Music Key handover and semi-final draw for the ESC in Basel

SDA

22.1.2025 - 12:46

Carina Nilsson, President of the Parliament of Malmö (left), hands over the ESC "key" (on the right in the form of a cape) to the President of the Government of Basel, Conradin Cramer. In between, presenter Jennifer Bosshard.
Carina Nilsson, President of the Parliament of Malmö (left), hands over the ESC "key" (on the right in the form of a cape) to the President of the Government of Basel, Conradin Cramer. In between, presenter Jennifer Bosshard.
Keystone

In a festive ceremony on Tuesday, the key for the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) 2025 was handed over from Malmö to Basel. At the same time, the 31 countries for the two semi-finals were drawn.

Keystone-SDA

The President of the Parliament of Malmö, Carina Nilsson, handed over the key in the form of a patchwork cape to the President of the Government of Basel, Conradin Cramer, at the Kunstmuseum Basel.

As the host country of the ESC, Switzerland is directly seeded for the final on May 17 - together with the "Big Five" France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Great Britain.

The countries scheduled for the semi-finals on May 13 and 15 were drawn from five pots by Jennifer Bosshard and Jan van Ditzhuijzen. They did their best to prevent countries that traditionally award each other points from ending up in the same semi-final.

Tickets go on sale on Wednesday at 10.00 am.