Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest | |
---|---|
Participating broadcaster | Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) |
Participation summary | |
Appearances | 40 (33 finals) |
First appearance | 1981 |
Highest placement | 2nd: 2018 |
External links | |
Cyprus's page at Eurovision.tv | |
For the most recent participation see Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 |
Cyprus has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 40 times since making its debut in 1981. The Cypriot participant broadcaster in the contest is the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC). Its first entry was "Monika" performed by the group Island, who finished sixth. The country's best result is a second-place finish with " Fuego " by Eleni Foureira in 2018. Cyprus holds the record for most editions competing in the contest without a single win to date.
Between 2006 and 2013, Cyprus failed to qualify from the semi-final round six times, before withdrawing in 2014. On 14 July 2014, CyBC officially confirmed its return to the contest for 2015, with the country then qualifying for the final every year since, a streak that lasted until its non-qualification in 2022. Cyprus once again returned to the final in 2023.
The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) is a full member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), thus eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. It has participated in the contest representing Cyprus since its 26th edition in 1981.
Since its first entry, CyBC has participated every year except for 1988, 2001, and 2014. In 1988, CyBC withdrew its entry after it determined that the intended entry was ineligible; the song had been presented to jurors (but not selected) in the 1984 internal selection process, which was a violation of their selection rules. In 2001, the country did not qualify for the contest due to insufficiently high average scores in previous contests, according to the qualification process at the time. In 2014, the broadcaster decided to not participate in the contest and cited public indifference, public opinion regarding the 2012–13 Cypriot financial crisis, and related budget restrictions as factors for not taking part. [1] On 14 July 2014, CyBC officially confirmed their return to the contest in 2015. [2] [3] Cyprus hosted the Eurovision Song Project, which included 2 semi-finals, 1 second chance round and a final. [4] [5]
Since its return in 2015, Cyprus has only failed to qualify once, and even reached its best result with " Fuego " by Eleni Foureira coming second in 2018. Cyprus holds the record for most editions competing in the contest without a single win to date. Most of the Cypriot entries have been sung in Greek or English; the exceptions are in 2000, in which the song "Nomiza" included both Greek and Italian, and in 2007, in which "Comme ci, comme ça" by Evridiki was entirely in French. Additionally, in both 2018 and 2021, the songs had some phrases in Spanish.
Cyprus' exchange of the maximum 12 points with Greece has occurred regularly in the contest, which is often met with derision from the audience. [6] In the 31 instances (1981–2024) of Cyprus being able to vote for Greece in a final, it has voted Greece as having the best song on 26 of them (the exceptions being 1981, 1985, 1990, 1991, 2015 and 2024). Since the introduction of televoting in 1998, the two countries have consistently given each other the maximum 12 points except in 2015, when neither country gave their 12 points to the other, but both gave their maximum points to Italy.
Cyprus and Turkey never exchanged votes until 2003, a taboo attributed to the Cyprus dispute.
Since its first entry in 1981, Cyprus has had a mixture of varied results. The best result achieved so far is a second place, reached by Eleni Foureira at the 2018 contest.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Cyprus managed to reach the top 10 a number of times, something which made the Contest popular with the Cypriot public. Since 2004, Cyprus' performance has dropped notably. From 2006 to 2009 and again in 2011 and 2013, the country failed to reach the final.
At the same time when Cyprus' performance in the contest dropped vertically, Greece's performance improved very fast by one win and seven top ten results in one decade. This created a shift of interest, with the Cypriot public being more interested in the success of the Greek entry. This is probably because Greece, since 2004, seems to send very popular singers that have a well established fan-club in Cyprus, while Cyprus usually elects their contestants through an open talent contest, which often results in somewhat unknown artists representing the country.
