| Year: | 2024 |
| Country: | Greece |
| Preselection: | Internal selection |
| Entrant: | Marina Satti |
| Song: | Greek, Modern (1453-);: [[Zari (song)|Zari]]|i=no |
| Sf Result: | Qualified (5th, 86 points) |
| Final Result: | 11th, 126 points |
Greece participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Malmö, Sweden, with "Greek, Modern (1453-);: [[Zari (song)|Zari]]|i=no" performed by Marina Satti. The Greek broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) internally selected the Greek representative for the contest.
Greece was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 9 May 2024 and was later selected to perform in position 3. At the end of the show, "Greek, Modern (1453-);: [[Zari (song)|Zari]]|i=no" was announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and hence qualified to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Greece placed fifth out of the sixteen participating countries in the semi-final with 86 points. In the final, Greece performed in position 12 and placed eleventh out of the 25 performing countries, scoring a total of 126 points.
See main article: Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest. Prior to the 2024 contest, Greece had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 43 times since its debut in .[1] The nation had won the contest once to this point, in with the song "My Number One" performed by Helena Paparizou. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the, Greece managed to qualify for the final with each of their entries for several years. Between 2004 and 2013, the nation achieved nine top ten placements in the final. The nation's first entry to not qualify to the final was "Utopian Land" performed by Argo in, which placed 16th in the semi-final, marking Greece's worst placing at the contest and their absence from the final for the first time since 2000. In the, Greece failed to qualify for the second time with Yianna Terzi and the song "Greek, Modern (1453-);: [[Oniro mou]]|i=no", finishing 14th in the semi-final. After three consecutive contests when the nation qualified for the final, Victor Vernicos with "What They Say" failed to qualify to the final, finishing 13th in the semi-final.
The Greek national broadcaster, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), broadcasts the event within Greece and organises the selection process for the nation's entry.[2] ERT had been in charge of Greece's participation in the contest since its debut in 1974 until 2013 when the broadcaster was shut down by a government directive and replaced firstly with the interim Greek, Modern (1453-);: [[Dimosia Tileorasi]]|i=no (DT) and then later by the New Hellenic Radio, Internet and Television (NERIT) broadcaster,[3] [4] [5] renamed to ERT by the new government in June 2015.[6] [7] Greece had selected its entries in the past both internally and through the national final format Greek, Modern (1453-);: [[Ellinikós Telikós]] (most recently held in). ERT confirmed its intention to participate in the 2024 contest on 15 September 2023.[8]
On 24 October 2023, ERT announced they had carried out an internal selection for the Greek entrant, revealing on the TV show Studio 4 that Marina Satti had been chosen.[9] [10] To determine Satti's song, a submission window for interested composers was opened on 25 October 2023,[9] and closed on 1 December 2023. At the closing of the window, 150 songs had been submitted to ERT.[11] Satti's record label Minos EMI revealed shortly after that they had already started preparations for her entry with ERT and Golden Records.[12]
The song, titled "Greek, Modern (1453-);: [[Zari (song)|Zari]]|i=no", was released on 7 March 2024 during the special presentation show Eurovision Greek, Modern (1453-);: se eidon ("Eurovision in sight"), airing on ERT1 and hosted by and Jenny Melita.[13] [14] [15] "Greek, Modern (1453-);: Zari|i=no" was composed by Gino the Ghost, Jay Stolar, Jordan Palmer, Kay Be, Nick Kodonas, OGE and Satti, with lyrics by OGE, Satti, Solmeister and Vlospa.[16]
The Greek participation in the contest was sponsored by Eurojackpot through the local gambling operator OPAP. The company organised a public "farewell party" in Voula on 24 April 2024, where Satti met with fans prior to her departure for Malmö.[17] [18]
In mid-April 2024, Greek newspaper Greek, Modern (1453-);: [[Ta Nea]] reported that as early as 22 February the Cypriot ambassador to Greece Stavros Avgoustidis had been informed that ERT would assign a predetermined low score in the jury voting of the final; this was before the release of "Liar" and reportedly before the Greek jury was even established.[19] [20] As a response, ERT president Konstantinos Zoulas denied any involvement of the broadcaster in the jury vote,[19] [21] while Cypriot broadcaster CyBC's head of press for the contest Andreas Anastasiou addressed the matter on a TV broadcast on 15 April, denouncing that the alleged behaviour would constitute a breach of the contest's rules and announcing that the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) had been informed of the controversy.[19] [20] [22]
The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 took place at the Malmö Arena in Malmö, Sweden, and consisted of two semi-finals held on the respective dates of 7 and 9 May and the final on 11 May 2024. All nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (and the) were required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete in the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progressed to the final. On 30 January 2024, an allocation draw was held to determine which of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show, each country would perform in; the EBU split up the competing countries into different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.[23] Greece was scheduled for the first half of the second semi-final.[24] The draw, broadcast live on the official Eurovision Song Contest YouTube channel, was also aired by ERT via its streaming platform ERTflix.[25] The shows' producers then decided the running order for the semi-finals; Greece was set to perform in position 3.[26]
In Greece, all shows were aired on ERT 1, with commentary provided by and, as well as on the radio station Second Programme, with commentary provided by Dimitris Meidanis.[27] [28] The televised shows are preceded by a special Eurovision Night broadcast, hosted by Jenny Melita.[29]
Satti took part in technical rehearsals on 29 April and 2 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 8 and 9 May.[30] Her performance of "Greek, Modern (1453-);: Zari|i=no" at the contest is staged by Fokas Evangelinos (who has worked on various entries in previous contests, including the winning performances of and) and choreographed by Mecnun Giasar. She is accompanied on stage by four dancers, namely Hüseyin "Hüso" Çetintaş, Yasin "Yasin AO" Ametoglou, Vasilis Karayiannis and Eirini Damianidou, and backing vocals are provided by Erasmia Markidi.[31] [32] [33] Notably, the first two minutes of the performance are a single continuous shot.
Greece performed in position 3, following the entry from and before the entry from .[26] At the end of the show, the country was announced as a qualifier for the final. It was later revealed that Greece placed fifth out of the sixteen participating countries in the second semi-final with 86 points.
Following the semi-final, Greece was drawn to perform in the first half of the final.[34] Greece will perform in position 12, following the entry from and before the entry from the .[35] Marina Satti once again took part in dress rehearsals on 10 and 11 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show on 11 May. She performed a repeat of her semi-final performance during the final on 11 May. Greece placed eleventh in the final, scoring 126 points; 85 points from the public televoting and 41 points from the juries.
See also: Voting at the Eurovision Song Contest. Below is a breakdown of points awarded to and by Greece in the second semi-final and in the final. Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting in the final vote, while the semi-final vote was based entirely on the vote of the public.[36] The Greek jury consisted of Panagiotis Biniaris, Georgia Fotou, Vasiliki Karatzoglou, Stamatina Kostiani, and Anastasios Rosopoulos.[37] In the second semi-final, Greece placed fifth with 86 points, receiving maximum twelve points from . In the final, Greece placed 11th with 126 points, receiving twelve points from in the jury vote and from in the televote. Over the course of the contest, Greece awarded its 12 points to the in the second semi-final, and to (jury) and (televote) in the final.[38] [39]
The spokesperson for the Greek jury at the final was Helena Paparizou, who .[40]
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