Eurovision Song Contest 2019: Tel Aviv (2024)

The slogan for Eurovision 2019 was Dare to Dream, and the total budget for the contest was estimated to €28.5 million.

The official logo was revealed on 8 January 2019 under the slogan "Dare To Dream". The logo is made of three triangles, creating a golden star.

Eurovision Song Contest 2019: Tel Aviv (1)
Eurovision Song Contest 2019: Tel Aviv (2)

There were 4 hosts at Eurovision Song Contest 2019: Bar Refaeli, Erez Tal, Assi Azar and Lucy Ayoub.

Eurovision Song Contest 2019: Tel Aviv (3)

When was Eurovision 2019?

The Eurovision week had three shows: Semi-final 1 on Tuesday, Semi-final 2 on Thursday and the Grand Final on Saturday:

Semi-final 1: 14 May 2019
Semi-final 2: 16 May 2019
Grand Final: 18 May 2019

All the shows started at 21:00 CEST.

Host City: Tel Aviv

The host city has been officially confirmed as Tel Aviv.

Tel Aviv is the second largest city in Israel with a population of 445,000, and is a major center of culture and entertainment and the Gay capital of Israel.

Every year around 2.5 million international tourists visit Tel Aviv, ranked the fifth-most-visited city in the Middle East & Africa. The beaches of Tel Aviv are often ranked as some of the best beaches in the world.

Tel Aviv is called "The city that never sleeps", because of its active nightlife, with a huge variety of nightclubs and bars, many of them LGBT friendly. Tel Aviv is often ranked as one of the top LGBT destinations in the world.

Besides Tel Aviv, three other cities were in the bidding race for hosting Eurovision 2019: Jerusalem, Haifa and Eilat.

Arena: Expo Tel Aviv

Location: Rokach Blvd 101, Tel Aviv-Yafo Google Maps
Website: expotelaviv.co.il
Train station: "Tel Aviv University"

The arena for Eurovision 2019 was Expo Tel Aviv (also called Tel Aviv Convention Center or Tel Aviv Fairgrounds).

Eurovision Song Contest 2019: Tel Aviv (4)
Eurovision Song Contest 2019: Tel Aviv (5)

Expo Tel Aviv is located in northern Tel Aviv, close to the railway station (Tel Aviv University).

The Expo Tel Aviv includes the new Pavilion 2, which will be the arena for Eurovision 2019. The Pavilion 2 was opened in 2015 and has a capacity of up to 10,000 people at most (depending on configuration). KAN expects to have a capacity of around 7,280 spectators in the arena for Eurovision 2019, along with 46 commentator booths.

The Green Room was placed in Pavilion 1 in the complex. The Pavilion also hosted the Press Center, while the Pavilion 13 was used for the production.

The stage was designed by Florian Wieder – who also designed the stage for Eurovision 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2018. The stage was shaped like a diamond with a standing area for fans right in front of the stage.

Participants

41 countries participated at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019:

Albania

Armenia

Australia

Austria

Azerbaijan

Belarus

Belgium

Croatia

Cyprus

Czechia

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Georgia

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Iceland

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Malta

Moldova

Montenegro

Netherlands

North Macedonia

Norway

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Russia

San Marino

Serbia

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

United Kingdom

Changes from Eurovision 2018

2 countries from Eurovision 2018 didn't participate in Eurovision 2019:

Bulgaria

Ukraine

Who's in which Semi-final?

The semi-final allocation draw for Eurovision Song Contest 2019 took place on 28 January 2019 in the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. The draw determined which countries are allocated to which of the two semi-finals.

Tickets

The tickets for Eurovision Song Contest 2019 went on sale on 28 February 2019. Read more: How to get tickets for Eurovision 2019

Tickets usually go on sale in November/December the year before. For Eurovision Song Contest 2019 the tickets were delayed several times.

