What the official Eurovision participant list is, and when it comes

Every autumn two different things get called "the participant list", and the gap between them is where most of the confusion about who is in Eurovision comes from.

Two different things: a broadcaster saying yes, and the EBU list

The first is a broadcaster's own statement. When a national broadcaster says it will take part in Eurovision 2027, that is a decision it has made and is entitled to announce, and it is what our tracker records. Most of the countries shown there as confirmed got there this way, one statement at a time, between the end of one contest and the autumn before the next.

The second is the list the European Broadcasting Union publishes. That is the EBU counting the applications it has actually received from its members and saying how many countries, and which, will compete. It is one document, published once, and it is the only thing that settles the field.

A broadcaster statement is evidence of intent. The EBU list is the field. The tracker treats them differently on purpose, and this page explains why.

The deadline: usually mid-October, penalty-free

Participation is a formal application to the EBU, not a press release. Broadcasters apply, and they have a date by which they can still withdraw without paying a penalty. For 2027 that deadline is reported to fall in mid-October 2026; the EBU has published no date, so our calendar carries it as typical rather than announced, and we do not print a day.

What the deadline means in practice: until it passes, a broadcaster can say yes in public and still change its mind at no cost, and a broadcaster that has said nothing can still apply. After it, pulling out costs money, which is why the field is far more stable from late October than it is in September.

When the list has come

The EBU does not publish the list on a fixed date. This is when it has come for the last three contests, and how many countries each list carried:

Three years in a row the list has landed in the first half of December. That is a pattern, not a rule: the EBU has said nothing about when the 2027 list will be published, and "expected in the first half of December" is the most this page will claim. Our calendar carries it that way, marked as typical rather than announced.

What the list is not

It is not final. The 2025 list was published with 38 countries and the contest was held with 37. A list is a count of applications on the day it is published; a broadcaster can still withdraw afterwards, and the number moves when one does.

It is not a running order, a semi-final allocation or a list of songs. Those come later, and separately.

And it is not the tracker. The tracker counts broadcaster statements we have been able to verify; the list counts EBU applications. The two can differ in both directions. A broadcaster can announce and not apply, or apply without ever making a statement we could see.

How the tracker reads it

A country is marked confirmed on the tracker when its broadcaster has said so and the statement has been reported by two independent outlets, or when it comes from the broadcaster or the EBU directly. The rules are on the methodology page. A place on the EBU list is the strongest form of the second case, so we treat the list as an official source and work through it: every country on it that we had not yet confirmed is confirmed against the list, and the tracker says so.

A country we had marked confirmed that does not appear on the list will be moved back, and we will say so. Being checkable afterwards is the point.

Who is eligible to apply in the first place is a separate question, with its own explainer.

What is not settled for 2027

The exact October deadline day has not been published. The date of the 2027 participant list has not been announced, and neither has the number of countries on it; anything you read that gives either is a guess. Until the list exists, the tracker is a record of who has said yes, not of who is in.