2 | Second place |
◁ | Last place |
X | Entry selected but did not compete |
† | Upcoming event |
Year | Entrant | Song | Language | Final | Points | Semi | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1981 | Island | " Monika " (Μόνικα) | Greek | 6 | 69 | No semi-finals | |
1982 | Anna Vissi | " Mono i agapi " (Μόνο η αγάπη) | Greek | 5 | 85 | ||
1983 | Stavros and Constantina | " I agapi akoma zi " (Η αγάπη ακόμα ζει) | Greek | 16 | 26 | ||
1984 | Andy Paul | "Anna Mari-Elena" (Άννα Μαρί-Έλενα) | Greek | 15 | 31 | ||
1985 | Lia Vissi | " To katalava arga " (Το κατάλαβα αργά) | Greek | 16 | 15 | ||
1986 | Elpida | " Tora zo " (Τώρα ζω) | Greek | 20 ◁ | 4 | ||
1987 | Alexia | " Aspro mavro " (Άσπρο μαύρο) | Greek | 7 | 80 | ||
1988 | Yiannis Dimitrou | "Thimame" (Θυμάμαι) | Greek | Disqualified X | |||
1989 | Fanny Polymeri and Yiannis Savvidakis | " Apopse as vrethoume " (Απόψε ας βρεθούμε) | Greek | 11 | 51 | ||
1990 | Anastazio | " Milas poli " (Μιλάς πολύ) | Greek | 14 | 36 | ||
1991 | Elena Patroklou | "S.O.S." | Greek | 9 | 60 | ||
1992 | Evridiki | " Teriazoume " (Ταιριάζουμε) | Greek | 11 | 57 | ||
1993 | Zymboulakis and Van Beke | " Mi stamatas " (Μη σταματάς) | Greek | 19 | 17 | Kvalifikacija za Millstreet | |
1994 | Evridiki | " Ime anthropos ki ego " (Είμαι άνθρωπος κι εγώ) | Greek | 11 | 51 | No semi-finals | |
1995 | Alexandros Panayi | " Sti fotia " (Στη φωτιά) | Greek | 9 | 79 | ||
1996 | Constantinos | " Mono gia mas " (Μόνο για μας) | Greek | 9 | 72 | 15 | 42 |
1997 | Hara and Andreas Konstantinou | " Mana mou " (Μάνα μου) | Greek | 5 | 98 | No semi-finals | |
1998 | Michael Hajiyanni | " Genesis " (Γένεσις) | Greek | 11 | 37 | ||
1999 | Marlain | " Tha'ne erotas " (Θα'ναι έρωτας) | Greek | 22 | 2 | ||
2000 | Voice | " Nomiza " (Νόμιζα) | Greek, Italian | 21 | 8 | ||
2002 | One | "Gimme" | English | 6 | 85 | ||
2003 | Stelios Constantas | "Feeling Alive" | English | 20 | 15 | ||
2004 | Lisa Andreas | "Stronger Every Minute" | English | 5 | 170 | 5 | 149 |
2005 | Constantinos Christoforou | " Ela Ela " | English | 18 | 46 | Top 12 in 2004 final [a] | |
2006 | Annet Artani | "Why Angels Cry" | English | Failed to qualify | 15 | 57 | |
2007 | Evridiki | " Comme ci, comme ça " | French | 15 | 65 | ||
2008 | Evdokia Kadi | " Femme Fatale " | Greek | 15 | 36 | ||
2009 | Christina Metaxa | "Firefly" | English | 14 | 32 | ||
2010 | Jon Lilygreen and the Islanders | "Life Looks Better in Spring" | English | 21 | 27 | 10 | 67 |
2011 | Christos Mylordos | " San aggelos s'agapisa " (Σαν άγγελος σ'αγάπησα) | Greek | Failed to qualify | 18 | 16 | |
2012 | Ivi Adamou | "La La Love" | English | 16 | 65 | 7 | 91 |
2013 | Despina Olympiou | " An me thimasai " (Aν με θυμάσαι) | Greek | Failed to qualify | 15 | 11 | |
2015 | John Karayiannis | "One Thing I Should Have Done" | English | 22 | 11 | 6 | 87 |
2016 | Minus One | "Alter Ego" | English | 21 | 96 | 8 | 164 |
2017 | Hovig | "Gravity" | English | 21 | 68 | 5 | 164 |
2018 | Eleni Foureira | " Fuego " | English | 2 | 436 | 2 | 262 |
2019 | Tamta | "Replay" | English | 13 | 109 | 9 | 149 |
2020 | Sandro | "Running" | English | Contest cancelled [b] X | |||
2021 | Elena Tsagrinou | " El Diablo " | English | 16 | 94 | 6 | 170 |
2022 | Andromache | " Ela " (Έλα) | English, Greek | Failed to qualify | 12 | 63 | |
2023 | Andrew Lambrou | "Break a Broken Heart" | English | 12 | 126 | 7 | 94 |
2024 | Silia Kapsis | "Liar" | English | 15 | 78 | 6 | 67 |
2025 | Theo Evan [7] | TBA † | Upcoming † |
Year | Category | Song | Composer(s) lyrics (l) / music (m) | Performer | Final | Points | Host city | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2004 | Composer Award | "Stronger Every Minute" | Mike Konnaris (m & l) | Lisa Andreas | 5 | 170 | Istanbul | |
2018 | Artistic Award [c] | "Fuego" | Alex Papaconstantinou, Geraldo Sandell, Viktor Svensson, Anderz Wrethov Didrick | Eleni Foureira | 2 | 436 | Lisbon |