Eurovision Village: Charles Clore Park

Location: Prof. Yehezkel Kaufmann street Google Maps
When: 12 May to 18 May, 17:00 - 23:00
Price: Free entry

Eurovision Song Contest 2019: Tel Aviv (6)

Eurovision Village was the official festival area during Eurovision Song Contest 2019.

In Eurovision Village you could see live performances by artists, DJs, special events and public viewing of the shows broadcasted from the Arena.

Eurovision Song Contest 2019: Tel Aviv (7)

The Eurovision Village was located in Tel Aviv's Charles Clore Park, which is a public beachfront park, that usually hosts Tel Aviv's Pride Parade main event.

Eurovision Song Contest 2019: Tel Aviv (8)

Orange Carpet: Habima Square

Location: Tarsat Ave 2, Tel Aviv-Yafo Google Maps Busses: 5, 39, 63, 100, 192, 239, 502

The Red Carpet (or actually Orange Carpet) took place at the Habima Square on Sunday 12 May 2019. Habima Square is in the heart of Tel Aviv, and is also called "The Culture Square". The square is sorrounded by major cultural institutions such as the Habima National Theatre, the Charles R. Bronfman Auditorium (home of the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra) and the Helena Rubinstein Pavilion for Contemporary Art.

Eurovision Song Contest 2019: Tel Aviv (9)

At the Red Carpet all the contestants were presented for the press, fans and guests with lots of beautiful dresses, festivities and selfies.

After the Red Carpet, the Opening Ceremony of Eurovision 2019 took place at the Habima National Theatre.

EuroClub: Hangar 11

Location: Tel Aviv Port (Crossing of Rokach Blvd and HaYarkon street), Google Maps
When: 11 May to 18 May, 22:00 to 04:00
Busses: 4, 9, 13, 39, 55, 62, 72, 104, 122, 129, 170, 172, 174, 175, 204, 211, 222, 230, 231, 239, 256, 273, 296, 299, 333, 418, 445, 463, 466, 489, 502, 555, 556 566, 599

The EuroClub was the venue for some special parties, the official after parties and performances by participants.

EuroClub in Tel Aviv was located at the venue Hangar 11 located in the Tel Aviv Port (Crossing of Rokach Blvd and HaYarkon street), around 4 km away from the arena. EuroClub was open from 11 to 18 May from 21:00 to 04:00.

Access to EuroClub was free for accredited persons in the categories fans (F), delegations (D) and press (P).

There were 1000 weekly bracelets on sale for ₪600 ≈ €148 (for OGAE members the price was ₪500 ≈ €123)

EuroCafe: HaOman 17

Location: Abarbanel Street 88 Google Maps
When: 12 May to 18 May 2018 from 23:00
Busses: 1, 25, 42, 54, 83, 125, 142, 418

EuroCafe (also known as Euro Fan Café) was the place for fans to meet for parties and special events during the Eurovision week.

EuroCafe opened its doors for Eurovision fans from 12 May to 18 May, and was located at HaOman 17 – one of the biggest night clubs in Israel. EuroCafe 2019 was organized by OGAE Israel together with VIVO Productions.

Tickets for EuroCafe went on sale from 10 April on eurocafetlv2019.com. For the first 48 hours tickets were only available for OGAE members who must fill in their membership number when ordering. Each OGAE member could purchase up to 2 tickets. The cost of a weekly wristband was 420 Shekels ≈ 105 Euros.

Some of the confirmed guest stars were: Charlotte Perrelli, Emmelie de Forest, Hera Björk, Selma, Krista Siegfrids, Slavko Kalezic, Shiri Maimon, Harel Skaat, Nadav Guedj, Mei Feingold, Imri Ziv, Moran Mazor, Riki Ben Ari and many others.

Eurovision Song Contest 2019: Tel Aviv (2024)

FAQs

Why is Israel allowed in the Eurovision Song Contest? ›

In March, the association of broadcasters ruled that Israel was allowed to compete as long as it changed the lyrics to its entry, then called October Rain, about the trauma of the Hamas massacre on 7 October.

