ESC HISTORY & STATISTICS: THE FIRST COMPETING COUNTRIES AT EUROVISION.

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST 2019

THE HISTORY & STATISTICS

The Eurovision Song Contest was first held in Switzerland in 1956. Each participating country offered 2 songs from which juries consisting of 2 voters would select a winner. That inaugural contest saw only 7 countries compete:

ITALY

SWITZERLAND

FRANCE

LUXEMBOURG

THE NETHERLANDS

BELGIUM

GERMANY

Three other countries: the United Kingdom, Denmark and Austria expressed interest but missed the deadline for the 1956 contest. They debuted at Eurovision in 1957.

Lys Assia performed the 2 Swiss entries in 1956. One of them, “Refrain” made history as Eurovision’s first winning song.