Year | Conductor [d] | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
1981 | Michael Rozakis | [10] | |
1982 | Martyn Ford | ||
1983 | Michael Rozakis | ||
1984 | Pierre Cao | [e] | |
1985 | Charis Andreadis | [f] | |
1986 | Martyn Ford | ||
1987 | Jo Carlier | [g] | |
1988 | John Themis | [h] | |
1989 | Charis Andreadis | ||
1990 | Stanko Selak | [i] | [11] |
1991 | Alexander Kirov Zografov | ||
1992 | George Theophanous | ||
1993 | |||
1994 | |||
1995 | |||
1996 | Stavros Lantsias | ||
1997 | |||
1998 | Costas Cacogiannis |
Each participating broadcaster in the Eurovision Song Contest assigns a head of delegation as the EBU's contact person and the leader of their delegation at the event. The delegation, whose size can greatly vary, includes a head of press, the contestants, songwriters, composers and backing vocalists, among others. [12]
Year | Head of delegation | Ref. |
---|---|---|
1999 | Marios Skordis | |
2003 | Marios Skordis | |
2005 | Tasos Trifonos | |
2007 –present | Evi Papamichael |
This section needs additional citations for verification .(January 2020) |
Year | Television commentator | Radio commentator | Spokesperson | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1974 | Unknown | Did not participate | [20] | |
1975 – 1980 | No broadcast | |||
1981 | Fryni Papadopoulou | Neophytos Taliotis | Anna Partelidou | |
1982 | ||||
1983 | ||||
1984 | Pavlos Pavlou | |||
1985 | Themis Themistokleous | |||
1986 | Themis Themistokleous | Fryni Papadopoulou | ||
1987 | Themis Themistokleous | |||
1988 | Daphne Bokota (for ERT and RIK) | No radio broadcast | Did not participate | |
1989 | Neophytos Taliotis | Pavlos Pavlou | Anna Partelidou | |
1990 | ||||
1991 | Evi Papamichael [19] | |||
1992 | ||||
1993 | ||||
1994 | ||||
1995 | Andreas Iakovidis | |||
1996 | Marios Skordis | |||
1997 | ||||
1998 | Marina Maleni | |||
1999 | ||||
2000 | Loukas Hamatsos | |||
2001 | No radio broadcast | Did not participate | ||
2002 | Pavlos Pavlou | Melani Steliou | ||
2003 | Loukas Hamatsos [21] | |||
2004 | No radio broadcast | |||
2005 | Melani Steliou | |||
2006 | Constantinos Christoforou | |||
2007 | Vaso Komninou | Giannis Haralambous | ||
2008 | Melina Karageorgiou | Hristina Marouhou | ||
2009 | Nathan Morley | Sophia Paraskeva | ||
2010 | Christina Metaxa | |||
2011 | No radio broadcast | Loukas Hamatsos | ||
2012 | ||||
2013 | Melina Karageorgiou | |||
2014 | No radio broadcast | Did not participate | ||
2015 | Melina Karageorgiou | Loukas Hamatsos | ||
2016 | ||||
2017 | Tasos Tryfonos and Christiana Artemiou | Tasos Tryfonos and Christiana Artemiou | John Karayiannis | |
2018 | Costas Constantinou and Vaso Komninou | No radio broadcast | Hovig | |
2019 | Evridiki and Tasos Trifonos | |||
2021 | Louis Patsalides | Loukas Hamatsos | ||
2022 | Melina Karageorgiou and Alexandros Taramountas | |||
2023 | ||||
2024 | Melina Karageorgiou and Hovig |
Stage directors
Costume designers
|
Greece has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 44 times since its debut in 1974, missing six contests in that time. The country won for the first and to date only time in 2005 with "My Number One" by Helena Paparizou. The Greek participant broadcaster in the contest is Elliniki Radiofonia Tileorasi (ERT). Greece has never finished last in the contest.
Cyprus has participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 10 times since debuting at the first contest in 2003. The country's best result was eighth place, which was achieved both at the 2004 and 2006 contests with Marios Tofi and the song "Oneira" and Luis Panagiotou and Christina Christofi and the song "Agoria koritsia" respectively. The national broadcaster Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) has hosted the event for Cyprus once, in 2008 in Limassol.
