Eurovision 2026 running order has been revealed: the EBU announced this evening the order of the song performances in the contest’s semi-finals, which will take place in May. Israel was drawn as song number 10 in the first semi-final.

The EBU and the contest production team on behalf of Austrian broadcaster ORF revealed this evening on the official Eurovision YouTube channel the running order for the semi-finals of Eurovision 2026, which will take place on May 12th and 14th in Vienna. On January 12th, the semi-final allocation draw was published, determining that Israel would appear in the second half of the first semi-final.

After the full running order was published, it became clear that Israel and its representative Noam Bettan were drawn to perform as song number 10 in the first semi-final! The first semi-final, which will be held on May 12th, will open with Moldova, which will perform first, and close with Serbia, which will perform last as song number 15. The second semi-final, which will be held on May 14th, will open with Bulgaria, which will perform first, and close with Norway which will perform as song number 15.

As a reminder, this year as well, the countries that qualify automatically for the final — Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany and France, together with host country Austria, will perform in the semi-finals for the first time in order to expose their songs to a larger audience ahead of the final, which will be held on May 16. It will not be possible to vote for these songs because they are automatically placed in the final stage, but in the semi-finals they will appear among the 15 competing performances.

Eurovision 2026’s Semi-Finals: Full Running Order

First Semi-Final – May 12th, 2026:

1. Moldova
2. Sweden
3. Croatia
4. Greece
5. Portugal
6. Georgia
7. Finland
8. Montenegro
9. Estonia
10. Israel
11. Belgium
12. Lithuania
13. San Marino
14. Poland
15. Serbia

• Italy will perform after Georgia (song number 6) and before Finland (song number 7).
• Germany will perform after Israel (song number 10) and before Belgium (song number 11).

Second Semi-Final – May 14th, 2026:

1. Bulgaria
2. Azerbaijan
3. Romania
4. Luxembourg
5. Czechia
6. Armenia
7. Switzerland
8. Cyprus
9. Latvia
10. Denmark
11. Australia
12. Ukraine
13. Albania
14. Malta
15. Norway

• France will perform after Czechia (song number 5) and before Armenia (song number 6).
• Austria will perform after Cyprus (song number 8) and before Latvia (song number 9).
• United Kingdom will perform after Ukraine (song number 12) and before Albania (song number 13).

Does the running order hint at the results?

Until 2013, the positions of all countries in the contest performances were drawn randomly. Each country drew its place in the running order. However, starting in 2013, the situation changed. Today, a draw takes place in January in which the countries are divided into semi-finals and halves of the show, and toward the end of March, the production team chooses the running order strategically, with the aim of creating an optimal flow for the show that includes a wide range of musical styles. Does a particular semi-final position matter? Here are examples from the most recent contest winners:

• In 2025, Austria was placed as song number 6 in the second semi-final after drawing the first half of the semi-final (songs 1-8).
• In 2024, Switzerland was placed as song number 4 in the second semi-final after drawing the first half of the semi-final (songs 1-8).
• In 2023, Sweden was placed as song number 11 in the first semi-final after drawing the second half of the first semi-final (songs 8-15).
• In 2022, Ukraine was placed as song number 6 in the first semi-final after drawing the first half of the semi-final (songs number 1-9).
• In 2019, The Netherlands was placed as song number 16 in the second semi-final after drawing the second half of the semi-final (songs 10-18).
• In 2018, Israel was placed as song number 7 in the first semi-final after drawing the first half of the semi-final (songs 1-10).

Based on these data, it can be understood that the contest winner is usually placed toward the end of the half in which it was drawn, less often in the middle, and never at the beginning. In the case of Noam Bettan, Israel’s representative for Eurovision, it can be seen that Israel was placed as song number 10 (out of 15), from which it can be inferred that the production placed the Israeli song in a good position, but quite in the middle og the evening. Based on previous years, the country expected to stand out this year is Finland, placed as song number 7 in the first semi-final and Denmark, placed as song number 10 in the second semi-final. At the same time, it is important to emphasize that the running order in the semi-finals is minor and carries less significance than the running order in the grand final.

As for the grand final — since the running order has been determined by the contest production team since 2013, it is noticeable that the winning songs are those that performed toward the end of the grand final or those that performed in the middle of the grand final.

Songs that performed toward the end of the show and won the contest: song number 18 (Denmark in Eurovision 2013), song number 21 (Ukraine in Eurovision 2016 and Switzerland in Eurovision 2024), song number 22 (Israel in Eurovision 2018), and song number 24 (Italy in Eurovision 2021).

Songs that performed in the middle of the show and won the contest: song number 9 (Sweden in Eurovision 2023 and Austria in Eurovision 2025), song number 10 (Sweden in Eurovision 2015), song number 11 (Austria in Eurovision 2014 and Portugal in Eurovision 2017), and song number 12 (The Netherlands in Eurovision 2019 and Ukraine in Eurovision 2022).

Running Order Dates: Comparison and Analysis

It appears that the running order reveal for the upcoming contest in Vienna is taking place a little later than usual, with this year’s reveal happening about one week later than in previous years:

• Eurovision 2025 – Basel, Switzerland – Thursday, March 27th, 2025.
• Eurovision 2024 – Malmö, Sweden – Tuesday, March 26th, 2024.
• Eurovision 2023 – Liverpool, England – Wednesday, March 22nd, 2023.
• Eurovision 2022 – Turin, Italy – Tuesday, March 29th, 2022.
• Eurovision 2021 – Rotterdam, Netherlands – Tuesday, March 30th, 2021.

Eurovision 2026: Full Schedule

The Eurovision Song Contest 2026 will take place in May, as tradition dictates. The exact dates are as follows:

• First Semi-Final: Tuesday, May 12th, 2026.
• Second Semi-Final: Thursday, May 14th, 2026.
• Grand Final: Saturday, May 16th, 2026.

For those asking, “at what time will Eurovision 2026 be broadcast,” each of the events will begin at 21:00 CET.

Israel will compete in the first semi-final, which will take place on Tuesday, May 12th, in hopes of a successful performance! If Israel succeeds in entering the list of the top ten songs in the semi-final, it will advance to the grand final, which will be broadcast on May 16th at 21:00 CET.

Eurovision Location in 2026

Eurovision 2026 will take place in Vienna, Austria. This is the third time in history that the contest is hosted in Austria, after having hosted the contest in 1967 and 2015. The event will take place at Wiener Stadthalle, which is expected to hold about 16,000 spectators in each show. This is the second time the venue will host the contest, after also hosting Eurovision 2015.

Preparations for Eurovision 2026

Preparations for Eurovision 2026 are already in full swing. On January 12th, 2026, the draw for dividing the countries into the semi-finals took place, an important event that determines in which semi-final each country will appear.. Immediately after that, on January 13th, ticket sales for Eurovision began, allowing contest fans to secure their place in the arena. These days, each representative is holding rehearsals in their own country in preparation for the big performance on the contest stage in May. At the beginning of May, all delegations will arrive in Basel, where they will begin organized rehearsals on the contest stage.