Eurovision Song Contest 2008
The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Belgrade, Serbia, following Marija Šerifović's win at the 2007 contest in Helsinki, Finland with the song "Molitva". It was the first time Serbia had hosted the contest - only 1 year after the country made its debut as an independent nation. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union and host broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia, the contest was held at the Belgrade Arena, and consisted of two semi-finals on 20 and 22 May, and the final on 24 May 2008. The three live shows were hosted by Jovana Janković and Željko Joksimović. It was the first Eurovision Song Contest held in a former Yugoslav republic.
Forty-three countries participated in the contest, beating the record of forty-two set the year before. Azerbaijan and San Marino participated for the first time, while Austria did not return, mainly due to questions on the semi-final organisation, and the politicization of the contest.
The winner was Russia with the song "Believe", performed by Dima Bilan who wrote it with Jim Beanz. This was Russia's first victory in the contest, and the third year finishing in the top three. Ukraine, Greece, Armenia and Norway rounded out the top five. Armenia achieved their best result to date in this edition. Of the "Big Four" countries Spain placed the highest, finishing sixteenth, while the United Kingdom ended up in last place for the second time in their Eurovision history, after.
The official website, eurovision.tv, streamed national finals for this year's contest live on ESCTV for the first time. Furthermore, for the first time the winner has been awarded an official winner's trophy of the Eurovision Song Contest. The trophy is a handmade piece of sandblasted glass in the shape of a 1950s microphone.
Location
Venue
Serbia gained the right to host the Contest after Marija Šerifović won the 2007 Contest in Helsinki, Finland. Since Serbia was the winner of the preceding contest, the 2008 contest was subsequently held there. The Belgrade Arena in Belgrade was chosen as the venue for the contest, and is among the largest indoor arenas in Europe, with a total capacity of 25,000 seats.On 14 September 2007, the Mayor of Helsinki handed over the "Eurovision keys" to the Deputy of Belgrade. This ceremony is meant to be a tradition from the 2008 contest and onward, and the ring contains a key from every city that has ever hosted the competition.
Potential change of location
Following the unilateral Kosovo declaration of independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008, which has resulted in protests and unrest across the country, the location of the event was considered to be changed. Ukraine was considered an option since they came second in Eurovision Song Contest 2007. YLE were another option, as they hosted the previous year's competition in Helsinki, Finland. Greece's Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi also offered the EBU to host the contest in Athens, Greece again. It was later decided that the contest would stay in Belgrade, with the EBU giving support. RTS would gain a guarantee of safety and security from the government of Serbia for all visitors and participants of the contest. The delegations of Albania, Croatia and Israel had special security. In the end, the contest was held without any incidents.Visual design
ran a competition that led to the creation of the 2008 Contest's branding, logo and the stage. The theme of the Contest was based around the "confluence of sound". This was symbolic as Belgrade lies on the confluence of two European rivers, the Sava and Danube. The logo chosen, a treble clef, formed the graphical basis of the design created by Boris Miljković.The postcards in the first and second semi-final were based around the creation of the flag of the nation that was to perform next. Each post card had a short story related to each country and its people. During each postcard a short letter was displayed. All were in the national language of the artist's country, with the exception of the Serbian postcard, which consisted of "Welcome to Belgrade" and "Welcome to Serbia" in various languages and the Belgian postcard which was written in the constructed language the Belgian group performed in. The postcards were brought to an end by a stamp with this year's Eurovision logo.
According to RTS the stage represented native identities, history and modern themes, symbols and universally recognised messages. The confluence-themed stage also contained a large number of television and LCD display screens. The stage had settings for all new electronic possibilities including some movable parts of the stage. It was designed by Chicago-based David Cushing.
The first semi-final was created around a city theme. The contest opened with a panorama of the city of Belgrade forming in the stage's background with two waves sliding down the stage to meet in the centre – at the confluence, the overall theme of the contest.
The second semi-final was based around the theme of water, which was enhanced by the look of the stage during the interval act where the water formed the main colours of the stage.
The final was based on the theme of the confluence. Construction of the stage lasted several days and was carried out by various teams from across Europe. Pyrotechnics were heavily used for the entries from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Finland, Germany, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Switzerland. The stage received positive feedback from the media and fans describing it as "one of the best looking stages in the history of the competition".
