Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Croatia
◄ Yugoslavia
Member station	Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT)
National selection events	Dora 1993–2011 Internal selection 2012–2013 2016
Appearances
Appearances	22 (17 finals)
First appearance	1993
Best result	4th: 1996, 1999
Worst result	16th SF: 2007
External links
HRT page on Dora
Croatia's page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016

Croatia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 22 times since making its debut at the 1993 contest. Between 1993 and 2011, the Croatian entrant was selected at the Dora pop festival, an event organised by the national public broadcaster Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT). Croatia's best result in the contest is fourth-place finishes in 1996 and 1999.

Croatia first reached the top ten in 1995, when Magazin & Lidija Horvat-Dunjko finished sixth. This would be the first of six top ten results in seven years. Maja Blagdan was fourth in 1996, Danijela Martinović (who had previously participated as a member of Magazin) was fifth in 1998, Doris Dragović (who finished 11th for Yugoslavia in 1986) was fourth in 1999, Goran Karan was ninth in 2000, and Vanna was tenth in 2001. Since then, Croatia has failed to reach the top ten.

Since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Croatia has failed to reach the final on five occasions, including four years in succession from 2010 to 2013. Croatia then withdrew from the contest in 2014 and 2015.^[1][2] On its return in 2016, Croatia reached the final for the first time in seven years.

History

Feminnem at Oslo (2010)

Croatia participated at Eurovision ten times as part of Yugoslavia, in 1963, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1990. Apart from being the most successful Yugoslav republic in the contest, it gave the socialist republic its only win, "Rock Me", sung by Riva in 1989, that was held in Lausanne. The Eurovision Song Contest 1990 was held in Zagreb as a result.^[3]

After the dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1991, the Croatian national public broadcaster Hrvatska radiotelevizija (HRT) had organised a festival to select a Croatian representative for the 1992 Contest. Had HRT been a member of the EBU in time for the contest, the first Croatian entry at Eurovision would have been the band Magazin with "Aleluja".^[4]

Croatia's first entry as an independent state was in 1993 with the band Put, performing "Don't Ever Cry" which was, despite the English title, performed in Croatian. The song came third in the "Qualification for Millstreet", which allowed for their participation in the 1993 contest. Croatia's best position, as of 2016, has been with Maja Blagdan's 1996 entry "Sveta ljubav", and Doris Dragović's 1999 entry "Marija Magdalena".

Along with Malta and Cyprus and Portugal, Croatia was never relegated in the 1990s, and (unlike Cyprus and Portugal) it was never relegated in the beginning of the 21st century. Croatia and Malta are the only countries that have never won the contest and that have never been relegated either

Croatian singer Tereza Kesovija represented Monaco at the Eurovision Song Contest 1966 and the Croatian group Feminnem represented Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with "Call me".

Withdrawal

Croatian broadcaster Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) announced on 19 September 2013 that they were withdrawing from the 2014 contest, citing the European financial crisis, as well as a string of poor results between 2010 and 2013 influencing their decision to take a year's break. The last time Croatia qualified for the grand final was in 2009.^[1]

Also it was further revealed that Croatia would not return to the contest in 2015,^[2] but there were plans to return to the contest in 2016, with the entry possibly being the winner of the first season of the Croatian version of The Voice.^[5] However, on 5 May 2015, HRT announced that it won't broadcast the 2015 contest.^[6] It was the first time since 1992 for HRT to not broadcast the contest.

Return

On 26 November 2015, it was announced that Croatia would return to the contest in 2016.^[7] Nina Kraljić with the song "Lighthouse" qualified to the final, making it that Croatia qualified for the first time since 2009. After the successful return in 2016, Croatian national broadcaster Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) confirmed on 17 September 2016 that they would also participate in 2017.^[8]

Contestants

Yugoslavian entries in 1963, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1990 are Croatian entries that competed for Yugoslavia.

Table key

NOTES:

1. ^ Spain originally gave its 12 points to Israel and 10 to Norway. After the broadcast it was announced that Spanish broadcaster wrongly tallied the votes and Germany should have got the top mark - 12 points - instead of being snubbed, as it happened. The mistake was corrected and so Germany was placed 7th over Norway. Israel and Norway both received 2 points less than originally and Croatia, Malta, Portugal, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, Estonia and Turkey all received one point less than indicated during the broadcast.

2. ^ In 2009, Croatia qualified through the back-up jury selection.

3. If a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. In addition from 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. If, for example, Germany and France placed inside the top ten, the countries who placed 11th and 12th were advanced to the following year's grand final along with the rest of the top ten countries.

Voting history

As of 2016, Croatia's voting history is as follows:

NOTE: Just received points are up to date, given points are still as they were in 2013.

Most points given in the grand finals only Rank Country Points 1  Bosnia and Herzegovina 144 2  Malta 82 3  Slovenia 64  United Kingdom 64 5  Russia 59 Most points received in the grand finals only Rank Country Points 1  Bosnia and Herzegovina 115 2  Slovenia 113 3  Macedonia 67 4  Malta 62 5  Turkey 50

Most points given in the semis and finals Rank Country Points 1  Bosnia and Herzegovina 178 2  Slovenia 118 3  Macedonia 109 4  Serbia 106 5  Malta 96 Most points received in the semis and finals Rank Country Points 1  Bosnia and Herzegovina 186 2  Slovenia 180 3  Macedonia 108 4  Austria 87 5  Malta 74  Serbia 74   Switzerland 74

Hostings

Croatia has hosted the Eurovision Song Contest only once, in 1990, after Riva's victory for Yugoslavia in 1989. This makes Croatia the only country that hosted the contest and didn't participate in it, and the only country which hosted the contest and has never won.

Commentators and spokespersons

• From 1961 until 1991 Croatia competed as part of Yugoslavia

NOTE: In 2014, HRT screened only the grand final. The semi-finals were not screened.

See also

• Croatia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest.

• "Dora" - Croatian ESC Pre-selection
• Points to and from Croatia eurovisioncovers.co.uk
• Povijest Dore (Croatian)

Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest
Participation 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 to 2015 2016
Artists 1990s Put Tony Cetinski Magazin & Lidija Horvat-Dunjko Maja Blagdan E.N.I. Danijela Martinović Doris Dragović 2000s Goran Karan Ivana Vrdoljak- Vanna Vesna Pisarović Claudia Beni Ivan Mikulić Boris Novković feat. Lado Severina Vučković Dragonfly feat. Dado Topić Kraljevi ulice & 75 Cents Igor Cukrov feat. Andrea Šušnjara 2010s Feminnem Daria Kinzer Nina Badrić Klapa s Mora 2014 2015 Nina Kraljić
Songs 1990s "Don't Ever Cry" "Nek' ti bude ljubav sva" "Nostalgija" "Sveta ljubav" "Probudi me" "Neka mi ne svane" "Marija Magdalena" 2000s "Kad zaspu anđeli" "Strings of My Heart" "Everything I Want" "Više nisam tvoja" "You Are The Only One" "Vukovi umiru sami" "Moja štikla" "Vjerujem u ljubav" "Romanca" "Lijepa Tena" 2010s "Lako je sve" "Celebrate" "Nebo" "Mižerja" 2014 2015 "Lighthouse"
(Note: Entries scored out are when Croatia did not compete)