37 countries to participate in Eurovision 2023

The list of countries participating in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool. SCREENGRAB FROM YOUTUBE

By Aric John Sy Cua, Manila Times

The full participant list was revealed on the Contest's YouTube page on Thursday.

The countries participating in Liverpool are as follows: Albania, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, and host country the United Kingdom.

Next year's contest will have the lowest number of participating countries since the 2014 contest in Copenhagen, Denmark, which also had 37 countries.

Going directly to the grand final are Germany, France, Spain, 2022 hosts Italy and 2023 hosts United Kingdom, as they comprise the "Big Five", which are the biggest financial contributors to the Contest. For next year's show, having won the 2022 contest, Ukraine will have the automatic qualification for the 2023 grand final.

"Of the 37 nations taking part, 31 will compete in two Semi-Finals with 10 successful acts from each Semi-Final joining 4 of the Big 5 (France, Germany, Italy, and Spain), hosts the United Kingdom and Ukraine in the Grand Final," a statement from the European Broadcasting Union read.

Not returning to next year's Contest are Bulgaria, Montenegro and North Macedonia. Russia and Belarus are both ineligible to participate because their broadcasters are currently suspended by the EBU.

Although Bulgaria's Eurovision Twitter handle said they have lost interest in the Contest, there are reports saying the withdrawal was due to financial reasons. They recently returned to Twitter after briefly deactivating to wish the participating countries going to Liverpool all the best.