Format
At a press conference in Helsinki in May 2007, Svante Stockselius, executive supervisor of the Contest for the EBU, announced that the competition's format may be expanded to two semi-finals in 2008 or 2009. On 28 September 2007 it was announced that the EBU had approved the plan of hosting two semi-finals in 2008.Based on research conducted by the EBU's tele-voting partner Digame, the semi-finalists were sorted into the two heats through the drawing of lots, which was seeded to keep countries that have a significant history of voting for each other apart. Each broadcaster had to broadcast the semi-final in which they took part, with the broadcasting of the other semi-final being optional. The draw for the semi-final allocation occurred in the City Assembly of Belgrade on Monday 28 January 2008 at 13:00 CET and was conducted by the hosts of the contest Jovana Janković and Željko Joksimović.
First, two envelopes with 'Semi-Final 1' and 'Semi-Final 2' were drawn. Then, three countries from each pot were chosen randomly to take part in the first semi-final and the other three in the second one. The country left in Pot 5 took part in the first envelope that is drawn. While, the country left in Pot 6 in the second one.
The automatic finalist countries chose whether they would broadcast both semi-finals or just one, but viewers from these countries could only vote in one. From the draw conducted, it was decided which of the five finalist countries would broadcast and have voting rights in either of the events. The semi-finals were webcast live through Eurovision.tv. The top nine songs from the televoting qualified for the final, and a tenth was determined by the back-up juries. Twenty-five songs competed in the final.
Semi-final allocation
On 24 January 2008, all 38 countries in the semi-finals were separated into the following pots based on voting history and geographical location:| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 | Pot 5 | Pot 6 |
Running order
The draw to decide the running order of the songs in each Semi-Final and the Final was conducted at the Heads of Delegation meeting on 17 March 2008.Participating countries
On 21 December 2007, the EBU confirmed that 43 countries would be present in Belgrade. San Marino, as well as the newest EBU member, Azerbaijan, made its debut at the 2008 contest. Austria did not compete; its broadcaster, ORF, said "we've already seen in 2007 that it's not the quality of the song, but the country of origin that determines the decision." Italy, which had not competed since 1997, and which would have been an automatic finalist, was again absent. Slovakia was absent due to budget problems.The following countries competed in two semi-finals which were broadcast live on Tuesday 20 May and Thursday 22 May 2008. In addition to this, automatic finalists Germany and Spain exercised voting rights at the first semi-final. France, the United Kingdom and Serbia exercised voting rights at the second semi-final. Spain and France each broadcast only the semi-final in which they participated; Germany, Serbia and the UK screened both semi-finals.
Results
Semi-final 1
- The first semi-final was held on 20 May 2008.
- Germany and Spain voted in this semi-final.
- Pale turquoise denotes the entry chosen by the jury to go to the final.
| Draw | Country | Artist | Song | Language | Place | Points |
| 01 | Stefan Filipović | "Zauvijek volim te" | Montenegrin | 14 | 23 | |
| 02 | Boaz Ma'uda | "The Fire in Your Eyes" | Hebrew, English | 5 | 104 | |
| 03 | Kreisiraadio | "Leto svet" | Serbian, German, Finnish | 18 | 8 | |
| 04 | Geta Burlacu | "A Century of Love" | English | 12 | 36 | |
| 05 | Miodio | "Complice" | Italian | 19 | 5 | |
| 06 | Ishtar | "O Julissi" | Imaginary | 17 | 16 | |
| 07 | Elnur and Samir | "Day After Day" | English | 6 | 96 | |
| 08 | Rebeka Dremelj | "Vrag naj vzame" | Slovene | 11 | 36 | |
| 09 | Maria Haukaas Storeng | "Hold On Be Strong" | English | 4 | 106 | |
| 10 | Isis Gee | "For Life" | English | 10 | 42 | |
| 11 | Dustin the Turkey | "Irelande Douze Pointe" | English | 15 | 22 | |
| 12 | Gisela | "Casanova" | English, Catalan | 16 | 22 | |
| 13 | Laka | "Pokušaj" | Bosnian | 9 | 72 | |
| 14 | Sirusho | "Qélé, Qélé" | English, Armenian | 2 | 139 | |
| 15 | Hind | "Your Heart Belongs to Me" | English | 13 | 27 | |
| 16 | Teräsbetoni | "Missä miehet ratsastaa" | Finnish | 8 | 79 | |
| 17 | Nico and Vlad | "Pe-o margine de lume" | Romanian, Italian | 7 | 94 | |
| 18 | Dima Bilan | "Believe" | English | 3 | 135 | |
| 19 | Kalomira | "Secret Combination" | English | 1 | 156 |
Semi-final 2
- The second semi-final was held on 22 May 2008
- The United Kingdom, France and Serbia voted in this semi-final.
