Eurovision Song Contest 2018

Eurovision Song Contest 2018
Eurovision Song Contest 2018
All Aboard!
Dates and venue
Semi-final 1	8 May 2018;
Semi-final 2	10 May 2018;
Final	12 May 2018;
Venue	Altice Arena; Lisbon, Portugal
Organisation
Organiser	European Broadcasting Union (EBU)
Executive supervisor	Jon Ola Sand
Production
Host broadcaster	Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP)
Directors	Troels Lund; Paula Macedo; Pedro Miguel;
Executive producer	João Nuno Nogueira
Presenters	Sílvia Alberto; Daniela Ruah; Catarina Furtado; Filomena Cautela;
Participants
Number of entries	43
Number of finalists	26
Returning countries	Russia
	Participation map Finalist countries Countries eliminated in the semi-finals Countries that participated in the past but not in 2018;
Vote
Voting system	Each country awards two sets of 12, 10, 8–1 points to ten songs.
Winning song	Israel; "Toy"

The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 was the 63rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It consisted of two semi-finals on 8 and 10 May and a final on 12 May 2018, held at the Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal, and presented by Filomena Cautela, Sílvia Alberto, Catarina Furtado, and Daniela Ruah. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP), which staged the event after winning the 2017 contest for Portugal with the song "Amar pelos dois" by Salvador Sobral.

Broadcasters from forty-three countries participated in the contest, equalling the record of the 2008 and 2011 editions. Russia returned after their absence from the previous edition, and for the first time since 2011, no country that participated in the previous edition withdrew.

The winner was Israel with the song "Toy", performed by Netta and written by Doron Medalie and Stav Beger. Cyprus, Austria, Germany, and Italy rounded out the top five, with Cyprus achieving its best result to date. Israel won the public vote, and came third in the jury vote behind Austria and Sweden. Further down the table, the Czech Republic also achieved its best result to date, finishing sixth. The EBU reported that 186 million viewers watched the contest, surpassing the previous edition by over 4 million.