The official YouTube channel of the Eurovision Song Contest has just dropped the 41 participating names for the ESC 2022 which will be held in Turin after the victory of the rock band Måneskin.
Just like in 2021, these 39 countries will compete for the victory:
Albania, Azerbaijan, Australia, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, Ireland, Iceland, Israel, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, The Netherlands, North Macedonia, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Sweden, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Cyprus and the United Kingdom. That’s not it though!
Two returning countries and no withdraws

Luckily, we don’t have a withdrawing country this time. However, we will see two returning countries in Turin. It has been known for a few days already the Montenegro will have it’s comeback after a two years break due to financial reasons. Their last participation was in 2019 with the song “Heaven” by D-Mol who have failed to advance into the grand final. Montenegro’s last final participation was in 2015.
In addition to that, the Caucasian country Armenia will join the biggest music competition in the world after a one year break due to political reasons. The return had been anticipated by a lot of fans due to the big success of Armenia in the past. However, Armenia hasn’t qualified since 2018. “Chains On You” was supposed to be the song for Armenia performed by Athena Manoukian in 2020. The contest had been cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Disappointment about Turkey & Kazakhstan
Even though Eurovision fans should be happy about the growing numbers of participating countries, many were expecting a return of Turkey as rumours appeared about a possible return. The EBU was in contact with the Turkish broadcaster TRT about a comeback after Turkey had withdrew in 2013. Apparently this didn’t work out this time.
Another possible country was Kazakhstan as a debuting country. The neighbour country of Russia is, just as Australia, an associated member of the EBU and need an invitation from the host country to participate which hasn’t been the case. Kazakhstan have expressed their interest in a participation for several years already. On the other side, Kazakhstan have debuted in the Junior Eurovision Song contest in 2018 and was the runner-up two times already.
Other countries who didn’t return to the competition were Luxembourg, Andorra, Slovakia, Hungary and Bosnia & Herzegovina.
What do you think about the participating countries? Would you have liked to see other countries join the contest in 2022 as well? Who do you think is gonna win in Turin? Let us know down in the comments.
News source: YouTube channel Eurovision
Picture sources: Eurovision.tv & Eurovision.de