- Pale turquoise denotes the entry chosen by the jury to go to the final.
| Draw | Country | Artist | Song | Language | Place | Points |
| 01 | Euroband | "This Is My Life" | English | 8 | 68 | |
| 02 | Charlotte Perrelli | "Hero" | English | 12 | 54 | |
| 03 | Mor ve Ötesi | "Deli" | Turkish | 7 | 85 | |
| 04 | Ani Lorak | "Shady Lady" | English | 1 | 152 | |
| 05 | Jeronimas Milius | "Nomads in the Night" | English | 16 | 30 | |
| 06 | Olta Boka | "Zemrën e lamë peng" | Albanian | 9 | 67 | |
| 07 | Paolo Meneguzzi | "Era stupendo" | Italian | 13 | 47 | |
| 08 | Tereza Kerndlová | "Have Some Fun" | English | 18 | 9 | |
| 09 | Ruslan Alekhno | "Hasta la Vista" | English | 17 | 27 | |
| 10 | Pirates of the Sea | "Wolves of the Sea" | English | 6 | 86 | |
| 11 | Kraljevi ulice and 75 Cents | "Romanca" | Croatian | 4 | 112 | |
| 12 | Deep Zone and Balthazar | "DJ, Take Me Away" | English | 11 | 56 | |
| 13 | Simon Mathew | "All Night Long" | English | 3 | 112 | |
| 14 | Diana Gurtskaya | "Peace Will Come" | English | 5 | 107 | |
| 15 | Csézy | "Candlelight" | English, Hungarian | 19 | 6 | |
| 16 | Morena | "Vodka" | English | 14 | 38 | |
| 17 | Evdokia Kadi | "Femme Fatale" | Greek | 15 | 36 | |
| 18 | Tamara, Vrčak & Adrian | "Let Me Love You" | English | 10 | 64 | |
| 19 | Vânia Fernandes | "Senhora do mar " | Portuguese | 2 | 120 |
Final
The finalists were:- the big four France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom
- the host country Serbia
- the top nine countries from the first semi-final plus one wildcard from the juries
- the top nine countries from the second semi-final plus one wildcard from the juries
| Draw | Country | Artist | Song | Language | Place | Points |
| 01 | Nico and Vlad | "Pe-o margine de lume" | Romanian, Italian | 45 | ||
| 02 | Andy Abraham | "Even If" | English | 14 | ||
| 03 | Olta Boka | "Zemrën e lamë peng" | Albanian | 55 | ||
| 04 | No Angels | "Disappear" | English | 14 | ||
| 05 | Sirusho | "Qélé, Qélé" | English, Armenian | 199 | ||
| 06 | Laka | "Pokušaj" | Bosnian | 110 | ||
| 07 | Boaz Ma'uda | "The Fire in Your Eyes" | Hebrew, English | 124 | ||
| 08 | Teräsbetoni | "Missä miehet ratsastaa" | Finnish | 35 | ||
| 09 | Kraljevi ulice and 75 Cents | "Romanca" | Croatian | 44 | ||
| 10 | Isis Gee | "For Life" | English | 14 | ||
| 11 | Euroband | "This Is My Life" | English | 64 | ||
| 12 | Mor ve Ötesi | "Deli" | Turkish | 138 | ||
| 13 | Vânia Fernandes | "Senhora do mar " | Portuguese | 69 | ||
| 14 | Pirates of the Sea | "Wolves of the Sea" | English | 83 | ||
| 15 | Charlotte Perrelli | "Hero" | English | 47 | ||
| 16 | Simon Mathew | "All Night Long" | English | 60 | ||
| 17 | Diana Gurtskaya | "Peace Will Come" | English | 83 | ||
| 18 | Ani Lorak | "Shady Lady" | English | 230 | ||
| 19 | Sébastien Tellier | "Divine" | English, French | 47 | ||
| 20 | Elnur and Samir | "Day After Day" | English | 132 | ||
| 21 | Kalomira | "Secret Combination" | English | 218 | ||
| 22 | Rodolfo Chikilicuatre | "Baila el Chiki-chiki" | Spanish, English | 55 | ||
| 23 | Jelena Tomašević feat. Bora Dugić | "Oro" | Serbian | 160 | ||
| 24 | Dima Bilan | "Believe" | English | 272 | ||
| 25 | Maria Haukaas Storeng | "Hold On Be Strong" | English | 182 |
Voting during the final
The voting order and spokespersons during the final were as follows:- – Ognen Janeski
