We knew the finalists, we knew the winner would go to Eurovision, and now we finally know how they will win. That’s right, with just days to go until the conclusion of Germany’s Chefsache ESC national final, the format for the final has been revealed by eurovision.de!
A tale of two rounds
The final of Chefsache ESC 2025 will consist of two rounds. First, all 9 finalists will perform a cover and also their song for Eurovision. A jury will decide which 5 acts make it to the next round. The jury will consist of Stefan Raab, Yvonne Catterfeld, Conchita Wurst, and Nico Santos. Elton, who has been a jury the other nights, is absent due to a scheduling conflict. In the second round, the viewers will get their say and a pure televote will determine the winner and therefore Germany’s entry for 2025. Voting can be done via phone, SMS, or online. Eurovision fans worldwide can also vote, they can do so online.
What we know about Chefsache ESC
Chefsache ESC is the new national final format for Germany. It is an unlikely collaboration between public broadcaster ARD and commercial broadcaster RTL, pitched and led by Stefan Raab. This kind of collaboration last happened also with Raab, and led to the memorable victory of Lena in 2010. After a break from TV the producer is now back and once again hopes to bring his country Eurovision glory. The format will consist of four shows. The first aired on February 14th, and the final will be on the 1st of March. Rounds 1, 2, and 3 aired on RTL while the final will be broadcast on ARD. There have been over 3000 applications for only 24 spots in the national final. Those involved have said that Chefsache ESC will only continue if Germany wins Eurovision this year. Heat 1 and Heat 2 saw everyone perform a cover, with 7 of the 12 acts per round making it to the semi-final through a jury decision. In the semi, the remaining 14 acts performed their potential Eurovision songs for the first time. Once again the jury picked the qualifiers, sending 9 songs to the final.
Germany’s national final journey
Over the years, Germany has used a combination of national finals and internal selections to choose their Eurovision representatives. In recent years, they have used “Unser lied fur (host city)” (translation – A song for (host city)). However, in 2024, they rebranded the national final to “Eurovision Song Contest – Das Deutsche Finale” (translation – ESC – The German final). Nine artists participated, one of which was chosen through the feeder show “Ich will zum ESC!” (translation – I want to go to ESC). The show used a 50%-50% split of jury and televote to decide the final results. Each international jury gave 1-6, 8, 10 and 12 points, then the German public vote made up the other 50% of the results.
Germany’s Eurovision Journey
Germany has been part of Eurovision since the beginning, debuting in 1956. Their debut entries were Walter Andreas Schwarz’s “Im Wartesaal zum großen Glück” and Freddy Quinn’s “So geht das jede Nacht”. Germany has appeared at every Eurovision except for 1996, which means they have been at more Contests than any other country. They have a long history of success in Eurovision, finishing in the top 3 an impressive 13 times. Germany has won the contest twice: Nicole won in 1982 with her song “Ein bißchen Frieden”, taking home 161 points. Their second win came in 2010, when Lena scored 246 points with her song “Satellite”.
Germany’s most recent Eurovision entry was Isaak with “Always on the Run”. As Germany is part of the Big 5, they automatically qualified for the Grand Final. In the Final, the song received 117 points and finished in 12th place – the first time the country has finished on the left hand side of the scoreboard since 2018.
Who do you want to see win Chefsache ESC and go to Eurovision in Basel? As always, please let us know what you think by getting involved in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Threads, tumblr, and Bluesky for more information about Eurovision 2025!
Source: Eurovision.de
Photo credit: Raab Entertainment
Giwrgos Oiko