Malta has been placed in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, and the Maltese participant will therefore take the stage on May 25.

The draw was made in Norway. The names of the 34 participating countries were placed in five pots based on voting patterns over the last few years. The purpose, organisers said, was to reduce the possibility of neighbouring countries voting for each other.

The countries drawn in the first semi-final with Malta are Serbia, Finland, Russia, Greece, Slovakia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Iceland, Moldova, Portugal, FYR Macedonia, Latvia, Belarus, Belgium, Poland, Albania and Estonia.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.