History

UEFA 2020: DAY 13

It’s gonna be the last day of the first round today. Four matches will be played again. We can put the first two countries, Poland and Sweden, in only one song. In 2018, Poland was represented by Polish DJ Gromee and Swedish singer Lukas Meijer. They sang “Light me up” in a Polish/Swedish co-production. The second match will be between Slovakia and Spain. For both countries, we chose a ballad, sung by a duo. For Slovakia we chose for the 2009 contestants Kamil Mikulčík and Nela Pocisková and their duet “Leť tmou”. The Spanish song is a love duet from 2018: Amaia and Alfred sang “Tu canción”. Portugal will meet France tonight. Both countries most often sing in their native languages. So we decided to pick the exceptions. In 2008, Sebastien Tellier sang “Divine”. Only a few lines were in French, the biggest part in English. This year, the Portuguese band The Black Mamba sang it’s song “Love is on my side” in English. And we have the match between Hungary and Germany today. The city of Munich is not allowed to make a statement and colour the stadium in rainbow colours. That’s what UEFA decided. However, we don’t need UEFA’s permission. So we add Kati Wolf’s “What about my dream”; the 2011 Hungarian entry. It was the fan favorite, and we all know that a big part of the Eurovision fan base is at least very gay friendly! Even more clear was the German singer Lou in 2003 in her song “Let’s get happy”. Why? Well, just listen!

UEFA 2020: DAY 12

Today, two matches will be held again in the European Soccer Championship. We start with the match between Scotland and Croatia. Scotland once sent Rikki, Croatia sent Roko. Both had something on their clothes: Rikki a touch of Scottish clothing, Roko a pair of wings. Rikki sang about seing a UFO, Roko about his dream. Czech Republic will play agains England. Hip hop and rap in Eurovision, it is seen very seldom. In 2018, Czech Republic added a little bit of these styles to the song “Lie to me”, sung by Mikolas Josef. In 1995, a hip hop group from London represented the United Kingdom: Love City Groove, with the song with the same name.

UEFA 2020: DAY 11

It’s day 11 of the European Championship soccer already. Today, no less than four matches will be played. To start with Ukraine against Austria. Both countries once had an act containing a burning fake piano. It was Mélovin who played the piano in his song “Under the ladder” in 2018. He was not the first one to do so. In 2015 The Makemakes had a piano burning during the performance of “I am yours”. The second match is between North Macedonia and the Netherlands. Both countries once had a song about darkness and light. The 2012 North Macedonian entrant Kaliopi sang “Crno i belo”, which means black and white. The Dutch sisters of O’G3NE sang “Lights and shadows” in 2017. Russia will meet Denmark tomorrow. It was back in 2000 when Russia and Denmark ended up in the top, Denmark as the winner, Russia as the number 2. When The Olsen Brothers won with “Fly on the wings of love”, Alsou was the runner up with “Solo”. Another match will be the the one from Finland against Belgium. In 1977, both countries were favorites to win the contest. Both ended up disappointed. Finnish Monica Aspelund and her “Lapponia” ended up in 10th place, while Belgian Dream Express brought their “A million in one, two, three” to a 7th place.

UEFA 2020: DAY 10

And again, we will have two matches in the European Soccer Championship. The first match will be between Italy and Wales. For this one we are going to look at male duos. In 1987, Umberto Tozzi and Raff, both big stars in Italy and abroad already, represented their country. They sang “Gente di mare”, which became third. It became a Eurovision classic. The United Kingdom was represented by Joe and Jake in the 2016 contest. Joe Woolford, the half of the duo, was a Welshman. With “You’re not alone” they became 24th. For the match between Switzerland and Turkey we add only one song: “Ne partez pas sans moi”. You are right, the singer Celine Dion is neither Swiss nor Turkish: she is a Canadian. But the song is composed by Atilla Şereftuğ, who is Turkish. The lyrics are from Nella Martinetti. And yes, she is Swiss!

UEFA2020: Day 9

And the European soccer Championship continues with day 9. We start with Hungary and France. Hungary, the country where the authorities consider LGBT+ as a crime. Well, Hungary, remember who and what you sent in 2009? Watch Zoli Ádok and his “Dance with me”. And we have France. We have Bilal Hassani’s “Roi” here. No explanation needed. The second match is between Portugal and Germany. In 1988, the Portuguese singer Dora sang “Voltarei”, which means “I’ll come back”. In 2000, the German singer Stefan Raab opened his entry “Wadde hadde dudde da” with “He’s been to America and said: if I make it there I’m never gonna make it to Germany again. And tonight, here he is, back again”. Spain will meet Poland today. And although Spain won twice, there are a lot of successful second places for the country. We chose for Anabel Conde’s “Vuelve conmigo” from 1995. One year before that, Poland debuted, also with a second place. Poland has never done better so far, so watch and listen Edyta Gorniak’s “To nie ja!”.

