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| Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest | |
|---|---|
| |
| Participating broadcaster | Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) |
| Participation summary | |
| Appearances | 40 (33 finals) |
| First appearance | 1981 |
| Highest placement | 2nd: 2018 |
| External links | |
Cyprus's page at Eurovision.tv  | |
 For the most recent participation seeCyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 | |
Cyprus has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 40 times since making its debut in 1981. Cyprus' first entry was the group Island, who finished sixth. The country's best result in the contest is a second-place finish with Eleni Foureira in 2018.
Between 2006 and 2013, Cyprus failed to qualify from the semi-final round six times, before withdrawing in 2014. On 14 July 2014, CyBC officially confirmed Cyprus' return to the contest for 2015, with the country then qualifying for the final every year since, a streak that lasted until its non-qualification in 2022. Cyprus once again returned to the final in 2023.
History
Since its first entry, Cyprus has participated every year except 1988, 2001 and 2014. In 1988, Cyprus withdrew its entry after broadcaster CyBC determined that the intended entry was ineligible; the song had been presented to jurors (but not selected) in the 1984 internal selection process, which was a violation of the Cypriot selection rules. In 2001, the country did not qualify for the contest due to insufficiently high average scores in previous contests, according to the qualification process at the time. In 2014, the broadcaster decided to not participate in the contest and cited public indifference, public opinion regarding the 2012–13 Cypriot financial crisis, and related budget restrictions as factors for not taking part.[1] On 14 July 2014, CyBC officially confirmed their return to the contest in 2015.[2][3] Cyprus hosted the Eurovision Song Project, which included 2 semi-finals, 1 second chance round and a final.[4][5]
Since its return in 2015, Cyprus has only failed to qualify once, and even reached its best result with Eleni Foureira coming second in 2018. Cyprus holds the record for the most times competing in the Eurovision Song Contest without a single win to date. Most of the Cypriot entries have been sung in Greek or English; the exceptions are in 2000, in which the song "Nomiza" included both Greek and Italian, and in the 2007 contest, in which Evridiki performed "Comme ci, comme ça" entirely in French. Additionally, in both the 2018 contest and the 2021 contest, the songs had some phrases in Spanish.
Voting
Cyprus' exchange of the maximum 12 points with Greece has occurred regularly in the contest, which is often met with derision from the audience.[6] In the 31 instances (1981–2024) of Cyprus being able to vote for Greece in a final, it has voted Greece as having the best song on 26 of them (the exceptions being 1981, 1985, 1990, 1991, 2015 and 2024). Since the introduction of televoting in 1998, the two countries have consistently given each other the maximum 12 points except in 2015, when neither country gave their 12 points to the other, but both gave their maximum points to Italy.
Cyprus and Turkey never exchanged votes until 2003, a taboo attributed to the Cyprus dispute.
Popularity of the contest
Since its first entry in 1981, Cyprus has had a mixture of varied results. The best result achieved so far is a second place, reached by Eleni Foureira at the 2018 contest.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Cyprus managed to reach the top 10 a number of times, something which made the Contest popular with the Cypriot public. Since 2004, Cyprus' performance has dropped notably. From 2006 to 2009 and again in 2011 and 2013, the country failed to reach the final.
At the same time when Cyprus' performance in the contest dropped vertically, Greece's performance improved very fast by one win and seven top ten results in one decade. This created a shift of interest, with the Cypriot public being more interested in the success of the Greek entry. This is probably because Greece, since 2004, seems to send very popular singers that have a well established fan-club in Cyprus, while Cyprus usually elects their contestants through an open talent contest, which often results in somewhat unknown artists representing the country.
