Greece, Finland, Belgium, Sweden, Moldova, Israel, Serbia, Croatia, Lithuania and Poland qualified for Saturday's final. San Marino, Georgia, Portugal, Estonia and Montenegro were eliminated.
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The first semifinal of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 took place Tuesday at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, with ten countries securing spots in Saturday's final.
The qualifiers are Greece (Akylas performing "Ferto"), Finland (Linda Lampenius and Pete Parkkonen with "Liekinheitin"), Belgium (ESSYLA with "Dancing on the Ice"), Sweden (FELICIA with "My System"), Moldova (Satoshi with "Viva, Moldova!"), Israel (Noam Bettan with "Michelle"), Serbia (Lavina with "Kraj Mene"), Croatia (LELEK with "Andromeda"), Lithuania (Lion Ceccah with "Sólo Quiero Más") and Poland (ALICJA with "Pray").
Five countries did not advance: Portugal (Bandidos do Cante with "Rosa"), Georgia (Bzikebi with "On Replay"), Estonia (Vanilla Ninja with "Too Epic to Be True"), Montenegro (Tamara Živković with "Nova Zora") and San Marino (SENHIT with "Superstar").
Italy's representative, Sal Da Vinci, performed outside the competition as the Sanremo 2026 winner. Da Vinci, already qualified for the final, performed "Per sempre sì" accompanied by three dancers, one dressed as a bride with the Italian flag emerging from her skirt. He received standing ovations from the audience.
The Italian broadcast was hosted by Gabriele Corsi, in his sixth Eurovision edition, and Elettra Lamborghini, making her debut as commentator. The event aired on Rai 2 starting at 21:00 local time. The Austrian hosts were Victoria Swarovski, singer and conductor, and Michael Ostrowski, actor and conductor.
The second semifinal will take place Thursday, May 14, featuring Bulgaria (DARA with "Bangaranga"), Azerbaijan (JIVA with "Just Go"), Romania (Alexandra Căpitănescu with "Choke Me"), Luxembourg (Eva Marija with "Mother Nature") and Czech Republic (Daniel Zizka with "CROSSROAD"). The ten qualifiers from that semifinal will join the first semifinal's ten qualifiers in Saturday's final on May 16.
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