Semi‑final 1: 10 acts — Croatia, Cyprus, Finland among qualifiers — advance to Eurovision Grand Final

Eurovision is back in the part of the week where the contest suddenly gets real. Semi-final 1 in Vienna cut 15 competing acts down to 10 on Tuesday, May 12, and now the Grand Final picture is starting to lock in. The big thing here isn’t just who got through. It’s that 2026 changed the math again — juries are back in the semi-finals, so these results tell you something different from the last few years. (eurovisionworld.com) ### Who actually qualified? (eurovision.com) The 10 countries through from the first semi-final are Belgium, Croatia, Finland, Greece, Israel, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Serbia and Sweden. The five acts knocked out were Estonia, Georgia, Montenegro, Portugal and San Marino. Germany and Italy also appeared in the show, but they were there as automatic finalists rather than competitors in this semi. ### Why does this lineup stand out? Because it is not the lineup many casual viewers were expecting from early chatter. The preliminary card you gave me listed Cyprus, Iceland, the Netherlands and San Marino as qualifiers, but Cyprus, Iceland and the Netherlands were not even in Semi-final 1, and San Marino did not qualify. (eurovisionworld.com) The actual result was a more central-and-eastern-heavy slate, with Belgium and Lithuania also making it through. ### What changed in the voting? The semi-finals are no longer pure televote affairs. For Vienna 2026, professional juries returned to the semis for the first time since 2022, joining televoters and the online “Rest of the World” vote. (eurovisionworld.com) Each side awards the familiar 1 to 8, 10 and 12 points, but the detailed breakdown is being held back until after the Grand Final on Saturday, May 16. So right now, you know who advanced, but not whether they were carried by juries, viewers, or both. ### Why does that matter so much? Because semi-final strategy changes when juries come back. A televote-only semi rewards instant impact — huge chorus, meme energy, wild staging. (eurovision.com) A mixed system gives cleaner vocals, tighter composition and jury-friendly structure more room. Basically, a song no longer has to be the loudest thing in the room to survive Tuesday night. ### Who looks strongest now? Finland, Greece, Moldova and Sweden were already being watched closely before the show, and all four got through. But without the split results, you cannot say who dominated. Belgium, Lithuania, Poland and Serbia may have benefited from the jury return more than fans expected — that is an inference, not a published ranking yet. (eurovision.com) Croatia and Israel also stay firmly in the conversation because qualification alone keeps momentum alive heading into the final. ### What happens after qualification? The qualifiers immediately drew their Grand Final placement buckets — first half, second half or producer’s choice. Sweden and Lithuania landed in the second half, Greece, Belgium and Serbia in the first half, while Finland, Israel, Moldova and Croatia drew producer’s choice. (eurovision.com) Poland also landed in the second half. That matters because producer’s choice gives the show team freedom to place songs where they create the best TV flow. ### So what’s the real takeaway? Semi-final 1 did two things at once. It narrowed the field, and it gave the first real test of Eurovision’s restored jury-televote balance. (eurovisionworld.com) The catch is that we still do not know the internal shape of the result. Until the full points drop after the Grand Final, all anyone really has is the survivor list — and in Eurovision week, that is enough to reset the odds. (escxtra.com)