Participation overview
| 2 | Second place |
| ◁ | Last place |
| X | Entry selected but did not compete |
| † | Upcoming event |
| Year | Entrant | Song | Language | Final | Points | Semi | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Island | "Monika" (Μόνικα) | Greek | 6 | 69 | No semi-finals | |
| 1982 | Anna Vissi | "Mono i agapi" (Μόνο η αγάπη) | Greek | 5 | 85 | ||
| 1983 | Stavros and Constantina | "I agapi akoma zi" (Η αγάπη ακόμα ζει) | Greek | 16 | 26 | ||
| 1984 | Andy Paul | "Anna Mari-Elena" (Άννα Μαρί-Έλενα) | Greek | 15 | 31 | ||
| 1985 | Lia Vissi | "To katalava arga" (Το κατάλαβα αργά) | Greek | 16 | 15 | ||
| 1986 | Elpida | "Tora zo" (Τώρα ζω) | Greek | 20 ◁ | 4 | ||
| 1987 | Alexia | "Aspro mavro" (Άσπρο μαύρο) | Greek | 7 | 80 | ||
| 1988 | Yiannis Dimitrou | "Thimame" (Θυμάμαι) | Greek | Disqualified X | |||
| 1989 | Fanny Polymeri and Yiannis Savvidakis | "Apopse as vrethoume" (Απόψε ας βρεθούμε) | Greek | 11 | 51 | ||
| 1990 | Anastasiou | "Milas poli" (Μιλάς πολύ) | Greek | 14 | 36 | ||
| 1991 | Elena Patroklou | "S.O.S." | Greek | 9 | 60 | ||
| 1992 | Evridiki | "Teriazoume" (Ταιριάζουμε) | Greek | 11 | 57 | ||
| 1993 | Zymboulakis and Van Beke | "Mi stamatas" (Μη σταματάς) | Greek | 19 | 17 | Kvalifikacija za Millstreet | |
| 1994 | Evridiki | "Ime anthropos ki ego" (Είμαι άνθρωπος κι εγώ) | Greek | 11 | 51 | No semi-finals | |
| 1995 | Alexandros Panayi | "Sti fotia" (Στη φωτιά) | Greek | 9 | 79 | ||
| 1996 | Constantinos | "Mono gia mas" (Μόνο για μας) | Greek | 9 | 72 | 15 | 42 |
| 1997 | Hara and Andreas Konstantinou | "Mana mou" (Μάνα μου) | Greek | 5 | 98 | No semi-finals | |
| 1998 | Michael Hajiyanni | "Genesis" (Γένεσις) | Greek | 11 | 37 | ||
| 1999 | Marlain | "Tha'ne erotas" (Θα'ναι έρωτας) | Greek | 22 | 2 | ||
| 2000 | Voice | "Nomiza" (Νόμιζα) | Greek, Italian | 21 | 8 | ||
| 2002 | One | "Gimme" | English | 6 | 85 | ||
| 2003 | Stelios Constantas | "Feeling Alive" | English | 20 | 15 | ||
| 2004 | Lisa Andreas | "Stronger Every Minute" | English | 5 | 170 | 5 | 149 |
| 2005 | Constantinos Christoforou | "Ela Ela" | English | 18 | 46 | Top 12 in 2004 final[a] | |
| 2006 | Annet Artani | "Why Angels Cry" | English | Failed to qualify | 15 | 57 | |
| 2007 | Evridiki | "Comme ci, comme ça" | French | 15 | 65 | ||
| 2008 | Evdokia Kadi | "Femme Fatale" | Greek | 15 | 36 | ||
| 2009 | Christina Metaxa | "Firefly" | English | 14 | 32 | ||
| 2010 | Jon Lilygreen and the Islanders | "Life Looks Better in Spring" | English | 21 | 27 | 10 | 67 |
| 2011 | Christos Mylordos | "San aggelos s'agapisa" (Σαν άγγελος σ'αγάπησα) | Greek | Failed to qualify | 18 | 16 | |
| 2012 | Ivi Adamou | "La La Love" | English | 16 | 65 | 7 | 91 |
| 2013 | Despina Olympiou | "An me thimasai" (Aν με θυμάσαι) | Greek | Failed to qualify | 15 | 11 | |
| 2015 | John Karayiannis | "One Thing I Should Have Done" | English | 22 | 11 | 6 | 87 |
| 2016 | Minus One | "Alter Ego" | English | 21 | 96 | 8 | 164 |
| 2017 | Hovig | "Gravity" | English | 21 | 68 | 5 | 164 |
| 2018 | Eleni Foureira | "Fuego" | English | 2 | 436 | 2 | 262 |
| 2019 | Tamta | "Replay" | English | 13 | 109 | 9 | 149 |
| 2020 | Sandro | "Running" | English | Contest cancelled[b] X | |||
| 2021 | Elena Tsagrinou | "El Diablo" | English | 16 | 94 | 6 | 170 |
| 2022 | Andromache | "Ela" (Έλα) | English, Greek | Failed to qualify | 12 | 63 | |
| 2023 | Andrew Lambrou | "Break a Broken Heart" | English | 12 | 126 | 7 | 94 |
| 2024 | Silia Kapsis | "Liar" | English | 15 | 78 | 6 | 67 |