Czech Republic in the Eurovision Song Contest

Czech Republic
Member station	ČT
National selection events	Eurosong (2007–2008)
Appearances
Appearances	3
First appearance	2007
Best result	18th: SF 2008
Worst result	Last: SF 2007, 2009
External links
Czech Republic's page at Eurovision.tv

The Czech Republic has competed at the Eurovision Song Contest three times, first taking part in 2007. On all three attempts the country failed to qualify to the final from the semi-finals, placing in the bottom two in all attempts. The country withdrew after the 2009 Contest after their entry Gipsy.cz failed to score a single point in the semi-final.

Early history

During the time of Czechoslovakia, Československá televize (ČST) is known to have broadcast a number of editions of the Contest in Czechoslovakia during the 1960s and 1970s.^[1][2] After the dissolution of the state in 1993 the Czech Republic's partner Slovakia immediately attempted to enter the Contest, entering the contest three times between 1994 and 1998, before withdrawing.

Czech broadcaster Česká televize had originally planned to send an entry to the 2005 Contest, held in Kiev, Ukraine, however this did not materialise for various reasons.^[1] ČT again looked at sending an entry to the 2006 Contest in Athens, Greece, but failed to do so after having doubts that the country would qualify for the final.^[3]

Participation

Main article: Czech Republic in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007

Kabát performing "Malá dáma" at Helsinki

In April 2006 ČT officially confirmed their presence at the 2007 Contest in Helsinki, Finland.^[4]

ČT held a national final to select the first Czech entry. Eurosong 2007 featured 10 songs, with the public voting for the winner through SMS voting. However one song was withdrawn before the show began, leaving only 9 songs to compete.^[5] The winner was rock band Kabát with the song "Malá dáma".^[6] At the contest's semi-final on 10 May 2007 the Czech Republic performed 16th in the semi-final, however only received one point (which came from Estonia) from the televoters around Europe.

Main article: Czech Republic in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008

Tereza Kerndlová performing "Have Some Fun" at Belgrade

For the 2008 Contest in Belgrade, Serbia, ČT again held a national final to select the entry for the country. 10 acts again competed for the chance to represent the Czech Republic in Serbia, with the winner of Eurosong 2008 being Tereza Kerndlová with "Have Some Fun".^[7][8] At the second semi-final of Eurovision 2008 Kerndlová performed 8th in the running order, receiving 9 points for her performance (1 points from Turkey and Malta, 2 points from Croatia and 5 points from Macedonia), placing 18th of 19 entries, and failing once again to qualify the Czech Republic to the final.

Main article: Czech Republic in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009

Despite placing in the bottom two twice, ČT confirmed that they would participate at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia.^[9] ČT decided to hold an internal selection for the artist who would represent the country at the contest in Russia, with a public vote on the song they would sing. The broadcaster chose Romani band Gipsy.cz in January 2009 to compete in Moscow – the band had previously competed in the two previous national finals, coming both times in the top three.^[10][11] Two songs were presented to the Czech public to vote on: "Aven Romale" and "Do You Wanna".^[12] Afer voting had concluded after 14 days, the final winner was "Aven Romale", which featured lead singer Radoslav Banga dressing-up as a super-hero character, Super Gypsy.^[13]

The group performed 2nd on the night of the first semi-final of the contest, held on 12 May 2009. However the group managed to receive nul points from the 20 countries voting in the semi-final, becoming the 16th entry to achieve this result since the current voting method was introduced in 1975.

2010 withdrawal

On 22 July 2009 ČT officially announced their withdrawal from the 2010 Contest, stating a lack of interest from the Czech public to the contest and poor viewing figues for the shows.^[14][15]

2012 possible return

It had been previously reported that Česká televize (CT) had ruled out a return to the contest in 2012.^[16] However, on 20 October 2011, the broadcaster announced that a final decision on participation had not been taken yet.^[17]

Contestants

Year	Artist	Title	Final	Points	Semi	Points
2007	Kabát	Malá dáma	X	X	28	1
2008	Tereza Kerndlová	Have Some Fun	X	X	18	9
2009	Gipsy.cz	Aven Romale	X	X	18	0

Voting history (2007-2009)

Czech Republic has given the most points to...

Rank	Country	Points
1	Armenia	34
2	Ukraine	25
3	Russia	21
4	Azerbaijan	20
5	Serbia	14

NOTE: The totals in the above tables include only points awarded in Eurovision finals, and not the semi-finals since 2004.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Bakker, Sietse (2004-12-03). "CZECH REPUBLIC WITHDRAWS". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/3435. Retrieved 2009-08-02. 
2. ^ Bakker, Sietse (2008-12-25). "Do you remember... Amsterdam 1970?". European Broadcasting Union. http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=1661. Retrieved 2009-08-02. 
3. ^ Bakker, Sietse (2005-10-06). "No Czech Republic in Athens". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/5052. Retrieved 2009-08-02. 
4. ^ Busa, Alexandru (2006-04-16). "'Czech Republic will join in 2007'". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/5932. Retrieved 2009-08-02. 
5. ^ Klier, Marcus (2007-03-10). "National final in Czech Republic". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/7929. Retrieved 2009-08-02. 
6. ^ Floras, Stella (2009-03-11). "Czech Republic: Kabat with Mala dama". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/7941. Retrieved 2009-08-02. 
7. ^ Schacht, Andreas (2008-01-26). "Tereza Kerndlova represents Czech colours!". European Broadcasting Union. http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=419&_t=Tereza+Kerndlova+represents+Czech+colours%21. Retrieved 2009-08-02. 
8. ^ Hondal, Victor (2008-01-26). "Czech Republic decided: Tereza Kerndlová for Belgrade". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/10290. Retrieved 2009-08-02. 
9. ^ Kuipers, Michael (2008-07-29). "Czech Republic will be there in 2009". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/12175. Retrieved 2009-08-02. 
10. ^ Siim, Jarmo (2009-01-30). "Gipsy.cz competing for Czech Republic". European Broadcasting Union. http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=1862. Retrieved 2009-08-02. 
11. ^ Floras, Stella (2009-01-30). "Czech Republic: Gipsy.cz to Eurovision". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/13086. Retrieved 2009-08-02. 
12. ^ Jiandani, Sanjay (2009-03-01). "Czech Republic: Listen to the songs". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/13411. Retrieved 2009-08-02. 
13. ^ Siim, Jarmo (2008-03-26). "Czech Republic: Gipsy with a dot". European Broadcasting Union. http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=2053. Retrieved 2009-08-02. 
14. ^ Hondal, Victor (2009-07-22). "Czech Republic withdraws from Eurovision". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/14202. Retrieved 2009-07-22. 
15. ^ "Czechs withdraw from Eurovision". BBC. 2009-07-23. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8165818.stm. Retrieved 2009-08-02. 
16. ^ Lowther, Michael (9 September 2011). "Czech Republic: Unlikely to return for Baku". ESCDaily. http://escdaily.com/articles/20605. Retrieved 14 September 2011. 
17. ^ "Czech Republic: No confirmation for Eurovision yet". 20 October 2011. http://escdaily.com/articles/24460. Retrieved 22 October 2011. 

External links

• Points to and from Czech Republic eurovisioncovers.co.uk