Press releases

STOCKHOLM, 13 May (BelTA) – Belarus has been knocked out of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest after the country’s entry IVAN (Alexander Ivanov) failed to qualify for Saturday's final on 12 May, BelTA has learned.

The 10 countries that qualified on Thursday are Latvia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Australia, Ukraine, Serbia, Poland, Israel, Lithuania and Belgium.

They will join Azerbaijan, Russia, the Netherlands, Hungary, Croatia, Austria, Armenia, Czech Republic, Cyprus and Malta, who all made it through the first semifinal on Tuesday.

According to the Eurovision rules, representatives of the "big five" countries, which are Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the UK, have a guaranteed place in the final. As reigning winners, Sweden also automatically advance to the grand final.

The winner and the country to host the next song contest in 2017 will be announced on 14 May.