Rules of the Eurovision Song Contest
Performer
Albania – Albania only allows songs performed in Albanian at Festivali i Këngës, the competition used to select their entry for the contest. They have often translated the lyrics of their entrant into English, as in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2020.  Denmark – the Danish national selection procedure allows freedom of language, but if the winning song from their national competition is in Danish, it must be re-written in English for the competition.[citation needed]  France – The French entry in 2008 caused controversy as it was performed mostly in English, and many people were unhappy about being represented with an English song.[citation needed] Since then, 2012, 2016, 2017 and 2019 entries have been performed in both French and English.  Iceland – Iceland requires their artists to sing in Icelandic in the semi-finals of Söngvakeppnin, the Icelandic selection process, but they may translate the song in the final.  Italy – in the Sanremo Music Festival, used to select their entry for the contest, the song must be sung in Italian. The artist theoretically can choose to perform the song in English at Eurovision, but as of 2020, no artist has chosen to perform their song at Eurovision entirely in English – at maximum, some stanzas were translated into English.  Macedonia – Macedonia held a vote to decide whether their 2005 entry should be in English or Macedonian. The song was performed in English.  Portugal – Though since 2017 different languages are allowed to compete in their national selection, as of 2020, all of their entries have been performed in Portuguese.  Serbia – after failing to qualify in 2017 with a song in English, since 2018 artists must sing in Serbian at their national selection.  Sweden – while it is not required for the winning entry of Melodifestivalen, the Swedish selection process, to be translated into English for Eurovision, it has usually been done so (if allowed in the rules), as in 1965, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, and 2006. Current rules state that countries are allowed to have up to six performers on stage. Performers must be aged 16 or older, on the day of the semi-final in the year of the Contest. The age restriction rule was introduced in 1990, as two contestants the year before had been 11 and 12 years old. From 1990 until 2003 the performer could still be 15 years old at the time of the contest, if their 16th birthday was later in the same year. In 2004 this was changed to the current rule. The introduction of this rule means that Sandra Kim, who was 13 when she won for Belgium in 1986, will remain the youngest winner unless the age limit is lowered. No restriction on the nationality of the performers exists, which has resulted in countries being represented by artists who are not nationals of that country. One of the most well-known winning artists was Canadian Céline Dion who represented Switzerland in 1988. The performer only needs to be 16 when the event takes place and not when they are selected, as proven when Lindsay Dracass was selected to represent the United Kingdom in 2001 and again when Triinu Kivilaan was selected to represent Switzerland in 2005, despite both of these performers only being 15 at their respective times of selection. In Dracass' case, she had to be issued a special visa to enable her to travel to Copenhagen.
Rules of the Eurovision Song Contest-11