The talk of the day yesterday was the change of plans about how many countries will qualify directly for the final of the Eurovision 2007. It has now been confirmed by head of the European Broadcasting Union for the Eurovision Song Contest, Svante Stockselius, that 14 countries will qualify for the 2007, just as it has been during the last two years. Although changes were discussed, it was decided to keep it the way it was.
The Eurovision Reference Committee had a change of heart about how many of the finalists from 2006 will get an automatic place in the next year’s final. Some months ago, it had been decided that just the “Big Four” (UK, France, Germany and Spain), the winner and the next five best scoring countries would go through. Yesterday, it was confirmed that there will be no change and the 10 best scoring countries will go through for the finals of next year. It appears that the committee’s original idea was rejected by the broadcasters.
The Maltese team was free from any official rehearsals yesterday. The stage was completely at the service of the 23 semi-finalists who battled it out during the live show which kicked off at around 9pm Malta time. Only the top 10 entries were given access for the final, joining the other 14 finalists thus bringing the number of finalists up to 24 entries for this year’s 51st Eurovision Song Contest. The full list of participants will be published tomorrow.
Malta’s representative Fabrizio Faniello, and another Maltese singer, Keith Camilleri, who will be singing in a group for Switzerland, had a day of rest.
What about the bettings?
According to the Bestbetting’s ranking, things aren’t looking that bright for Malta this year. Fabrizio Faniello’s I Do is still anchored at the 24th place. Things aren’t looking any brighter for the Swiss entry with the “Maltese touch” of our Keith Camilleri, either. This entry dropped one place since yesterday and is now in 16th place.
Greece, Sweden, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Finland still lead the pack. Belgium, Russia and Germany follow closely behind.
The bottom three countries on the Bestbetting’s chart are still Albania, Portugal and Andorra.