Cyprus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song "Ela Ela ", which was written and performed by Constantinos Christoforou. Christoforou was internally selected by the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) in November 2004 to represent the nation at the 2005 contest in Kyiv, Ukraine. His song was selected through a national final, which was organised by CyBC and took place on 1 February 2005. The national final featured four songs performed by Christoforou and resulted in the selection of "Ela Ela " through a combination of public televote and jury deliberation.
Tamta Goduadze, known mononymously as Tamta, is a Georgian-born Greek singer. She first achieved popularity in Greece in 2004 for her participation in Super Idol Greece, in which she placed second. She went on to release several charting albums and singles in Greece and Cyprus, also becoming a mentor on X Factor Georgia in 2014, 2015 and 2018, and The X Factor Greece in 2016 and 2017.
Cyprus was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1992 with the song "Teriazoume" (Ταιριάζουμε), written by George Theofanous, and performed by Evridiki. The Cypriot participating broadcaster, the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC), selected its entry through a national final.
Cyprus was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1986 with the song "Tora zo" (Τώρα ζω), written by Phivos Gavris and Peter Yiannaki, and performed by Elpida. The Cypriot participating broadcaster, the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC), selected its entry through a national final and, subsequently, the performer internally once the national final was over.
Cyprus was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 with the song "Genesis" (Γένεσις), composed by Michalis Hatzigiannis, with lyrics by Zenon Zindilis, and performed by Hatzigiannis himself. The Cypriot participating broadcaster, the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC), selected its entry through a national final.
Eleni Foureira is an Albanian-born Greek singer. She began her music career in 2007 as a member of the Greek girl group Mystique, pursuing a solo career after the group disbanded in 2009. She has released five studio albums since.
Cyprus was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1982 with the song "Mono i agapi" (Μόνο η αγάπη), written and performed by Anna Vissi. The Cypriot participating broadcaster, the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC), internally selected its entry for the contest.
Cyprus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Gravity" written by Thomas G:son. The song was performed by Hovig, who was selected by the Cypriot broadcaster Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) in October 2016 to represent Cyprus at the 2017 contest in Kyiv, Ukraine. The Cypriot song, "Gravity", was presented to the public on 1 March 2017.
Cyprus was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1981 with the song "Monika" (Μόνικα), composed by Doros Georgiades, with lyrics by Stavros Sideras, and performed by the group Island. The Cypriot participating broadcaster, the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC), internally selected its entry for the contest. This was the first-ever entry from Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Cyprus was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 with the song "Milas poli" (Μιλάς πολύ), composed by John Vickers, with lyrics by Haris Anastasiou, and performed by Anastasiou himself. The Cypriot participating broadcaster, the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC), selected its entry through a national final.
Cyprus was represented by Elena Patroklou at the Eurovision Song Contest 1991 with the song "S.O.S.", composed by Kypros Charalambous, with lyrics by Andreas Christou, and performed by Elena Patroklou. The Cypriot participating broadcaster, the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC), selected its entry through a national final.
Cyprus was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1994 with the song "Eimai anthropos ki ego" (Είμαι άνθρωπος κι εγώ), written by George Theofanous and performed by Evridiki. The Cypriot participating broadcaster, the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC), selected its entry through a national final.
Cyprus was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1995 with the song "Sti fotia" (Στη φωτιά), written and performed by Alexandros Panayi. The Cypriot participating broadcaster, the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC), selected its entry through a national final.
Cyprus was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 with the song "Mana mou" (Μάνα μου), written by Constantina Konstantinou, and performed by Hara and Andreas Konstantinou. The Cypriot participating broadcaster, the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC), selected its entry through a national final.
Cyprus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "Fuego" written by Alex Papaconstantinou, Gerlado Sandell, Viktor Svensson, Anderz Wrethov and Didrick. The song was performed by Greek singer Eleni Foureira.
Cyprus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "Replay" written by Alex Papaconstantinou, Teddy Sky, Viktor Svensson, Albin Nedler, and Kristoffer Fogelmark. The song was performed by Georgian-Greek singer Tamta.
Cyprus planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, which was to be held in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Greek-American-German singer Sandro was selected by the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) to represent the country with the song "Running", written by Sandro, Alfie Arcuri, Sebastian Rickards, Octavian Rasinariu, and Teo DK. To promote the entry, a music video was released and Sandro appeared at Sweden's selection pre-party to perform it live. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the contest was cancelled in mid-March.
Cyprus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy, having internally selected Andromache to represent the country with the song "Ela", which was written by Alex Papaconstantinou, Arash, Eyelar Mirzazadeh, Fatjon Miftaraj, Filloreta "Fifi" Raçi, Geraldo Sandell, Giorgos Papadopoulos, Robert Uhlmann, Viktor Svensson and Yll Limani.
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