Countries who never won the ESC?

[r3gg13]

Even this year? That song - if you can call it that, was dreadful.

But I also feel sorry for Portugal. It's incredible they have never won, after competing 45 times.

I thought they had a very good candidate for it in 1980. Um grande, grande amor deserved a better place than 7th.

Even though it wasn't a great song, HdL's song was sincere and had a good amount of character.

Don't forget Lucia Moniz, Sara Tavares, Vânia Fernandes and Flor-de-Lis, they were great too
I think Vânia would have scored higher if there were juries in 08. I hope this coming year they'll send something amazing

 

[doctormalisimo]

Even though it wasn't a great song, HdL's song was sincere and had a good amount of character.

Don't forget Lucia Moniz, Sara Tavares, Vânia Fernandes and Flor-de-Lis, they were great too
I think Vânia would have scored higher if there were juries in 08. I hope this coming year they'll send something amazing

Portugal would have gotten their first ever Top 5 finish had there been juries in 08...
And Flor-de-lis were awesome too. Portugal should have won 2 years in a row.
Hopefully 2012 will be the one!

 

[Michelangelo]

Even though it wasn't a great song, HdL's song was sincere and had a good amount of character.

Well, it is a song contest where you judge how good a song is - not necessarily how sincere it is. The messege of the song can be totally sincere and the song can have a great deal of character, but I just hate it as a song. I can't seem to like it at all, that's all. I'm sorry.

 

[r3gg13]

Well, it is a song contest where you judge how good a song is - not necessarily how sincere it is. The messege of the song can be totally sincere and the song can have a great deal of character, but I just hate it as a song. I can't seem to like it at all, that's all. I'm sorry.

I agree with your point that this is a song contest and that songs should be judged based on their merits. I'm not saying that songs like Homens da Luta's are masterpieces, I just like their "vision". Hey, we all have our own tastes, so you can dislike the song as much as I like the song

 

[r3gg13]

Portugal would have gotten their first ever Top 5 finish had there been juries in 08...
And Flor-de-lis were awesome too. Portugal should have won 2 years in a row.
Hopefully 2012 will be the one!

Word! Portugal needs songs like those again, or something like Dança Conmigo or Canta Por Mim. I wonder if Brazilian singers can participate in FdC?

 

[Sabiondo]

Word! Portugal needs songs like those again, or something like Dança Conmigo or Canta Por Mim. I wonder if Brazilian singers can participate in FdC?

I was fall in love with his song of 2004 - Foi Magia and i was beliver that had gone also far if the jury exist on 2004.

Of course, they can but i don't thing that they are intresed so far....

 

[roadrunner]

Word! Portugal needs songs like those again, or something like Dança Conmigo or Canta Por Mim. I wonder if Brazilian singers can participate in FdC?

Maybe it's already about time for Portugal to win!
Denmark had some fairly good entries lately, but they won in 2000 anyway, so I won't mind Portugal winning. *hopefully*

 

[bubblingtrue]

I would love Italy or Spain to win, or even France. But also, I would like a first win for Portugal, and maybe one of the small states such as San Marino

 

[JackBauer]

Well i would love any new country / countries who didn't win in the last 15 years to win.

And i'm sorry but i don't really want at all San Marino or Andorra to win this, but a top 5 would be nice for them.

I would love to see Malta or Iceland win one day, for me they are just the countries who the best eurovision songs in history without a win.

 

[Stargazer]

I don't think any country deserves to win just because they haven't already or that it's been a long time since. The country with the best song every year deserves to win, regardless of their past success or failure in the contest.

 

[A-lister]

I don't think any country deserves to win just because they haven't already or that it's been a long time since. The country with the best song every year deserves to win, regardless of their past success or failure in the contest.

Second that!

 

[JustinCase]

Can that be done though? What if a country can't host the contest though? I'd think the right to host would then go to the runner up?????

Not necessarily, the EBU rules do not state that it automatically gives that prerogative to the 2nd placed country. It may be a sort of "gentleman's agreement" that they look there first though. But this can become a real issue in the future as the contest grows bigger and bigger, because certain countries that are too small to have a venue that is big enough, don't have enough hotel rooms, or are simply too poor. There are several countries that fall in one or more of these categories, and include obvious ones like San Marino, but also Iceland, Malta, Moldova, Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, etc. But who knows, maybe they'll pull together and come up with a suitable plan, but it would be tricky. Even Kiev at the time didn't have enough hotel rooms, and Estonia and Latvia had to bend over backwards, and that was when it was a lot smaller.

