Every year, there’s some nervous eyes towards Czechia, but once again, the country shows us all that they are fighting teeth and nail, in order to remain part of the competition. Despite an unfortunate result earlier this year, the Czech broadcaster (ÄŒT) has officially confirmed that they are still in for the ride, when it comes down to the upcoming 2026 edition.
Internal once again
Year after year, the Czech Republic is one of those countries that always are uncertain, whether it comes to them taking part or not. The reason for this is, despite having now participated for a full decade without pulling out, the interest for the contest still remains quite low in the country. Hence for the country to compete in the contest, is overall given quite a low budget.
This is what partially led to the Czechs going for an internal selection, for 2025. Between 2018 and until 2024, the Czechs tried a slew variety for a national final format, this included mostly online national finals, which included pre-recorded performances, week long voting and such. For 2025 however, as mentioned before, Czechia returned to selecting their artist internally.
As much as the Czechs wanted to keep some sort of a national final format, the saved time and money did allow for the Czechs to do something different for 2025. This will most likely be the case once again, as the Czech national broadcaster has opened up for submissions, and will accept entries until the October 19th 2025.
Much hasn’t been revealed regarding the selection otherwise, but standard Eurovision Song Contest rules still apply. Artist must be at least 16 years old, only original songs can be submitted and only songs no longer than 3 minutes. The decision will then be made by a panel of experts, as well as by a public poll.
However, it is stated nonetheless, that should the Czech national broadcaster find it necessary, they are capable of cancelling the selection, in case of a late withdrawal.
As pointed out before, Czech Republic suffered from an unfortunate result earlier this year, when they were represented by ADONXS and his song “Kiss Kiss Goodbye“. The Czechs failed once again to pass through the semi-final stage, by finishing on 12th place. Despite only 2 ranks from qualifying, Czech Republic needed to almost double their final score, for a spot to the final, when the public only awarded them a total of 29 points.
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Source(s): Eurovision Czechia(Instagram) & Application form (Both in Czech & English)
