Eurovision 2017 countdown: 100 days! What do we know so far?

It is not the Final Countdown. But it's the Semi-final Countdown!

With 100 days left before the first show of Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kyiv is aired, it's time for a round up of some of the facts we know so far about the biggest music competion in the world. The 2017-edition will feature 43 songs from 43 countries.

Eurovision Song Contest 2017 takes place in Kyiv, Ukraine:

• Semi-final 1: 9 May 2017
• Semi-final 2: 11 May 2017
• Grand Final: 13 May 2017

Songs & Artists

6 countries are ready with songs and artists selected for Kyiv:
Click on a song title to see video, lyrics and details about each song

• Albania: Lindita – "Botë"
• Belarus: NAVI – "Historyja Majho Zyccia"
• Finland: Norma John – "Blackbird"
• Georgia: Tako Gachechiladze – "Keep The Faith"
• Montenegro: Slavko Kalezić – "Space" (video and lyrics are not revealed yet)
• United Kingdom: Lucie Jones – "Never Give Up on You"

Artists

9 countries have chosen their artists to send to Kyiv:

• Armenia: Artsvik
• Austria: Nathan Trent
• Azerbaijan: Dihaj
• Belgium: Blanche
• Cyprus: Hovig
• FYR Macedonia: Jana Burčeska
• Greece: Demy
• Ireland: Brendan Murray
• Netherlands: O'G3NE

National selections

Preparations are at full speed around the 43 countries participating in Kyiv. The national selections peaks in a few weeks, and so far 5 countries have started their selections, shows and competitions. So far we know that 14 countries will select their entry in February and 8 countries follow in March. The big Eurovision days will be Saturday 25 February 2017 (three countries select) and Saturday 11 March 2017 (four countries select). Still there are some countries who haven't announced the dates for their national selection.

Semi-final allocation draw & Host Insignia Ceremony

The Semi-final allocation draw will be held on 31 January 2017, where it will be determined who's in which Semi-final. Also the "Big 5" (UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain) + Ukraine will be distributed to the two semi-finals for voting.

The Host Insignia Exchange takes place in Kyiv just before the allocation draw. Here the "Eurovision Keys" will be handed over from Eva-Louise Erlandsson Slorach, President of Stockholm's City Council to Kyiv City Mayor Vitaliy Klychko. The Eurovision Keys exist of extreme weird key-hangers from each host the last many years.

Tickets

We are still waiting for news from EBU and NTU (the Ukrainian broadcaster and organizer of Eurovision 2017) when the tickets for Eurovision Song Contest 2017 will go on sale.

Usually the tickets go out late the year before the contest. This year, it was announced by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) that the tickets for Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kyiv would likely go on sale in January 2017, but that doesn't seem realistic anymore, as February is right around the corner.

Event

The host city is selected (Kyiv, in case you have been sleeping the last half year), and the dates are also set: 9, 11 & 13 May 2016.

The Arena is selected: Kyiv International Exhibition Centre, but we still miss to see the stage design.

The location of Eurovision Village has not been decided yet, but the festival area used to be located at a central square in the host city.