The EBU have confirmed that 37 countries will be competing at Liverpool 2023, following the withdrawals of North Macedonia, Montenegro and Bulgaria.
The news was confirmed in, the now annual, YouTube video, released by the EBU, announcing all the participating countries for the upcoming contest. This once again showcased a first look at the branding for Eurovision 2023, prior to the reveal of the theme artwork, early next year.
The countries taking part in the contest in Liverpool are:
- 🇦🇱 Albania
- 🇦🇺 Australia
- 🇦🇲 Armenia
- 🇦🇹 Austria
- 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan
- 🇧🇪 Belgium
- 🇭🇷 Croatia
- 🇨🇾 Cyprus
- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic
- 🇩🇰 Denmark
- 🇪🇪 Estonia
- 🇫🇮 Finland
- 🇫🇷 France
- 🇬🇪 Georgia
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- 🇬🇷 Greece
- 🇮🇸 Iceland
- 🇮🇪 Ireland
- 🇮🇱 Israel
- 🇮🇹 Italy
- 🇱🇻 Latvia
- 🇱🇹 Lithuania
- 🇲🇹 Malta
- 🇲🇩 Moldova
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- 🇳🇴 Norway
- 🇵🇱 Poland
- 🇵🇹 Portugal
- 🇷🇴 Romania
- 🇸🇲 San Marino
- 🇷🇸 Serbia
- 🇸🇮 Slovenia
- 🇪🇸 Spain
- 🇸🇪 Sweden
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland
- 🇺🇦 Ukraine
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
As expected, this list did not include North Macedonia, Montenegro or Bulgaria, who all spectacularly withdrew on Friday 14 October, one after another. It also didn’t include any returnee or debut countries, which, with the exception of Tel Aviv 2019, hasn’t happened since Zagreb 1990.
There were rumours flying around the internet, both last year and in the last few weeks, that Turkey would be making a return, however it seems once again that won’t be the case for Liverpool. It must be pointed out, though, that when Italy were announced to return in 2 December 2010, this was several months after the list of competing countries was released, so a surprise return could still be on the cards, however unlikely.
If we look at each country individually, reduced competition raises their statistical likelihood of winning.
But if we take countries that had never won before as a collective, their chances have dropped, because all three withdrawers were non-winners.
I wonder if we are going to see an underdog dominating 2023. I shall like it very much, countries like Croatia clearly could use some motivation to continue participating.
With their recent track record I’m positive that we’ll see Icelandic win at some point in the decade, but will that be this year?