After the great victory of Jamala with the song 1944, Ukraine is ready to host next May the 62nd Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev.
    This year's competition started with an important announcement, 43 countries will take place in Kiev, among them for the third consecutive year is Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina withdraw while Portugal and Romania returned.
    Jon Ola Sand, the EBU’s Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, said: "We are delighted that 43 national broadcasters have signed up for the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest equalling our record highest participation. We have not had this many countries in one contest since 2011 in Düsseldorf. The Eurovision Song Contest still unites audiences like no other show, reaching over 200 million people in 2016. We’re looking forward to three fantastic shows in Kyiv next May".
The 43 countries that will participate are:

• Albania
• Armenia
• Australia
• Austria
• Azerbaijan
• Belarus
• Belgium
• Bulgaria
• Croatia
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Georgia
• Greece
• Hungary
• Iceland
• Ireland
• Israel
• Italy
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• F. Y. R. Macedonia
• Malta
• Moldova
• Montenegro
• The Netherlands
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Romania
• Russia
• San Marino
• Serbia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Ukraine
• United Kingdom

The Semi-Finals of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 will take place on Tuesday 9th and Thursday 11th May, with the Grand Final on Saturday 13th May.