Between 1994 and 2003, the Eurovision Song Contest used a relegation system to stop certain countries with poor results participating in order to limit the number of participants for financial and time reasons.
Relegation and qualification rounds[]
In the late 1980s, the Iron Curtain separating Europe fell and former Soviet satellite states became independent and removed communism. At the same time, Yugoslavia, which had been a frequent Eurovision Song Contest participant, violently dissolved in a civil war into Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro (which further broke into Serbia and Montenegro) and FYR Macedonia. The broadcasters of these countries joined the EBU and looked towards joining the Eurovision Song Contest.
In 1993, the EBU received contest applications from Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Estonia, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. Adding these to the 22 remaining countries would create too long of a show, and the EBU was also apprehensive about adding another night to the show for financial, viewership and logistical reasons. Their solution was to create Kvalificija za Millstreet - for the hopeful debutants to battle it out for just 3 new placed in the final. After an incredibly close and strategic voting sequence, these spots were won by the ex-Yugoslav countries, Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia, who all advanced to the final in Millstreet. After the final the bottom 7 were to be relegated the next year, but Cyprus was re-admitted to the final when Italy withdrew.
In 1995, the bottom 7 of 1994 were relegated as planned. 5 of the 6 relegated countries in 1994 returned, but Luxembourg refused to return due to the system and because of their previous bad result record. Italy also refused to return, and would not do so until 1997.
In 1996, the bottom 6 of 1995 were not going to be relegated to make way 6 of 7 countries returning from relegation in 1995 (Lithuania was on a hiatus), as EBU had made a decision multiple months in advance of the 1995 contest to host an audio-only qualification round from 29 applicants (excluding host Norway, and including FYR Macedonia's first ever entry). This was not counted towards the official results of the contest. Hungary, Germany (in their only Eurovision absence), Denmark, FYR Macedonia, Russia, Israel and Romania all failed to qualify. Romania and FYR Macedonia were controversially deferred for 2 more years before they could return. On the other hand, Poland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Belgium and Portugal were all saved from relegation.
In a last ditch effort to keep Germany, the EBU changed the relegation system from one result to judging results over the last 5 (initially 4 years). This was used to decide the participants from 1997 to 2001. Between 1995 and 2003 the number of participants fluctuated between 23 and 26 to keep the show as short as possible.
Saved from relegation between 1997-2001:
- Bosnia was allowed to 1997 when Israel withdrew as the contest clashed with Holocaust Remembrance Day.
- Germany was allowed to 1998 when Italy went on their 14-year hiatus.
- Hungary was allowed to 1999 when Latvia cancelled their planned participation.
- Portugal was allowed instead when Hungary withdrew as well.
Russia were not allowed to return in 1999 because they did not broadcast the 1998 contest.
The Big Four/Five were created after the 1999 contest, and were guaranteed safety from relegation so their funds could be kept. This decision came after poor showings from both France and Spain.
- France was allowed to 2000 instead of Slovenia.
- France and Spain were allowed to 2001 instead of Belgium and Austria.
In 2002, now that the Big 5 existed, the relegation system went back to judging off 1 result. This was good news for countries like Bosnia, Romania and Slovenia who had poor track records, since they had a clean slate now. Israel and Portugal were saved when the EBU decided to increase 2002 participants from 22 to 24. However, due to internal issues, Portugal withdrew and their spot was given to Latvia (the eventual winner) after a tiebreaker with the Netherlands.
Germany was allowed to 2003 instead of FYR Macedonia.
That year, the EBU decided the relegation system was too problematic and was creating too much controversy. Both methods were not working well, the original because a one-off bad result would be a very harsh punishment if a country was performing well otherwise (e.g. Denmark in 2002), and the average calculation because a country could not turn around a track record if it was really low (e.g. Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1999), and countries debuting or returning after more than 5 years would need a high result to make it to another year (e.g. FYR Macedonia in 1998 and Lithuania in 1999). Countries like Luxembourg and Slovakia were not interested in participating in a contest they could barely even get to and withdrew.
By the new millennium, another wave of new countries were looking to join the contest - namely Albania, Belarus, Bulgaria, the recently unbanned Serbia and Montenegro and Ukraine in 2003. The original plan was to relegate a substantial 10 countries who finished low in 2002 to make space for them and the returning countries from 2001 - Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Turkey (who would go on to win in 2003), Greece, Austria, FYROM, Finland, Switzerland, Lithuania and Denmark - the most ever relegated at once.
However at the same time, complaints over the legitimacy of the 2002 results began to appear as Turkey complained about their lack of points from Germany and a 6 way cheating scandal in the jury vote appeared. The EBU felt it was too unfair to relegate that many countries on unstable results and curtailed the list to just FYROM, Finland, Switzerland, Lithuania and Denmark, and all the aspiring joiners, except Ukraine, were asked to defer a year and they all did, except for Bulgaria who joined in 2005.
In January 2003, the EBU finally announced that a semi-final would be introduced to the contest from 2004 onwards, consigning the relegation system to history.
Relegated countries by year[]
Finland was relegated the most times at 5. Croatia, Malta and Sweden were never relegated. Italic means that the country didn't plan on participating in that year anyway.
| Year of absence | Countries |
|---|---|
| 1994 |  Cyprus Luxembourg,  Türkiye,  Denmark,  Slovenia,  Israel,  Belgium
|
| 1995 |  Switzerland,  Slovakia,  Romania,  Finland,  The Netherlands,  Estonia,  Lithuania
|
 Poland,  Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium,  Portugal,  Hungary,  Germany | |
| 1997 | Bosnia and Herzegovina Slovakia, Romania, Finland, Belgium,  North Macedonia
|
| 1998 | Germany Denmark,  Russia,  Austria,  Iceland, Bosnia and Herzegovina
|
| 1999 | Hungary, Portugal Greece, North Macedonia, Finland, Slovakia, Switzerland, Romania
|
| 2000 | Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Portugal, Poland, Lithuania
|
| 2001 | Belgium, Austria, Cyprus, North Macedonia, Finland, Romania, Switzerland
|
| 2002 | Israel, Portugal,  Latvia The Netherlands, Poland,  Ireland, Iceland,  Norway
|
| 2003 | Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Türkiye, Greece, Austria North Macedonia, Finland, Switzerland, Lithuania, Denmark
|