 

[Yamarus]

Let's not forget France. Won five times, but the last time was in 1977!!! It should've won in either 1990 or 1991 though.

@ JustinCase: the costs incurred by the Eurovision Song Contest are indeed even more of a burden for the host broadcaster than before. It is a great honour to be able to host it, but look at all the sacrifices that broadcasters have to make (like NRK's sale of World Cup rights in 2010).
Belgium's RTBF (French-speaking broadcaster) organised the sole contest in Belgium, in 1987. The expense was so huge that it took decades for the RTBF to recover. When we came very close to winning in 2003, I bet the RTBF managers were going mental, and not in a fit of enthusiasm.

 

[NemesisNick]

Well done starting this thread in May 2011 Fluke. Following ESC 2012, here's an up-to-date list of all the countries that have entered the ESC at some point or other but have never won.

Albania, Andorra , Armenia, Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, FYR Macedonia, Georgia, Hungary, Iceland, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco (a), Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia & Montenegro (b), Slovakia, Slovenia.

N.B. (a) Morocco has so far entered only once in 1980; (b) Serbia & Montengro no longer exists as a nation.

Bear in mind also that four countries which first entered in 2004 or later have never even made it from the semi-final to the final; those countries are Andorra, Czech Republic, Montenegro, San Marino.

Serbia & Montengro should have won in 2004.

I totally agree. In my opinion, their song "Lane Moje" was much better than Ukraine's "Wild Dances". Sadly Serbia & Montengro will never be able to win now as it no longer exists as a nation. It's existence as a country was so short-lived it didn't have chance to build up much of a record for statistical purposes. It's such a shame it didn't win in 2004 with "Lane Moje".

I've gone into this issue of countries that have never won the ESC on my blog.

Countries that have won in the past but have not won for a long time (14 years or more ago) are mentioned here on my blog.

 

[AdelAdel]

I wouldn't say that Croatia never won, because in fact it did, under the name "Yugoslavia", the winning band was Croatian, the language they sung in was Croatian and the 1990 contest was held in Zagreb.

 

[rajo]

I would suggest Croatia inherits the victory of Yugoslavia in 1989....

 

[AdelAdel]

I would suggest Croatia inherits the victory of Yugoslavia in 1989....

Yes, and we can safely assume that Croatia has de facto won once (althought not under the name "Croatia")

 

[rajo]

Well, at least Austria already secured the No. 1 rank on the list of longest gaps between victories. It's just a matter of time...

I hope I will live to see it.... :?

 

[NemesisNick]

I wouldn't say that Croatia never won, because in fact it did, under the name "Yugoslavia", the winning band was Croatian, the language they sung in was Croatian and the 1990 contest was held in Zagreb.

I know "Rock Me" by Riva was from the part of Yugoslavia that's now Croatia, but back then the song represented the whole of the then Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, not just Croatia.

Croatia participated as an independent country for the first time in 1993 with "Don't Ever Cry". However since 1993 the Croatian entries have only represented the geographical area now called Croatia. If Croatia wins next year's ESC, it'll be its first ever win as an independent country.

I think as far as the EBU are concerned; 1) Yugoslavia is a country which won once in 1989, hosted it in 1990, had its last entry under the name Yugoslavia in 1992 and it no longer exists as a nation. 2) Croatia (1993), Bosnia & Herzegovina (1993), Slovenia (1993), F.Y.R. Macedonia (1998), Montenegro (2007), Serbia (2007) are all new countries which first entered as new countries in the years shown in brackets, and Serbia won the first time it entered as Serbia in 2007 (and hence hosted it from Belgrade in 2008).

 

[AdelAdel]

Yes, but do you get my point? The union between the countries doesn't exist anymore, and Croatia inherits the victory of Yugoslavia. I believe it makes more sense than saying that the whole Yugoslavia can inherit that victory and that would mean that Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, B&H, Croatia and Slovenia are equally victors.