17 Gothenburg

Welcome to Gothenburg
"A Meander along the Waterfront"

Situated on Sweden's western coastline, Gothenburg attracts visitors with cultural festivals, a lively music scene, and a blend of classical and modern architecture. Home to a large student population, which makes a significant contribution to the city's youthful and energetic atmosphere, Gothenburg once served as the center of Sweden's shipbuilding industry. Although evidence of its working-class roots remains visible in and around the old harbor, most of the city's waterfront now serves as a busy tourist-driven area, offering easy access to fine museums, trendy cafes, and chic stores. To see Gothenburg from a slightly different perspective, take a guided boat tour of the city's famed 17th-century canals.

Host City / Gothenburg, Sweden
Venue / Gothenburg Opera House
Hosts / Carola and Richard Herrey

Participating countries / 28
Debuting countries / None
Returning countries / Italy and United States
Withdrawing countries / Albania, Barbados, Macedonia and Montenegro

Debuting players / Taslim for Italy

Returning Artists

Land & Synir / for Iceland / not qualifying for the final

Elena Paparizou / for Greece / placing 7th
Hepsi / for Turkey / Silver Medallist
Natasha St-Pier / for France / placing 4th
Rita Guerra / for Portugal / placing 4th

The Result

Countries receiving most 12 points / Greece and Sweden, 4
Countries giving 12 points to the winner / Croatia, Hungary, Belgium and Israel
Countries receiving points from most juries / Sweden, 17
Highest placing country not scoring a top mark / Andorra in 9th place with 10 points from Romania and Spain as highest marks
Lowest placing country scoring a top mark / China in 26th place getting 12 points from Japan

This was a really close voting with the top 7 finishing within 12 points of each other! Host country Sweden managed to scrape enough points together to claim their 5th victory! Ireland took home the silver medal and the bronze medal went to Monaco. Hungary and Portugal rounded out the top 5, meaning that 3 of the countries in last edition's top 5 repeated this feat!

Sweden has taken part in all editions so far and kicked off their Global Music career with a gold medal for One More Time. For the next couple of editions they finished outside the top 10, only to bounce back in GM04, winning the silver, and then another gold in GM06 for Jessica Folcker. Their second victory was followed by several other top 10 results and a third gold medal as recently as GM12, when Basshunter finished on top. Just last edition saw Sweden back on top of the podium with Carola, and now the Scandinavian nation claims their 5th trophy, becoming the second country to achieve "The Double", winning on home ground! Well done Sweden, Lena Philipsson and Pascal!