Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest | |
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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 ![]() | |
![]() Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 |
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 | Anastasiou | " 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 [lower-alpha 1] | |
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 [lower-alpha 2] 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 | Confirmed intention to participate † [7] |
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 | ![]() | |
2018 | Artistic Award [lower-alpha 3] | "Fuego" | Alex Papaconstantinou, Geraldo Sandell, Viktor Svensson, Anderz Wrethov Didrick | Eleni Foureira | 2 | 436 | ![]() |
Year | Conductor [lower-alpha 4] | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
1981 | ![]() | [10] | |
1982 | ![]() | ||
1983 | ![]() | ||
1984 | ![]() | [lower-alpha 5] | |
1985 | ![]() | [lower-alpha 6] | |
1986 | ![]() | ||
1987 | ![]() | [lower-alpha 7] | |
1988 | ![]() | [lower-alpha 8] | |
1989 | ![]() | ||
1990 | ![]() | [lower-alpha 9] | [11] |
1991 | ![]() | ||
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
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Greece has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 44 times since its debut in 1974, missing six contests in that time. Greece's first win came in 2005 with "My Number One", sung by Helena Paparizou. The Greek national broadcaster, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), broadcasts the event each year and organises the process for the selection of the Greek entry. 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. The nation's last appearance in the contest was in 2017.
Cyprus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song "Why Angels Cry" written by Peter Yiannakis and performed by Annet Artani. The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) organised the national final A Song for Europe to select the Cypriot entry for the 2006 contest, which took place in Athens, Greece. The selection event saw 20 candidate entries compete over two semi-finals, leading to a 10-participant final round on 22 February 2006. Despite the event experiencing controversy due to a perceived lack of transparency, the results were upheld.
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 participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with the song "Comme ci, comme ça" written by Dimitris Korgialas and Poseidonas Yiannopoulos. The song was performed by Evridiki, who was selected by the Cypriot broadcaster Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) in January 2007 to represent Cyprus at the 2007 contest in Helsinki, Finland. Evridiki had previously represented Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 1992 and 1994 where she both placed 11th. The Cypriot song, "Comme ci, comme ça", was presented to the public on 23 February 2007 during the special show Cyprus 12 Points - Chypre 12 Points. This was the first time that Cyprus was represented with a song performed entirely in the French language at the Eurovision Song Contest.
Cyprus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song "Life Looks Better in Spring" written by Nasos Lambrianides and Melis Konstantinou. The song was performed by Jon Lilygreen and the Islanders. The Cypriot broadcaster Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) organised the national final Eurovision 2010: Epilogi tis kypriakis symmetochis in order to select the Cypriot entry for the 2010 contest in Oslo, Norway. The national final featured nine entries, resulting in the selection of Lilygreen and the Islanders with "Life Looks Better in Spring" at the final in February 2010.
Hovig Demirjian, known professionally as Hovig, is a Greek Cypriot singer. He represented Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Gravity", finishing in 21st place.
Cyprus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with the song "San aggelos s'agapisa" written by Andreas Anastasiou and Michalis Antoniou. The song was performed by Christos Mylordos. The Cypriot broadcaster Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) organised the talent show Performance in order to select the Cypriot artist for the 2011 contest in Düsseldorf, Germany. The talent show featured 39 contestants and resulted in the selection of Mylordos as the winning artist at the final on 10 September 2010, where nine contestants remained. The Cypriot song, "San aggelos s'agapisa", was presented to the public on 20 January 2011.
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 participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "One Thing I Should Have Done" written by Mike Connaris and Giannis Karagiannis and performed by Karagiannis. The Cypriot broadcaster Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) returned to the Eurovision Song Contest after a one-year absence following their withdrawal in 2014 due to financial and budget restrictions, and organised the national final Eurovision Song Project in order to select the Cypriot entry for the 2015 contest in Vienna, Austria. The national final featured 54 entries competing in a nine-week-long process, resulting in the selection of Karagiannis with "One Thing I Should Have Done" at the final on 1 February 2015, where six entries remained.
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 participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 with the song "Feeling Alive" performed by Stelios Constantas. The song was written by Constantas, who had previously attempted to represent the nation at the contest after taking part in the 1997 and 1999 selection processes.
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.
"Fuego" is a song by Greek singer Eleni Foureira. The song was produced by Alex Papaconstantinou, Didrick and Victory, who also served as co-writers with Anderz Wrethov, Geraldo Sandell and Viktor Svensson. It was released as a single for digital download and streaming on 9 March 2018 in Greece and in various countries on 19 May by A-P, Panik and Sony. Incorporating ethnic and traditional elements, it is an upbeat dance and pop song, with the lyrics addressing female empowerment as well as emancipation and strength.
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.
Greece participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. The Greek broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) internally selected Victor Vernicos to represent the country with the song "What They Say", which he composed himself. Vernicos was announced as the artist on 30 January 2023, while the song was presented to the public on 12 March. The entry selection process was subject to a legal challenge by second-place candidate Melissa Mantzoukis; however, Vernicos' participation was ultimately allowed to continue.
Cyprus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Malmö, Sweden, with "Liar" performed by Silia Kapsis. The Cypriot national broadcaster Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) originally intended to select its entrant through the fifth season of the reality show Fame Story, produced in collaboration with the Greek channel Star. However, this plan was later cancelled after the Greek broadcaster ERT raised objections to the Cypriot selection process being aired in Greece by another broadcaster, and CyBC ultimately reverted to an internal selection for its entrant.
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