Ahead of next week’s Eurovision 2026 semi-final allocation draw, the EBU revealed the allocation pots that will determine the lineup.
Which countries are in which pot?
The 30 countries participating in the Semi-Finals have been separated into pots, which are based on historical voting patterns, in order to ensure a mix of countries in each semi-final. The pots are as follows:
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 | Pot 5 |
| 🇦🇱 Albania | 🇦🇺 Australia | 🇦🇲 Armenia | 🇧🇪 Belgium | 🇨🇾 Cyprus |
| 🇧🇬 Bulgaria | 🇩🇰 Denmark | 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan | 🇨🇿 Czechia | 🇬🇷 Greece |
| 🇭🇷 Croatia | 🇪🇪 Estonia | 🇬🇪 Georgia | 🇱🇺 Luxembourg | 🇱🇻 Latvia |
| 🇲🇪 Montenegro | 🇫🇮 Finland | 🇮🇱 Israel | 🇲🇩 Moldova | 🇱🇹 Lithuania |
| 🇷🇸 Serbia | 🇳🇴 Norway | 🇵🇱 Poland | 🇵🇹 Portugal | 🇲🇹 Malta |
| 🇨🇭 Switzerland | 🇸🇪 Sweden | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | 🇷🇴 Romania | 🇸🇲 San Marino |
The semi-final allocation draw will take place on Tuesday, 12th January at 18:00 CET, live on the Eurovision YouTube channel.
All About Eurovision 2026
The journey to the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest kicked off immediately following JJ’s win in Basel, when Austria’s ORF accepted the rights to host the 70th edition of the contest. The bidding process started in June, with interested cities having until July 4 to submit their bid book. Innsbruck and Vienna were shortlisted, with the latter winning the right to host next year’s contest. 35 countries will take part in the competition, the lowest number of competing entries since 2004.
As for the organisation of the competition, the ‘core team‘ was revealed in June 2025, with further details about next year’s competition to be revealed in due course. The shows will take place on May 12th, 14th and 16th.
Are you excited for Eurovision 2026? As always, let us know what you think by commenting below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Threads and Bluesky as we start looking ahead to Eurovision 2026!
News Source: EBU
Photo Source: ORF
Rory Gannon 
Euan T