Spain Withdraws From Italy Eurovision, Leaving Big Five at Four
Spain has withdrawn from italy eurovision 2026 after its broadcaster voted to pull out if Israel took part. That leaves France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom as the automatically qualifying countries for the grand final.
José Pablo López and RTVE
José Pablo López, the RTVE president, said: "As joint organisers of the Eurovision song contest, we share a collective responsibility. While Israel has regularly participated in the competition, the current events and the genocide currently taking place make it impossible for us to look the other way." That is the clearest line yet from Spain’s broadcaster on why it is stepping away from the contest this year.
RTVE’s board voted in September to withdraw from Eurovision if Israel took part, and the decision now turns that warning into action. For the contest, it removes one of the countries that normally sits inside the Big Five and reduces that automatic-qualification group for this year’s final.
Big Five without Spain
"The Big Five are the participating broadcasters from France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom - the group of countries who, via their broadcasters, make the biggest financial contribution towards the organisation of the contest." Eurovision’s own website uses that definition, and Spain’s exit leaves only four of those broadcasters in the automatic final field.
Austria still qualifies directly as host nation in Vienna after JJ won the previous year's competition. Sarah Engels will represent Germany among the automatic qualifiers, while Monroe, Sal Da Vinci, Cosmo and Look Mum No Computer are also listed among the names tied to those final spots.
25 nations in Vienna
This year’s Eurovision 2026 grand final has 25 nations hoping to win the competition, with the first semi-final on Tuesday, May 12 and a further 15 countries in the second semi-final on Thursday, May 14. Countries in those rounds are split into pots based on historic voting patterns, then placed at random into one of the two semi-finals.
Spain’s withdrawal narrows the path to the final for the broadcasters that still carry the biggest financial burden, and it also changes the usual shape of the contest before a single vote is cast. The automatic places now belong to France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and host Austria, and that is the lineup the rest of the field has to beat.
