2008–09 IRB Sevens World Series normal 16 teams) was spread out over a three-day period. The series' tournaments are identical to 2007–2008 and span the globe: The 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens was not a part of the 2008-09 series. Unlike the 2005 edition held in Hong Kong, the 2009 edition did not replace one of the 2008-09 series events. The World Cup was held in Dubai from March 5–7, 2009 and won by Wales. Prior to the season, the IRB announced the 12 "core teams" that would receive guaranteed berths in each event in the 2008–09 series: The one new core team was the
Eurovision Song Contest 2009 Eurovision Song Contest 2009 The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Moscow, Russia, following Dima Bilan's win at the 2008 contest in Belgrade, Serbia with the song "Believe" – marking the first time that the country had won the contest. The event was staged between 12 and 16 May 2009 at the Olympic Indoor Arena in Moscow. The contest was won by Norway's Alexander Rybak with his self-penned "Fairytale", which received a record-breaking 387 points out of 492, at the time the highest total score in the history