Israel’s Eurovision entry, Noam Bettan, will perform 10th in the first semifinal of this year’s contest in Vienna, organizers said Thursday as they released the running order for the May 12 show.
Bettan was drawn to compete in the second half of the first semifinal, and producers later placed Israel in the 10th slot.
The countries set to appear in that semifinal are Moldova, Sweden, Croatia, Greece, Portugal, Georgia, Finland, Montenegro, Estonia, Israel, Germany, Belgium, Lithuania, San Marino, Poland and Serbia. The finalists from that round will advance to the grand final on May 16 in Vienna.
Israel’s song, Michelle, a polished, Paris-tinged pop track, was released last month by public broadcaster Kan. The track is performed by Bettan and was written by Yuval Raphael, last year’s Israeli Eurovision representative, together with songwriters Tzlil Klifi and Nadav Aharoni. The song includes Hebrew, French and English lyrics.
Bettan won the right to represent Israel in January after his victory on The Next Star, the Israeli television talent show used to select the country’s act.
In past years, Eurovision followers often attached importance to performing later in the broadcast because voting opened near the end of the show. But under the current system, the significance of running order is generally seen as less decisive than it once was.