Want to know who to put your money on at Eurovision 2017? Here’s our quick guide;
The Favourites
Credits: EBU, Cátia Castel-Branco
For the last month Italy has been a clear favourite, rarely making it past 3/2 with the bookies. Recently though, Francesco Gabbani has been drifting, heading closer to 2-1 as new favourite Portugal comes crashing down to 3-2 (from 7-1 a week ago). Third favourite, a not-to-be-underestimated Bulgaria, are currently sitting at just under 3-1 with the oddsmakers.
The Dark Horses
Credits: EBU, Marie Wynants
With such close competition at the top, it takes a big jump to reach the next favourites; Belgium (18-1), Sweden (30-1), Australia and Romania (both 40-1). The UK also feature in this group (one of the few countries to be dropping closer to the favourites and currently at 33-1), but we use data from UK sites so take it with a pinch of salt.
Middle of The Road
Home of the all the fun kids, this years middle-of-the roaders feature dancing brides (Moldova, 80-1), a man duetting with himself (Croatia, 60-1), the most modern take on eurofolk you’ll hear this year (Armenia, 80-1) and some pretty impressive graphics (France, 80-1).
Unlikely
Credits: EBU, William Rutten
What a difference a week makes! The Unlikely category features a former favourite (Azerbaijan now at 150-1 from 20-1 previously), and several former dark horses (Denmark at 140-1, Hungary at 150-1 and the Netherlands at 125-1) who have all previously been less than 50-1. Rounding it out are Germany (who’ve been in this category since the start) and Israel (both 200-1).
The No-Hopers
Credits: EBU, Raul Tejedor RTVE
Which means of course the remaining contestants (according to the bookies) don’t stand a chance. Spain take the most-unlikely title this year (400-1) whilst hosts Ukraine, former Dark Horse Greece, and Cyprus (all 300-1) don’t seem to have many fans either. Unexpected qualifiers Austria and Belarus have managed to make it to 250-1 each since the semi finals while both Norway and Poland (250-1) didn’t seem to impress much.
Of course this is Eurovision, so who knows who’ll take home the trophy tonight? And don’t forget to tell us, who are you supporting?