Own Eurovision Song Contest 31

Own Eurovision Song Contest 31, often referred to as OESC #31, is the 31st edition of the Own Eurovision Song Contest. The contest will take place in the Republic of Macedonia, following Cash Cash and Bebe Rexha's victory in the Own Eurovision Song Contest 30 contest with the song "Take me home". During the winner's press conference, an MRT Television representative stated that the host city will be Skopje.

To cope with the increasing number of countries wishing to participate in the contest, a new rule was introduced, the lowest-placed countries from the preceding edition's semifinals would not participate. This means that Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Norway, Romania, Russia and Ukraine were forced to withdraw. Austria and Malta withdrew voluntarily and Belgium, Czech Republic and Palestine returned in the competition, making a total of 45 countries competing. This is the second time in the history of the competition when this amount of countries participate, last time being in Malmö, Sweden in the 9th edition.

The 31st edition marks the return of the Big 5 status, meaning that the top 5 from previous edition will automatically qualify for the Grand Final, last time this status was used was in the Own Eurovision Song Contest 14, edition held in London, England. Also, in this edition only two semifinals will be used and the top 10 from each semifinal will qualify for the Grand Final, were only 26 (one wildcard will be used) countries will battle in order to win the contest.

Venue


On September 1, 2014 it was announced that the National Arena Philip II of Macedonia will be the venue of the Own Eurovision Song Contest 31.

National Arena Philip II of Macedonia (Macedonian: Арена Филип II Македонски, Arena Filip II Makedonski) is a multi-purpose stadium in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. Named after the ancient King Philip II of Macedon, it is currently used mostly for football matches, but sometimes also for music concerts or other events. It is the home stadium of FK Vardar and FK Rabotnički from Skopje, both of which compete in the Macedonian First League, as well as the home ground of the Macedonia national football team on almost all occasions (the other venues rarely chosen being the Goce Delčev Stadium in Prilep, or SRC Biljanini Izvori in Ohrid).

The project for the south stand was designed in 1977 by architects Dragan Krstev and Todorka Mavkova from Beton. Construction of the stadium in present form began in 1978, with the building of the south stand which took two years to finish. The reconstruction and expansion started after a long delay in project implementation in January 2008. The construction of a new north stand was finished in August 2009 and was put in use on 2 August 2009, the Macedonian national holiday "Ilinden". Ten days later, on 12 August, the Macedonia national football team played a friendly match against the current World Champions Spain, as part of the 100-year anniversary of football in Macedonia. The reconstruction of the southern stand started in 2009, which was put into operation on 30 July of that year for the match between FK Rabotnički and FC Liverpool. Soon after, the construction of the new western and eastern stands started. By mid July 2012, the majority of the stadium was completed with the reconstruction of the new pitch and athletic track. On 25 July 2012, FK Vardar played FC BATE Borisov in the 2nd qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League to re-open the stadium.

Location
Skopje (Macedonian: Скопје) is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic center. It was known in the Roman period under the name Scupi.

The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; remains of Neolithic settlements have been found within the old Kale Fortress that overlooks the modern city centre. On the eve of the 1st century AD, the settlement was seized by the Romans and became a military camp. When the Roman Empire was divided into eastern and western halves in 395 AD, Scupi came under Byzantine rule from Constantinople. During much of the early medieval period, the town was contested between the Byzantines and the Bulgarian Empire, whose capital it was between 972 and 992. From 1282, the town was part of the Serbian Empire and acted as its capital city from 1346. In 1392, the city was conquered by the Ottoman Turks who renamed the town Üsküp. The town stayed under Ottoman control over 500 years, serving as the capital of pashasanjak of Üsküb and later the Vilayet of Kosovo. At that time the city was famous for its oriental architecture. In 1912, it was annexed by the Kingdom of Serbia during the Balkan Wars and after the First World War the city became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Kingdom of Yugoslavia). In the Second World War the city was conquered by the Bulgarian Army, which was part of Axis powers. In 1944, it became the capital city of Democratic Macedonia (later Socialist Republic of Macedonia), which was a federal state, part of Democratic Federal Yugoslavia (later Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). The city developed rapidly after World War II, but this trend was interrupted in 1963 when it was hit by a disastrous earthquake. In 1991, it became the capital city of an independent Macedonia.

Skopje is located on the upper course of the Vardar River, and is located on a major north-south Balkan route between Belgrade and Athens. It is a center for metal-processing, chemical, timber, textile, leather, and printing industries. Industrial development of the city has been accompanied by development of the trade, logistics, and banking sectors, as well as an emphasis on the fields of culture and sport. According to the last official count from 2002, Skopje has a population of 506,926 inhabitants; according to two unofficial estimates for more recent period, the city has a population of 668,518 or 491,000 inhabitants.

This is the first time, in the history, the contest will take place in Macedonia.

Semi-final Allocation Draw
The draw that determined the semi-final allocation was held on September 1, 2014 at the Philip II Arena. The participating countries, excluding the Big 5, were split into seven pots, based on voting history and geographical location. From these pots, 19 countries each were allocated to compete in the first semifinal and 20 countries in the second semifinal.

The pots are as follows:

The big five countries will vote as follow: Macedonia, the host country, will vote in both semifinals, while England and Italy will vote in the first semi-final and Azerbaijan with Montenegro will vote in the second semi-final.

Running Order
The official running order of the semifinals was announced on September 2, 2014.

Participants
TBD

Returning artists
TBD

First Semi-final

 * The ten countries in this semi-final with the highest scoring points, according to the votes from each voting country, qualifies for the Grand Final.
 * , and  will vote in this semi-final.
 * The ten qualifiers were announced on September 5, 2014.

Notes


 * 1. The country qualified to the Second Chance Round.

Second Semi-final

 * The ten countries in this semi-final with the highest scoring points, according to the votes from each voting country, qualifies for the Grand Final.
 * , and  will vote in this semi-final.

Second Chance Round

 * the eleventh placed countries from each semi-final competes in the second chance.
 * the winner of this round will get the final ticket for the Grand Final.

Finalists
The twenty-six finalists are:
 * the Big 5 countries:,  ,  , the host country,  and.
 * the top ten countries from the first semi-final.
 * the top ten countries from the second semi-final.
 * the winner of the second chance round.

Other countries

 * Andorra has to withdraw due to poor results.
 * Belarus won't come to the contest.
 * There were a statement made by the belgian delegation,that Belgium is not planning to return to the contest.A confirmed announcment hasn't been made yet.
 * Rumours has it that the country is planning a come back to the contest.They will come back after the official announcment of Czech HoD.
 * After a long time of not competing to the contest the asian country will make its come back to the up coming edition.
 * The asian country is not planning for a come-back right now. A confirmed announcment hasn't been made yet.

Voting and spokespersons
TBD