Sweden wins the shadow Eurovision

Hardcore fans have their fave already

Eurovision is very much about the fans. Since the sixties, they have been a motor for the event. In addition to a plethora of sites and social media accounts, some have come together to create the OGAE (Organisation Générale des Amateurs de l'Eurovision – Organisation of Eurovision fans). Clubs in some 40 countries worldwide organise events and arrange tickets for the actual Eurovision finals.

Another key date in their calendar is the poll where members can vote on contestants for the upcoming finals on May 17.

Good news for Sweden, their act came out tops in the OGAE poll with a total of 421 points, followed by Austria and the Netherlands. 5,458 members from the 43 fan clubs cast their votes.

Sweden's KAJ won with the song "Bara bada bastu.", a jokey song about saunas:

We're gonna sauna, sauna
Steam it up and let go of all stress today
Sauna brothers, we're the ones who glow
One hundred degrees, oh yes.

Sweden, along with Ireland, is the most successful country in the Eurovision Song Contest, with a total of seven victories. The most recent was Loreen with the impressive “Tattoo” in 2023.

Meanwhile, the bookies’ favourites this year are:

·         Sweden, with Kaj

·         Austria, with JJ

·         France, with Louane

·         Israel, with Yuval Raphael

·         The Netherlands, with Claude.

(Michael Leahy. Source: EurovisionWorld et al. Photo: Pedro J Pacheco - CC BY-SA 4.0)