Eurovision 2022 – Grand Final: Running Order!

The running order for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 Grand Final has been announced by Rai and the EBU, following the conclusion second Semi Final a few hours ago.

The full running order, for which Saturday’s Grand Final will be following, is below.

Grand Final Running Order

1. 🇨🇿 Czech Republic: We Are Domi – Lights Off
2. 🇷🇴 Romania: WRS – Llámame
3. 🇵🇹 Portugal: MARO – Saudade, Saudade
4. 🇫🇮 Finland: The Rasmus – Jezebel
5. 🇨🇭 Switzerland: Marius Bear – Boys Do Cry
6. 🇫🇷 France: Alvan & Ahez – Fulenn
7. 🇳🇴 Norway: Subwoolfer – Give That Wolf A Banana
8. 🇦🇲 Armenia: Rosa Linn – Snap
9. 🇮🇹 Italy: Mahmood & Blanco – Brividi
10. 🇪🇸 Spain: Chanel – SloMo
11. 🇳🇱 Netherlands: S10 – De Diepte
12. 🇺🇦 Ukraine: Kalush Orchestra – Stefania
13. 🇩🇪 Germany: Malik Harris – Rockstars
14. 🇱🇹 Lithuania: Monika Liu – Sentimentai
15. 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan: Nadir Rustamli – Fade To Black
16. 🇧🇪 Belgium: Jérémie Makiese – Miss You
17. 🇬🇷 Greece: Amanda Georgiadi Tenfjord – Die Together
18. 🇮🇸 Iceland: Systur – Með Hækkandi Sól
19. 🇲🇩 Moldova: Zdob şi Zdub & Advahov Brothers – Trenulețul
20. 🇸🇪 Sweden: Cornelia Jakobs – Hold Me Closer
21. 🇦🇺 Australia: Sheldon Riley – Not The Same
22. 🇬🇧 United Kingdom: Sam Ryder – SPACE MAN
23. 🇵🇱 Poland: Ochman – River
24. 🇷🇸 Serbia: Konstrakta – In Corpore Sano
25. 🇪🇪 Estonia: Stefan – Hope

Our Verdict

While this running order helps out countries such as Italy, The Netherlands, Ukraine, Moldova, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Serbia, it perhaps isn’t the greatest running order of recent years, severely skimming many countries’ chances, especially with the run from positions 13-18 all being very slow paced songs, which may very well all blend into each other.

The team at Rai did have a slightly harder job, mainly due to the sheer amount of ballads which qualified this year, as well as the fact a lot of ballads drew second half of the show, but surely there could’ve been a better solution than this?

Czech Republic opening the show is a good choice, as it’s a really good way to get the party started and say to the audience “Eurovision is here!”, while Estonia closing the show is a less conventional choice, but still one that makes sense, as it’s particularly quite anthemic and will get the crowd singing along the whole way.

The dreaded No.2 slot goes to Romania this year, a position renowned for its bad results, especially as running orders keep putting, so-called, “dud” songs, there every year and… well Romania is no exception. While No.16, the other “cursed” spot, finds Belgium’s Miss You there, which again makes a lot of sense.

Overall, while this greatly benefits some countries, I do feel that this is really one of the more poorly judged running orders of the past few contests.