UEFA 2020: DAY 8

The European Soccer Championship has already reached it’s 8th day. Today, we will see three other matches. To start with Sweden-Slovakia. What we found was a couple of mystical songs. Sweden once sent the group One More Time to the contest with the song “Den vilda”. One of the members of One More Time was Peter Grönvall, the son of Abba’s Benny Andersson. Another one, his wife Nanne Grönvall, is still very famous in Sweden. For Slovakia we chose a song about the beautiful area of Horehronie in Slovakia. The song, which was also called “Horehronie”, was sung by Kristina and hit the number one spot in the Slovak charts. Croatia and Czech Republic will play against eachother. Girls in not too much clothes! That is what brings those two countries together. We thought about Albina, who represented Croatia this year. We also thought about Tereza Kerndlová, who sang “Have some fun” in 2008. And the last match for today is the one between England and Scotland. That made us bring up two ladies, who both earned the trophy for the United Kingdom. Who remembers Sandie Shaw, barefoot, back in 1967? And who remembers Lulu, with false eyelashes and dressed in pink, yelling “Olé!” at the end of the song? Sandie was English, Lulu was Scottish.

UEFA 2020: DAY 7

We already face the 7th day of UEFA 2020. Again, three matches will be played. The first one will be Ukraine against North Macedonia. Both countries have had a contestant who faced troubles because of his or her identity. Gaitana sang “Be my guest” in 2012. The song is a soccer anthem, with the music being based on the vuvuzela. Yuriy Syrotyuk, politician of a nationalist political party, said that with this contestant people might think Ukraine is an African country. Gaitana is half Congolese. 2021 North Macedonian contestant Vasil faced a petition because in the video, something that looked like the Bulgarian flag was shown. Vasil also has the Bulgarian nationality. The second match is Denmark vs Belgium. We all know that the only Belgian winner, Sandra Kim, was a 13 year old child. But it was also a child star who participated in the 1985 contest for Denmark. It was Leah Bundgård, the 8 year old daughter of Søren Bundgård. Søren was the male half of the duo Kirsten & Søren. The third and last match will be between The Netherlands and Austria. That reminds us of 2014, when it was either one of them to get the win. It was the duo Common Linnets for the Netherlands coming second with “Calm after the storm”. It was Conchita Wurst for Austria winning with “Rise like a Phoenix”. But hey, you published “Rise like a Phoenix” before? Touché, but who minds watching Conchita’s performance twice?

UEFA 2020: Day 6

Again, three matches in UEFA 2020. To start with Finland against Russia. Where have we seen this battle before? Well, remember the 2006 contest. Lordi from Finland won with a landslide. Their song “Hard rock hallelujah” broke all the records. It was hard for Dima Bilan from Russia to get there with his song “I never ever let you go”. But you don’t have to feel sorry for him: two years later Dima got the prize! Turkey and Wales meet today as well. In 2004, the contest was held in Turkey. For the host country the group Athena participated with the song “For real”. One of the other contestants that year was Welshman James Fox. He represented the United Kingdom with the song “Hold onto our love”. Italy will meet Switzerland in the arena today. In both countries, Italian is one of the main languages. So that might be an easy connection. But in fact, we found another one. Both countries once sent a song in a minority language. In 1991, host country Italy sent Peppino di Capri who sang “Comme e’ ddoce o’ mare”, sung in the Neapolitan language. Switzerland, also host country but in 1989, decided to sing a song in Romansh: “Viver senza tei”, song by the group Furbaz.

UEFA 2020: day 5

Today, only two matches will be played. The first one is the one of Hungary against Portugal. Both countries had their most successful entry with a little song that contains a very special emotion. For Hungary, it was the first entry, the one of Friderika Bayer, “Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet” (to whom should I tell my sins), became 4th. Portugal won the contest with Salvador Sobral’s “Amar pelos dois” (Love for both). The second match will be between France and Germany. It’s quite a while ago when both countries were serious contenders for victory. We have to go back to 1981! France was represented by Jean Gabilou who sang his “Humanahum”. Germany had Lena Valaitis singing for the country with the song “Johnny Blue”. By the way, both countries did not get the prize, as there was a third one, the United Kingdom. We will see what will happen in Euro2020, everything is possible.

UEFA 2020: day 4

Again, three matches will be played today. We start with the first one: Scotland versus Czech Republic. Both countries once sent a song or a singer with a touch of their national identity. In 1966, Kenneth McKellar appeared on stage for the United Kingdom. He sang his song “A man without love” in a Scottish based costume. It was in 2009 that the group Gipsy.cz sang “Aven Romale”. Not the cloths but the music had something of the gipsy identity. By the way, both songs did not really do well. Poland and Slovakia play the second match of the day. Poland had slightly more succes than Slovakia did. But both once sent a ballad that did not score very well, but is very popular among Eurovision fans. Both are 90s songs. In 1995 Justyna Steczkowska represented Poland with the song “Sama”, which means “Alone”. The song seems to be sung a-tonal. It was Katarina Hasprová who sang “Molita” (prayer) in 1998 for Slovakia. The last match will be between Spain and Sweden. What do you think of boybands? Both countries sent one or more. Do you remember D’Nash, who represented Spain in 2007 with “I love you, mi vida”? Or do you remember Arvingarna? They took part in this years Swedish Melodifestivalen, but in 1993 they represented Sweden with the song “Eloise”.