The draw for the semi finals of Eurovision 2014 will take place on January 20th at Copenhagen City Hall, DR has announced today.
As normal all of the countries will be split into various pots worked out by voting patterns. The idea behind this is to limit the idea of for example countries that give each other 12 points every year ending up in the same semi final. The voting patterns are worked out by looking at the past 10 years worth of data.
We already know that Sweden will perform in the 1st semi final, with Norway in the 2nd semi final. This decision was taken to ensure a fair allocation of seats among Denmark’s Nordic neighbours. Also Israel will be performing in the 2nd semi final, this is to avoid a clash with a national holiday that would have caused Israel to withdraw from the contest.
The running order of the countries will be decided by the producers, but countries will be separated into either the first or second half of the semi final. Also on Monday we will find out in which semi final the Big 5 plus Denmark will be voting in. Italy has requested to be in semi final 1, whilst Germany has requested to be in semi final 2.
We are also aware that RTBF in Belgium have asked that Belgium takes part in the second semi final due to a schedule clash with the Voice Belgique final, however VRT who are in charge of participation this year have not so far agreed to the request.
Source: DR
so it looks like Belgium is staying in the drawing pots then?