{"id":77561,"date":"2018-05-11T14:00:40","date_gmt":"2018-05-11T21:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=77561"},"modified":"2018-05-11T14:07:09","modified_gmt":"2018-05-11T21:07:09","slug":"eurovision-finals-coming-into-focus-cyprus-is-nation-to-beat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/eurovision-finals-coming-into-focus-cyprus-is-nation-to-beat\/","title":{"rendered":"Eurovision Finals Coming Into Focus, Cyprus Is Nation to Beat"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Eurovision is one of the world\u2019s biggest music events, bringing acts from across Europe (and, for the past two years, Australia) to compete in the annual song contest. It\u2019s always an event filled with spectacle and surprises, and this year might see the winner come from a country that has never before topped the competition.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_77562\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-77562\" data-style=\"width: 5184px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-77562\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Eurovision-Cyprus-2.jpg\" alt=\"Eurovision Song Contest 2018\" width=\"5184\" height=\"3456\" \/><figcaption  id=\"caption-attachment-77562\"class=\"text-description\">Eleni Foureira of Cyprus performs during the first semifinal of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest. (Image: Lauren Outerson\/EuroVisionary)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After the two semifinal nights earlier this week, Cyprus has emerged as the favorite in the 2018 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. The Mediterranean island nation is represented by Greek pop artist Eleni Foureira, who dazzled audiences during Tuesday\u2019s first semifinal with her up-tempo dance song \u201cFuego.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Cyprus Looking for First Eurovision Win<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The fact that Foureira has emerged as a favorite means that this could be a historic year for Cyprus, a country that rarely gets to shine on the international stage. Cyprus has never <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/italy-fails-to-qualify-for-russia-2018-first-world-cup-miss-in-60-years\">qualified for a World Cup<\/a> or even a European Championship in soccer, and they haven\u2019t done much in Eurovision, either: the nation has never won the song contest, and last finished in the top 10 in 2004.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\"><p>Bookmakers seem to think that this is the year that the nation could finally break through. Cyprus is listed as the 11\/8 favorite at Ladbrokes heading into Saturday night\u2019s final. That puts them clearly ahead of the second choice, Israel. Represented by Neeta and her song \u201cToy,\u201d Israel was considered the early favorite to win the contest, and is still listed as a strong 3\/1 contender.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Nations were able to qualify for the final in a variety of ways. The \u201cBig Five\u201d of England, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain automatically qualify every year. In addition, last year\u2019s winner serves as the host, and gets an automatic qualification spot. This year, that honor goes to Portugal, with the competition taking place in Lisbon.<\/p>\n<p>Other nations are split into two semifinals, each qualifying 10 more acts. Israel and Cyprus both qualified out of the first semifinal round on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Chinese TV Censors Acts, Banned from Airing Final<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>That night wasn\u2019t without controversy, however. Mango TV censored two acts \u2013 Ireland and Albania \u2013 on the Chinese broadcast because they included LGBT themes. The European Broadcasting Union responded by banning Mango TV from airing the Saturday\u2019s final. One of the acts targeted by the censors, Ireland\u2019s Ryan O\u2019Shaughnessy, is currently the third choice in betting at 8\/1 for his song \u201cTogether.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fewer contenders came out of the second group of semifinalists, though there were still surprises. In a result that stunned many observers, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-russian-online-gambling-regulations-cause-stars-group-concern\">Russia failed to qualify<\/a> for the first time since the semifinal format began in 2004. Azerbaijan and Romania will also be missing the finals for the first time this year.<\/p>\n<p>Saturday\u2019s final round will see all 26 remaining acts perform one last time for audiences across Europe and around the world. Each of the participating nations will then get to vote for their 10 favorite acts (other than their own) twice: once by public vote, and once by a professional jury.<\/p>\n<p>Acts will earn points based on how they finish in each individual vote. Once all of the results are tabulated, the country with the most total points is declared the Eurovision winner.<\/p>\n<p>The Eurovision Song Contest has been held every year since 1956, and is organized by the European Broadcasting Union.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eurovision is one of the world\u2019s biggest music events, bringing acts from across Europe (and, for the past two years, Australia) to compete in the annual song contest. It\u2019s always an event filled with spectacle and surprises, and this year might see the winner come from a country that has never before topped the competition. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":77562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3313],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Eurovision Finals Coming Into Focus, Cyprus Is Nation to Beat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 will stage its finals on Saturday in Lisbon, with Cyprus and Israel emerging as two of the top favorites according to oddsmakers.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eurovision Finals Coming Into Focus, Cyprus Is Nation to Beat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 will stage its finals on Saturday in Lisbon, with Cyprus and Israel emerging as two of the top favorites according to oddsmakers.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/eurovision-finals-coming-into-focus-cyprus-is-nation-to-beat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-11T21:00:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-05-11T21:07:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Eurovision-Cyprus-2-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/eurovision-finals-coming-into-focus-cyprus-is-nation-to-beat\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/eurovision-finals-coming-into-focus-cyprus-is-nation-to-beat\/\",\"name\":\"Eurovision Finals Coming Into Focus, Cyprus Is Nation to Beat\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/eurovision-finals-coming-into-focus-cyprus-is-nation-to-beat\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/eurovision-finals-coming-into-focus-cyprus-is-nation-to-beat\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Eurovision-Cyprus-2-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-11T21:00:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-05-11T21:07:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 will stage its finals on Saturday in Lisbon, with Cyprus and Israel emerging as two of the top favorites according to oddsmakers.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/eurovision-finals-coming-into-focus-cyprus-is-nation-to-beat\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/eurovision-finals-coming-into-focus-cyprus-is-nation-to-beat\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/eurovision-finals-coming-into-focus-cyprus-is-nation-to-beat\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Eurovision-Cyprus-2-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Eurovision-Cyprus-2-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Eleni Foureira of Cyprus performs during the first semifinal of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest. 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