We are finally getting some structure to the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest with the assignment of semi-finals to the 37 countries competing this year in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Copenhagen, Denmark officially became the host of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest Monday with the official handing over of official documents and logos by official people. Along with the ceremonial passing of the torch, the 31 countries competing in the semi-finals learned their assignments (though Israel, Norway, and Sweden already knew where they were due to special requests). The Big 5 (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom) and host country Denmark learned which semi-finals in which each would vote, since they automatically advance to the Grand Final.
The draw began with assigning the auto-qualifiers to semi-finals for voting.((Germany requested placement in the second semi-final.)) Next, the countries requesting automatic placement into semi-finals learned which half of the semi-final each would compete. We then learned that the host broadcaster requested that the first semi-final have 16 countries and the second 15 countries. Because this left a significantly lopsided number of vacancies, an extra draw was held to determine which semi-final the last four drawn countries would be assigned.
Once all the formalities and transparencies were complete, the draw was held. Here are the assignments for the ESC Semi-Finals:
[table id=13 /]
[table id=14 /]
[table id=15 /]