- – Marysya Horobets
- – Thomas Hermanns
- – Sahlene
- – Melina Garibović
- – Leon Menkshi
- – Sandrine van Handenhoven
- – Roberto Moretti
- – Kristīne Virsnīte
- – Valentina Voykova
- – Dušica Spasić
- – Noa Barak-Weshler
- – Hristina Marouhou
- – Vitalie Rotaru
- – Brynja Þorgeirsdóttir
- – Cyril Hanouna
- – Alina Sorescu
- – Sabrina
- – Éva Novodomszky
- – Alfred Llahí
- – Radek Brzózka
- – Peter Poles
- – Hrachuhi Utmazyan
- – Petra Šubrtová
- – Ainhoa Arbizu
- – Esther Hart
- – Meltem Ersan Yazgan
- – Moira Delia
- – Cécile Bähler
- – Leyla Aliyeva
- – Alexis Kostalas
- – Mikko Leppilampi
- – Barbara Kolar
- – Björn Gustafsson
- – Olga Barabanschikova
- - Rolandas Vilkončius
- – Oxana Fedorova
- – Nina Radulović
- – Tika Patsatsia
- – Maria Montell
Scoreboards
Semi-final 1
12 points
Below is a summary of all 12 points in the first semi-final:| N. | Contestant | Voting nation |
| 5 | Armenia | Belgium, Greece, Netherlands, Poland, Russia |
| 4 | Greece | Azerbaijan, Germany, Romania, San Marino |
| 3 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Montenegro, Norway, Slovenia |
| 2 | - | - |
| 2 | Russia | Armenia, Israel |
| 2 | Finland | Andorra, Estonia |
| 1 | - | - |
| 1 | Andorra | Spain |
| 1 | Montenegro | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| 1 | Norway | Finland |
| 1 | Poland | Ireland |
| 1 | Romania | Moldova |
Semi-final 2
12 points
Below is a summary of all 12 points in the second semi-final:| N. | Contestant | Voting nation |
| 6 | Ukraine | Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Georgia, Portugal, Turkey |
| 3 | Denmark | Hungary, Iceland, Sweden |
| 2 | - | - |
| 2 | Georgia | Cyprus, Ukraine |
| 2 | Macedonia | Croatia, Serbia |
| 2 | Portugal | France, Switzerland |
| 1 | - | - |
| 1 | Albania | Macedonia |
| 1 | Cyprus | United Kingdom |
| 1 | Latvia | Lithuania |
| 1 | Lithuania | Latvia |
| 1 | Sweden | Denmark |
| 1 | Switzerland | Malta |
| 1 | Turkey | Albania |
Final
12 points
Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:| N. | Contestant | Voting nation |
| 8 | Armenia | Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Greece, Netherlands, Poland, Russia |
| 7 | Russia | Armenia, Belarus, Estonia, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine |
| 6 | Greece | Albania, Cyprus, Germany, Romania, San Marino, United Kingdom |
| 4 | Serbia | Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Slovenia, Switzerland |
| 2 | Azerbaijan | Hungary, Turkey |
| 2 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Croatia, Serbia |
| 2 | Denmark | Iceland, Norway |
| 2 | Norway | Finland, Sweden |
| 2 | Romania | Moldova, Spain |
| 1 | Albania | Macedonia |
| 1 | Germany | Bulgaria |
| 1 | Iceland | Denmark |
| 1 | Latvia | Ireland |
| 1 | Spain | Andorra |
| 1 | Sweden | Malta |
| 1 | Turkey | Azerbaijan |
| 1 | Ukraine | Portugal |
Other Awards
Marcel Bezençon Awards
The Marcel Bezençon Awards were first handed out during the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 in Tallinn, Estonia honoringthe best competing songs in the final. Founded by Christer Björkman and Richard Herrey, the awards are named after the creator of the annual competition, Marcel Bezençon. For the only time, the awards were divided into 4 categories; Press Award; Poplight Fan Award; Artistic Award; and Composer Award.
