It’s a two horse race for continental glory at tonight’s Eurovision final, with previous frontrunners Sweden being snapped at by a pop opera singer from Austria
Several Eurovision Song Contest stars have been dealt a huge blow just hours before the live final in Basel, Switzerland.
Sweden has been the clear favourite since the end of February, with dance-pop trio KAJ hotly tipped to make it the Scandinavian nation’s eighth win. Their song, ‘Bara Bada Bastu’, is the country’s first entry to be sung in Swedish since 1998 and has already topped their native charts.
But after a surge in bets placed on Austrian pop-opera soprano Johannes ‘JJ’ Pietsch, Austria has come in from 3/1 to 11/4, and Sweden’s odds have drifted to 10/11.
Austria limped in at 24th place last year, but fans seem to have been enchanted by the 24-year-old’s entry, ‘Wasted Love’, praising its “beautiful vocals” and “captivating performance”.
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Third favourites are France, with their pop-ballad chanteuse Louanne seeing her odds slashed from 10/1 to 9/1.
Sadly, it doesn’t look like the UK’s entry – girl group trio Remember Monday – will recreate the success seen by Katrina and the Waves in 1997, who won the contest with their song ‘Love Shine A Light’.
Ladbrokes’ Carl Gildart said: “It’s looked like Sweden’s contest to lose for a long time, but this odds shift is making people think again. Those who phone in to vote for Austria will be hoping their support isn’t wasted love.”
At the moment Remember Monday’s odds are hovering around 66/1, even worse than Israel’s controversial entry which still has as 25/1 chance of winning.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 final will feature Norway, Albania, Sweden, Iceland, the Netherlands, Poland, San Marino, Estonia, Portugal, and Ukraine, who all competed in the first semi-final.
They will be up against Lithuania, Israel, Armenia, Denmark, Austria, Luxembourg, Finland, Latvia, Malta and Greece, who all made it through from the second semi-final.
The so-called ‘Big Five’ countries of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom – who qualify for the final automatically – will also compete in the grand final, alongside host nation Switzerland.
The Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final will be broadcast live on BBC One and BBC iPlayer from 8pm tonight.
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Source: Mirror
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