We at That Eurovision Site will be ranking national finals throughout this coming season. The next national final that the team have taken a closer look at is Dora, which will take place on the 13th of February. Dora will select the Eurovision representative for Croatia in Vienna.
Who is taking part in the second Dora semi final?
There are 12 artists taking part in the secpmd semi final of Dora. The 12 artists taking part are as follows:
| Entrant | Entry |
| Devin | “Over Me” |
| Gabrijel Ivić | “Light Up” |
| Irma | “Ni traga” |
| Ivan Sever | “Crying Eyes” |
| Kandžija | “3 ujutro” |
| Lana Mandarić | “Tama” |
| Lara Demarin | “Mantra” |
| Marko Kutlić | “Neotuđivo” |
| Ritam Noir | “Profumi di mare” |
| Sergej | “Scream” |
| Stela Rade | “Nema te” |
| Zevin | “My Mind” |
Who is our winner from Dora?
We ranked the songs taking part in the final, using a 1-12 ranking. 1 being our favourite, 12 being our least favourite song. We then calculated the average of all our rankings.
3rd. Irma – “Ni tragi” (4.40):
2nd. Lana Mandarić – “Tama” (2.60):
1st. Zevin – “My Mind” (2.20):
What did some of our team members have to say about their favourite songs from Dora?
Samantha (Lana): One of the best girl bops we have this national final season. The track is nothing extraordinary but I think Lana’s vocals sound great and it’s definitely an earworm. Tama feels like a good radio friendly song that you can’t help just bopping along to. I’m expecting some great choreography for the live show and I’ll be very different disappointed if it’s not so great.
George (Zevin): This is so Eurovision and genuinely fun. It’s clearly televote-friendly, although it does come with some risk given that juries are voting in the semi-finals this year. However, with a strong and well-executed stage presence, I can totally see this becoming the surprise entry and ultimately representing Croatia. It’s my number one, so I’ll definitely be voting for it.
Molly (Irma): This song is so good and maybe that’s my love for dramatic girl bop ballads but her vocals seems to come through with this song that really elevate it along with that operatic element at the song that adds a good vocal point to the whole song. Staging wise I think the concept of the red fabric seen in the music video is a concept that I’m looking forward to see how they will translate over to the staging. If the vocals and overall staging are done well I feel that this could go far within Dora.
And what were the teams thoughts on the national final as a whole?
Kittens: There’s some nice variety on show here but in My Mind (see what I did there) there’s a clear winner to this semi final. Nothing here is mediocre but there are several songs that will have to really pull out all the stops here to have the impact needed to really grab that attention. Still, there’s some fun bops on show and some impressive vocals if done right, so I hope to see some surprises on stage.
Rory: Compared to the first semi-final, this semi doesn’t have as much for me, but there are some really strong songs that are fighting for a spot here, which could make things quite interesting. The span of genres here is also quite fun, which means that – unlike other shows ahem Melfest ahem, it will be really interesting to see who and what Croatians will be going for.
What is Dora?
Dora has taken place 25 times since its inception in 1992, and has selected the majority of Croatia’s Eurovision entries, except for a hiatus between 2011 and 2019. Since its return, the competition has usually consisted of a single final of around 14 to 18 songs, but the format has changed in 2024 to include a semi-final stage for the expanded amount of 24 songs. The winner will be decided by a 50/50 split between a televote, and four national and four international jury panels.
Croatia’s Eurovision Journey
Croatia has been a part of the Eurovision family since 1961, as part of Yugoslavia. Ten Croatian artists went on to represent Yugoslavia in the Contest – the most famous of which being Riva, who gave Yugoslavia its only win in 1989. The 1990 Contest was held in Zagreb as a tribute to their Croatian heritage. Croatia debuted in the Contest as an independent nation in 1993 with the band Put and their song “Don’t Ever Cry”. Since then, Croatia has gone on to score as high as 2nd place in 2024.
In 2025, Croatia chose Marko Bošnjak to represent the nation in Basel with his song “Poison Cake”. Performing in the first semi-final, Croatia failed to qualify for the final, placing twelfth with a televote score of 28 points.
Who would you like to see represent Croatia in Vienna? 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 for all things Eurovision 2026!
News Source: That Eurovision Site
Photo Credit: Samantha / That Eurovision Site