| Category | Country | Song | Performer | Composer | Final result | Points |
| Artists Award | "Shady Lady" | Ani Lorak | Philipp Kirkorov, Dimitris Kontopoulos Karen Kavaleryan | 2nd | 230 | |
| Composer Award | "Pe-o margine de lume" | Nico and Vlad | Andrei Tudor Andreea Andrei, Adina Şuteu | 20th | 45 | |
| Poplight Fan Award | "Qélé, Qélé" | Sirusho | H.A. Der-Hovagimian Sirusho | 4th | 199 | |
| Press Award | "Senhora do mar " | Vânia Fernandes | Andrej Babić Carlos Coelho | 13th | 69 |
OGAE
Organisation Générale des Amateurs de l'Eurovision is an international organisation that was founded in 1984 in Savonlinna, Finland by Jari-Pekka Koikkalainen. The organisation consists of a network of 40 Eurovision Song Contest fan clubs across Europe and beyond, and is a non-governmental, non-political, and non-profitable company. In what has become an annual tradition for the OGAE fan clubs, a voting poll was opened allowing members from different clubs around the world to vote for their favourite songs of the 2008 contest. Below is the top five overall results, after all the votes had been cast.| Country | Song | Performer | Composer | OGAE result | Eurovision Ranking |
| "Hero" | Charlotte Perrelli | Bobby Ljunggren, Fredrik Kempe | 308 | 18th | |
| "Era stupendo" | Paolo Meneguzzi | Paolo Meneguzzi, Mattias Brånn, Vincenzo Incenzo | 216 | 13th in Semi-Final | |
| "Oro" | Jelena Tomašević feat. Bora Dugić | Željko Joksimović, Dejan Ivanović | 178 | 6th | |
| "This Is My Life" | Eurobandið | Örlygur Smári, Paul Oscar, Peter Fenner | 145 | 14th | |
| "Hold On Be Strong" | Maria Haukaas Storeng | Mira Craig | 145 | 5th |
Barbara Dex Award
The Barbara Dex Award has been annually awarded by the fan website House of Eurovision since 1997, and is a humorous award given to the worst dressed artist each year in the contest. It is named after the Belgian artist, Barbara Dex, who came last in the 1993 contest, in which she wore her own self designed dress.| Country | Song | Performer | Composer |
| "Casanova" | Gisela | Jordi Cubino |
Broadcasting
Semi-finals broadcasts
As stated above, a country only has to broadcast the final and the semi-final when it is one of the competitors or voters. The United Kingdom, San Marino, Greece, Croatia, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Malta, Serbia, Finland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Portugal, Cyprus, Israel, Estonia, Turkey, Latvia, Slovenia, Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Andorra, Albania, Bulgaria, Iceland, Sweden, Romania and Australia confirmed they would broadcast both semi-finals.International broadcasts
; ': Although Australia was not eligible to enter, the contest was broadcast on SBS. The first semi-final was broadcast on Friday 23 May at 19:30 local time, with the second semi-final on Saturday 24 May 2008 at 19:30 local time, and the Final on Sunday 25 May 2008 at 19:30 local time, amongst a weekend of Eurovision-themed programming. SBS local host Julia Zemiro provided introductory and concluding segments with SBS otherwise broadcasting the BBC's coverage and commentary. In recent years the contest has been one of SBS's highest-rating programmes in terms of viewer numbers. The final rated well for SBS with 427,000 viewers tuning in for the final with 421,000 for the second semi-final and 272,000 for the first semi-final.; ': In Austria, ORF broadcast the contest live and received high TV ratings. However, it did not broadcast the semifinals on 20 and 22 May, which Austrians were able to watch on German television via ARD stations instead.
; : No Italian broadcaster proper showed the contest, but San Marinese SMRTV, which broadcast live the full event on both TV and radio, is available in some parts of Italy: Romagna, northern Marche, and southern Veneto, including Venice.
; Worldwide: A live broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest was available worldwide via satellite through European streams such as TVRi, ERT World, ARMTV, TVE Internacional, TRT International, TVP Polonia, RTP Internacional, RTS Sat and SVT Europa. The also provided a live stream without commentary via the peer to peer medium Octoshape.
