Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Croatia
◄ Yugoslavia

Croatia

Member station Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT)
National selection events
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
  Winner
  Second place
  Third place
  Last place
Year Artist Language Title Final Points Semi Points
1993 Put Croatian, English "Don't Ever Cry" 15 31 3 51
1994 Tony Cetinski Croatian "Nek' ti bude ljubav sva" 16 27 No semi-finals
1995 Magazin & Lidija Horvat-Dunjko Croatian "Nostalgija" 6 91
1996 Maja Blagdan Croatian "Sveta ljubav" 4 98 19 30
1997 E.N.I. Croatian "Probudi me" 17 24 No semi-finals
1998 Danijela Martinović Croatian "Neka mi ne svane" 5 1311
1999 Doris Dragović Croatian "Marija Magdalena" 4 118
2000 Goran Karan Croatian "Kad zaspu anđeli" 9 70
2001 Vanna English "Strings of My Heart" 10 42
2002 Vesna Pisarović English "Everything I Want" 11 44
2003 Claudia Beni Croatian, English "Više nisam tvoja" 15 29
2004 Ivan Mikulić English "You Are The Only One" 12 50 9 72
2005 Boris Novković feat. Lado Croatian "Vukovi umiru sami" 11 115 4 169
2006 Severina Croatian "Moja štikla" 12 56 Top 11 Previous Year
2007 Dragonfly feat. Dado Topić Croatian, English "Vjerujem u ljubav" Failed to qualify 16 54
2008 Kraljevi ulice & 75 Cents Croatian "Romanca" 21 44 4 112
2009 Igor Cukrov feat. Andrea Šušnjara Croatian "Lijepa Tena" 18 45 132 33
2010 Feminnem Croatian "Lako je sve" Failed to qualify 13 33
2011 Daria Kinzer English "Celebrate" 15 41
2012 Nina Badrić Croatian "Nebo" 12 42
2013 Klapa s Mora Croatian "Mižerja" 13 38
Did not participate between 2014 and 2015
2016 Nina Kraljić English "Lighthouse" 23 73 10 133
2017
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.

Year Location Venue Presenters
1990 Zagreb Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall Helga Vlahović Brnobić and Oliver Mlakar

Commentators and spokespersons

Year(s) Commentator Spokesperson
1992 No broadcast Croatia did not participate
1993 Aleksandar "Aco" KostadinovVeljko Đuretić
1994 Helga Vlahović
1995 Danijela Trbović
1996
1997 Davor Meštrović
1998
1999 Marko Rašica
2000
2001 Ante Batinović Danijela Trbović
2002 Duško Čurlić
2003 Danijela Trbović Davor Meštrović
2004 Aleksandar "Aco" Kostadinov Barbara Kolar
2005
2006 Duško Čurlić Mila Horvat
2007 Barbara Kolar
2008
2009 Mila Horvat
2010
2011 Nevena Rendeli
2012
2013 Uršula Tolj
2014 Aleksandar "Aco" Kostadinov[9] Croatia did not participate
2015 No broadcast
2016 Duško Čurlić Nevena Rendeli
2017 TBA TBA

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

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Jiandani, Sanjay (19 September 2013). "Croatia: HRT will not participate in Eurovision 2014". esctoday.com. ESCToday. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  2. 1 2 Jiandani, Sanjay (26 September 2014). "Croatia: HRT will not participate Eurovision 2015". esctoday.com. ESCToday. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  3. ↑ "Eurovision Song Contest 1990". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  4. ↑ Croatian Contest for the Eurovision Song Contest - Grand Prix '92 Archived April 3, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ Premec, Tina (7 October 2014). "ZA NAJSKUPLJI SHOW HTV-a PRIJAVILO SE VIŠE OD 1000 LJUDI 'Koliko smo ga platili? To je tajna'" (in Croatian). Jutarnji list. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  6. ↑ "HRT ne prenosi Eurosong 2015.!'" (in Croatian). eurosong.hr. 5 May 2015. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  7. ↑ Jiandani, Sanjay (26 November 2015). "Croatia: HRT confirms participation in Eurovision 2016". esctoday.com. ESCToday. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
  8. ↑ Błażewicz, Maciej (17 September 2016). "Croatia confirms Eurovision 2017 participation". escbubble.com. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  9. ↑ http://www.tportal.hr/showtime/glazba/331670/HRT-ov-komentar-Eurosonga-bio-uvredljivo-los.html
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