Overview of Eurovision 2026 Semi-Final 2 and Grand Final
The second semi-final of the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Vienna on Thursday, preceding the grand final scheduled for Saturday.
Performers from 35 countries, including Israel, are competing in the 70th edition of Eurovision. Austria is hosting the event after its singer JJ won the 2025 contest with the ballad "Wasted Love."
Several countries have chosen to boycott the contest due to Israel's participation.
What is the Eurovision Song Contest?
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual televised competition organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
Entries must be original songs no longer than three minutes and must not have been released or performed publicly before 1 September 2025.
Lead vocals must be performed live without lip-syncing or auto-tuning, and a maximum of six performers, including singers and dancers, are allowed on stage.
While most participants are European countries, Australia has been invited to participate annually since 2015, marking Eurovision's 60th anniversary. However, Australia is not eligible to host the contest if it wins.
Schedule for Eurovision 2026 Semi-Finals and Grand Final
The grand final will take place at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna on Saturday, 16 May. The event will be hosted by TV presenter Victoria Swarovski and actor Michael Ostrowski.
The first semi-final occurred on 12 May and featured performances from Croatia, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Portugal, Moldova, Sweden, Belgium, Estonia, Israel, Lithuania, Montenegro, Poland, San Marino—with guest vocals from Boy George—and Serbia.
From this semi-final, nine countries qualified for the final alongside Israel, including favourites Finland.
The second semi-final, scheduled for Thursday, 14 May, will include acts from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Romania, Switzerland, Albania, Australia, Cyprus, Denmark, Latvia, Malta, Norway, and Ukraine.
The top 10 performers from each semi-final will join five pre-qualified countries in the final. These pre-qualified countries are Austria (as the 2025 winner), the United Kingdom, Italy, France, and Germany, which contribute additional financial support to Eurovision.
Although these five countries automatically qualify for the final, they must still broadcast, perform, and vote in one of the semi-finals. Germany and Italy participated and voted in the first semi-final, while Austria, France, and the UK will perform and vote in the second semi-final.
How to Watch Eurovision 2026
Both semi-finals and the grand final will be broadcast on BBC One and available on BBC .
Rylan Clark-Neal and Angela Scanlon will provide commentary for both semi-finals, while Sara Cox will present on BBC Radio 2 and . Graham Norton will oversee the grand final broadcast on Saturday.
Accessibility features include audio description on BBC One and BBC , live British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation on the Red Button and , subtitles on BBC One, and signed coverage on .
UK Entry: Look Mum No Computer
Look Mum No Computer is a solo artist, songwriter, and YouTuber known for inventing unique musical machines.
He will perform the song "Eins, Zwei, Drei." Previously, he performed as Sam Battle, frontman of the indie rock band Zibra, which appeared at Glastonbury 2015 as part of BBC Introducing.
"I find it completely bonkers to be jumping on this wonderful and wild journey," he said.
"I have always been a massive Eurovision fan, and I love the magical joy it brings to millions of people every year, so getting to join that legacy and fly the flag for the UK is an absolute honour that I am taking very seriously."
Look Mum No Computer also runs a museum in Ramsgate called This Museum is (Not) Obsolete, which features a vintage Game Boy programmed to play a 100-year-old church organ.
Controversy Surrounding Israel's Participation
Israel's participation in Eurovision has been contentious in recent years due to the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Iceland, and Slovenia have boycotted the 2026 contest, marking the largest boycott in Eurovision's 70-year history.
During the 2025 final in Switzerland, two individuals attempted to storm the stage and throw paint on Israel's contestant, Yuval Raphael. They were stopped by crew members and subsequently arrested.
Several countries expressed concerns after Raphael topped the public vote in 2025 but finished second overall after jury votes were included.
Reports indicated that an Israeli government agency funded advertisements and used official social media accounts to encourage voting for its entry.
Eurovision, which maintains a non-political stance, has consistently rejected calls to exclude Israel but has modified voting rules for 2026 to reduce government influence on results.
Israel described the decision to allow its participation as a "victory" over critics who attempted to silence it and spread hatred.
Eurovision Voting System
In the grand final, each participating country awards two sets of points: one from a jury of music experts and one from public fans.
For 2026, fans can cast up to 10 votes—reduced from 20—via phone, SMS, or the official Eurovision app. Voters may support multiple acts but cannot vote for their own country.
Each country awards 12 points to its top song, 10 points to the second, and 8 to 1 points to the remaining ranked entries.
Votes from viewers in non-participating countries are aggregated into a "rest of the world" vote bloc.
Jury votes will now be combined with public votes to determine which countries qualify for the final, whereas previously jury votes were only used in the grand final.
Contest organisers have also implemented enhanced technical monitoring to detect and prevent fraudulent or coordinated voting and to monitor suspicious voting patterns.
Semi-final scoring follows the same system as the grand final. UK viewers will only be able to vote in the second semi-final on Thursday.
The five countries automatically qualified for the final (UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Austria) will participate in the semi-finals but will not be eligible for public votes.