High-definition broadcasts
RTS broadcast the event in 1080i high-definition and 5.1 Surround Sound. The new high-definition television system was in place at the Belgrade Arena by April 2008. This is the second year that the event was broadcast live in HD. BBC HD broadcast the contest in High Definition in the United Kingdom. Swedish broadcaster SVT broadcast both the semi-final and the final on their HD-channel SVT HD. Lithuanian broadcaster LRT broadcast both the semi-final and the final in 1080i high-definition on their channel LTV. The same occurred on Swiss HD channel HD suisse; on this channel viewers were able to choose the language of the commentary while viewing a semi-final or final of the Eurovision Song Contest. However, all other countries broadcast the show only in standard definition, and the event will only be available to buy on a standard-definition DVD; it will not be released on HD-DVD or Blu-ray Disc.Returning artists
Commentators
Most countries sent commentators to Belgrade or commentated from their own country, in order to add insight to the participants and, if necessary, provide voting information.;Participating countries
The commentators of the 43 participating countries are as follows:
| Country | SF1 / SF2 / Final | Commentator |
| All | Leon Menkshi | |
| All | Meri Picart | |
| All | Josep Lluís Trabal | |
| All | Felix Khacatryan | |
| All | Hrachuhi Utmazyan | |
| All | Isa Melikov | |
| All | Hüsniyyə Məhərrəmova | |
| All | Denis Kurian | |
| All | Alexander Tikhanovich | |
| All | Jean-Pierre Hautier | |
| All | Jean-Louis Lahaye | |
| All | Patrick Duhamel | |
| All | Corinne Boulangier | |
| All | Bart Peeters | |
| All | André Vermeulen | |
| All | Michel Follet | |
| All | Sven Pichal | |
| All | Dejan Kukrić | |
| All | Elena Rosberg | |
| All | Georgi Kushvaliev | |
| All | Duško Čurlić | |
| All | Melina Karageorgiou | |
| All | Kateřina Kristelová | |
| All | Nikolaj Molbech | |
| All | Marko Reikop | |
| All | Jaana Pelkonen | |
| All | Mikko Peltola | |
| All | Asko Murtomäki | |
| All | Sanna Kojo | |
| All | Jorma Hietamäki | |
| All | Thomas Lundin | |
| SF2 | Peggy Olmi | |
| SF2 | Yann Renoard | |
| Final | Jean-Paul Gaultier | |
| Final | Julien Lepers | |
| Final | François Kevorkian | |
| All | Bibi Kvachadze | |
| All | Peter Urban | |
| All | Tim Frühling | |
| All | Thomas Mohr | |
| All | Maggira Sisters | |
| SF2 & Final | Gábor Gundel-Takács | |
| All | Sigmar Guðmundsson | |
| All | Marty Whelan | |
| All | Larry Gogan | |
| All | No commentator | |
| All | Kārlis Streips | |
| All | Darius Užkuraitis | |
| All | Milanka Rašik | |
| All | Eileen Montesin | |
| All | Lucia Danu | |
| All | Vitalie Rotaru | |
| All | Dražen Bauković | |
| All | Tamara Ivanković | |
| All | Cornald Maas | |
| All | Hanne Hoftun | |
| All | Per Sundnes | |
| All | Artur Orzech | |
| All | Isabel Angelino | |
| All | Andreea Demirgian | |
| All | Leonard Miron | |
| SF1 & Final | Dmitry Guberniev | |
| SF1 & Final | Olga Shelest | |
| All | Gigi Restivo | |
| All | Lia Fiorio | |
| All | Dragan Ilić | |
| All | Mladen Popović | |
| All | Andrej Hofer | |
| SF1 & Final | José Luis Uribarri | |
| Final | Carl Bildt | |
| All | Kristian Luuk and | |
| All | Josef Sterzenbach | |
| All | Carolina Norén | |
| German | Patrick Hässig and Sven Epiney | |
| French | Jean-Marc Richard & Nicolas Tanner | |
| Italian | Sandy Altermatt | |
| All | Bülend Özveren | |
| All | Timur Miroshnychenko | |
| Semi-Finals | Paddy O'Connell | |
| Semi-Finals | Caroline Flack | |
| Final | Terry Wogan | |
| Final | Ken Bruce |
;Non-participating countries
The commentators of the non-participating countries are:
| Country | SF1/SF2/Final | Commentator |
 Australia | All | Julia Zemiro |
| Final | Andi Knoll |