Eurovision allocation draw for the semi-finals on 17 January

The EBU, European Broadcasting Union has informed esctoday.com that the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals  allocation draw will be held on 17 January at the Old City Hall in Malmö at 14.00 CET. This draw will determine which countries will compete in which semi-final. The 2013 Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals are scheduled to be held on the 14 and 16  May in Malmö.

This year there will be no draw to determine the running order of the participating countries for either the semi-finals or the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. The running order for all 3 shows will be decided and determined by the host broadcaster SVT.

On 17 January a draw will also be held to decide and allocate the so-called Big 5 (Italy, France, UK, Germany, Spain) and Sweden (the host country) into one of the two semi-finals (determining which semi-final each country will vote in and broadcast). The Host City Insignia ceremony will  be held on the same day, where the previous year's mayor will hand over the symbolic key to the mayor of Malmö.

Stay tuned to esctoday.com for the latest information on the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest.

About the author

Sanjay (Sergio) Jiandani

Sanjay ( Sergio) joined esctoday.com in December 2006 as an editor, in 2011 he became the Head of Press at esctoday.com.Sanjay has covered the Eurovision Song Contest live since 2000, 12 times, having worked for several international magazines: Sitara Magazine, Ainna Magazine and B.R.International (Hong Kong).