Why is Israel in Eurovision but not Russia? ›

banned Russia from Eurovision in 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine. Eurovision organisers, who have always billed the annual event as non-political, resisted calls to exclude Israel and in March, the EBU confirmed that Israel's contestant Eden Golan would take part.

What place did Israel get in Eurovision 2019? ›

Israel finished 23rd at Eurovision 2019 with 35 points.

How many votes did Israel get in Eurovision? ›

Israel got 323 points in the public televote, trailing only Croatia, which received 337 and wound up in second place overall.

Why did Israel decline to host Eurovision? ›

In 1980, the IBA declined to host the contest for the second successive year for financial reasons, and as the date for the contest in the Hague conflicted with Yom HaZikaron – Israeli Memorial Day – Israel did not participate. This is the only time that the winning country did not compete the following year.

Is Israel allowed in Eurovision 2024? ›

This means that countries such as Israel, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Australia are allowed to compete. Eden Golan during rehearsals for the second semi-final (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press.

Who is boycotting Eurovision 2024? ›

But many fans plan to switch off during the final of this year's Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday (11 May). Thousands of individuals and organisations – including more than 400 affiliated with the UK-based Queers for Palestine – have called for a boycott in protest of Israel's bombardment of Gaza.

Why are people boycotting Eurovision? ›

Protests, criticisms, and boycotts over Israel's participation in the 68th Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, shifted attention away from the world's most famous music contest and toward the daily killings of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which has been under siege since Oct. 7 of last year, killing nearly ...

Is Russia banned from Eurovision 2024? ›

"But the EBU chose in 2022 to exclude Russia from the competition due to the invasion of Ukraine, and in 2021 member companies from Belarus were denied entry to the competition because the country violated the EBU's press freedom rules.

Has Israel ever won Eurovision? ›

Israel has been a strong contender and defining voice in the competition, winning four times, but this year there have been calls to ban the country from participating over its conduct of the war in Gaza.

How did Israel win Eurovision 2018? ›

Israel has won the Eurovision song contest with pop star Netta Barzilai's quirky entry Toy. The Israeli performer was awarded 529 points, beating favourites Cyprus into second place. The 25-year-old was singing with the Israeli Navy Band when she entered and won the country's Eurovision selection show HaKokhav HaBa.

How many times did Israel host Eurovision? ›

Since 1973, Israel has made the finals on 38 of the 45 occasions it has competed in Eurovision. It has won four times, twice placed second and hosted the contest three times (twice in Jerusalem, once in Tel Aviv). It has never placed last, though it came close a couple of times.

Who gave Israel 12 points? ›

The countries that awarded Israel 12 points included France, Belgium, Germany, Australia, Switzerland the UK, Italy, Luxembourg, and Portugal, according to the fan site tally.

Where did Israel come in Eurovision 2024? ›

Israel's Eurovision entrant Eden Golan has defied the odds to place in the top 10 of acts in the competition's grand final in Sweden.

Where did Israel finish in Eurovision? ›

Switzerland wins Eurovision, Israel finishes in fifth place in Malmo. The Times of Israel.

Are any countries banned from Eurovision? ›

Russia: The country was excluded from Eurovision due to the invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. Following the expulsion, Russian broadcasters VGTRK and Channel One announced that they would suspend their EBU membership. Russia remains suspended from the EBU and Eurovision.

Why is Russia not in Eurovision 2024? ›

Such a last-minute disqualification is unprecedented in the 68-year history of Eurovision, although countries have boycotted the event and in some cases been expelled — including Russia, kicked out after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Why is Australia in Eurovision? ›

Although Australia is outside the European Broadcasting Area, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and Austrian host broadcaster ORF decided to permit an Australian entry to commemorate the 60th contest.

Which countries have pulled out of Eurovision 2024? ›

Thirty-seven countries participated in the contest, with Luxembourg competing for the first time since 1993, while Romania opted not to participate after doing so the previous year. The Netherlands was disqualified from the contest between the second semi-final and the final, but the country retained its right to vote.

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