/1 shot at this point to win. The other ten all available at the biggest price on the market are Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Latvia, Malta, Moldova, Romania and San Marino.
Countries around Europe are starting to shortlist their entries and as the days and weeks go by, we’ll start to get more of a feel as to whether any of the favourites are sending a dud or if one of the big priced nations have an absolute banger on their hands.
The countries taking part in semi-final one on May 9 are Azerbaijan, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Malta, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Serbia, Sweden and Switzerland.
Two days later it will be Albania, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Georgia, Iceland, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, San Marino and Slovenia up for semi-final two.
Keep checking back with us as we look at the market changes as countries start to pick their acts being sent to the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest and feel free to bet on the market with us via the button below.
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