Greece will be represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025, which will be held in Basel, Switzerland. The Greek participating broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) will organise the national final Ethnikós Telikós 2025 in order to select its entry for the contest.
| Eurovision Song Contest 2025 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Participating broadcaster | Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) | |||
| Country |  Greece | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Ethnikós Telikós 2025 | |||
| Selection date(s) | 30 January 2025 | |||
| Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
Background
editPrior to the 2025 contest, Greece had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 44 times since its debut in 1974.[1] The nation has won the contest once to this point, in 2005 with the song "My Number One" performed by Helena Paparizou. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, it managed to qualify for the final with each of its entries for several years. Between 2004 and 2013, it achieved nine top ten placements in the final. The first entry to not qualify to the final was "Utopian Land" performed by Argo in 2016. Its 16th-place finish in the semi-final marked its worst placing at the contest and led to its absence from the final for the first time since 2000, when it did not send an entry. In the 2018 contest, it failed to qualify for the second time with Yianna Terzi and the song "Oniro mou", finishing 14th in the semi-final. After failing to qualify for final for the third time in 2023 with Victor Vernicos and the song "What They Say", it returned to the final in 2024 with Marina Satti and the song "Zari", placing 11th with 126 points.[1]
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country.[2] ERT predecessor, National Radio Television Foundation (EIRT) debuted in the contest in 1974 and then ERT participated from 1975 until 2013, when the broadcaster was shut down by a government directive. It was replaced firstly with the interim Dimosia Tileorasi (DT) and then later by the New Hellenic Radio, Internet and Television (NERIT) broadcaster,[2][3][4][5] before reverting to the ERT name by the new government in June 2015.[6][7] The Greek broadcaster had selected its entries in the past both internally and through the national final format Ellinikós Telikós. ERT confirmed its intention to participate in the 2025 contest on 14 September 2024, and announced on 18 September that a national final would be organised for the first time since 2017 to select its representative.[8][9]
Before Eurovision
editEthnikós Telikós 2025
editEthnikós Telikós 2025 will be the Greek national final developed by ERT to select the Greek entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2025. The competition will take place on 30 January 2025 at the Christmas Theater in Galatsi.[10]
Competing entries
editOn 18 October 2024, ERT opened a submission period where artists and composers were able to submit their entries for consideration by the broadcaster by 10 November 2024. Artists were required to be Greek citizens, be permanent residents in Greece or be of Greek descent, while songwriters could be of any nationality and submit up to two songs.[11] 187 songs were received by the submission deadline and a five-member committee selected twelve entries to participate in the national final.[12][13] The competing entries were revealed on 10 January 2025 during the ERT1 show Proian se eidon.[10][14] Among the artists are Konstantinos Christoforou who previously represented Cyprus at Eurovision in 1996, 2002 and 2005, and Xannova Xan (Kalli Georgellis) who previously represented Greece at Junior Eurovision in 2005.[15][16]
The song "Tha matho na apago" (Θα μάθω να αγαπώ), to be performed by Salina Gavala and Tsiak, was disqualified after the song title was made public by the artist, which went against the rules of the competition.[10] The song was replaced by "Unhurt Me" by Nafsica Gavrilaki, which was the first of three backup entries selected by ERT.[10]
Entry disqualified Replacement entry
| Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Andy Nicolas | "Lost My Way" |
|
| Barbz | "Sirens" |
|
| Dinamiss | "Odyssey" |
|
| Evangelia | "Vale" (Βάλε) |
|
| Georgina Kalaitzoglou and Yiannis Vlasseros | "High Road" |
|
| Klavdia | "Asteromata" (Αστερομάτα) |
|
| Konstantinos Christoforou and Kostas Karafotis | "Paradeisos" (Παράδεισος) |
|
| Kostas Ageris | "Gi mou" (Γη Μου) | Kostas Ageris |
| Nafsica Gavrilaki | "Unhurt Me" |
|
| Rikki | "Elevator" |
|
| Salina Gavala and Tsiak | "Tha matho na apago" (Θα μάθω να αγαπώ) |
|
| Thanos Lambrou | "Free Love" |
|
| Xannova Xan | "Play It!" |
|
References
edit- ^ a b "Greece". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Retrieved 9 August 2023.
- ^ a b Floras, Stella (11 June 2013). "Greece shuts down public broadcaster ERT". ESCToday. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
- ^ Savaricas, Nathalie (11 July 2013). "Greece's state-run TV service resumes with a blast from the past". The Independent. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
- ^ "Greece's replacement public broadcaster launched". Deutsche Welle. 4 May 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
- ^ Paravantes, Maria (11 June 2005). "Joy In Greece Over Eurovision Win". Billboard. Vol. 117, no. 24. p. 17. Retrieved 16 January 2009 – via Google Books.
- ^ Maltezou, Renee (28 April 2015). "In symbolic move, Greece to reopen shuttered state broadcaster". Reuters. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
- ^ "Greece's state broadcaster ERT back on air after two years". BBC News. 11 June 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
- ^ Jiandani, Sanjay (Sergio) (14 September 2024). "Greece: ERT confirms participation at Eurovision 2025". ESCToday. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
- ^ Bijuvignesh, Darshan (18 September 2024). "🇬🇷 Greece: National Final to Select Eurovision 2025 Entry". Eurovoix. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
- ^ a b c d "Eurovision 2025: Τα 12 τραγούδια του Εθνικού Τελικού". ertnews.gr (in Greek). 10 January 2025. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
- ^ "Προσκληση εκδηλωσης ενδιαφεροντος για τη συμμετοχη στον 69ο διαγωνισμο τραγουδιου της Eurovision" (PDF). ERT (in gr). Retrieved 10 January 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) - ^ Ntinos, Fotios (10 January 2025). "Greece: The participants of the Greek national selection for Eurovision 2025 revealed!". Eurovisionfun. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
- ^ Granger, Anthony (15 November 2024). "🇬🇷 Greece: Selects for Eurovision 2025 on January 29". Eurovoix. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
- ^ "Greece 2025: National final entries released". eurovision.tv. 10 January 2025. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
- ^ Farren, Neil (10 January 2025). "🇬🇷 Greece: Eurovision 2025 National Final Artists Revealed". Eurovoix. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
- ^ Bogiannos, Apostolos (9 November 2024). "ΑΠΟΚΛΕΙΣΤΙΚΟ: Η Κάλλη Γεωργέλλη (Xannova Xan) υποψήφια στον εθνικό τελικό, με τον συνθέτη του Tattoo!". Eurovisionfun (in Greek). Retrieved 10 January 2025.