Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

has participated in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

62 times since making its debut at the first contest in , missing only four contests, in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

and

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

. Switzerland hosted the first contest in 1956 in

Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label= Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Lugano has a populat ...

, and won it. Switzerland won the contest again in 1988, with the contest being held in

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...

. Lys Assia won the first contest in 1956 with the song "

Refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the v ...

". She returned to place second in . Switzerland would go on to finish second with

Esther Ofarim Esther Zaied, better known by her married name Esther Ofarim ( he, אסתר עופרים; born June 13, 1941), is an Israeli singer. She came second in the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest with the song " T'en va pas", representing Switzerland. Aft ...

() and Daniela Simmons () and third with Franca Di Rienzo () and

Arlette Zola Arlette Zola is a singer who represented Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1982. She was born Arlette Jaquet in the city of Fribourg , neighboring_municipalities= Düdingen, Givisiez, Granges-Paccot, Marly, Pierrafortscha, Sankt Urse ...

(), before winning the contest for the second time in with

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

and the song "

Ne partez pas sans moi "Ne partez pas sans moi" (; "Don't Leave Without Me") is a song recorded by Canadian singer Celine Dion. The song was written by Atilla Şereftuğ and Nella Martinetti. It is best known as the Swiss winning entry at the Eurovision Song Conte ...

". Annie Cotton gave the country its 15th top five result in , when she placed third. Since the introduction of the qualifying round in 1993, Switzerland has entered the top ten only four times. Since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Switzerland have failed to reach the final in 11 of 19 contests. Switzerland returned to the top five for the first time in 26 years when Luca Hänni gave the country its 16th top five result by finishing fourth in , followed by their 17th top five finish, when Gjon's Tears placed third in .

Absences

Switzerland had been absent from Eurovision four times since their participation began in the first contest. These absences, in

and

were caused by poor results in previous contests that led to relegation.

National selections

A mix of different selection processes have been used to determine Switzerland's entry in each year's contest. Since 2019, SRG SSR has used an internal selection process, although televised national finals were used in previous years, held under various names including ''Concours Eurovision'' from the 1950s to 2000s, and ''Die Grosse Entscheidungsshow'' between 2011 and 2018. In the 1980s, the Swiss national finals tended to have ten participating songs each year: three in French, three in German, three in Italian and one in Romansch.

Participation overview

Switzerland has four official languages,

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

, Italian, and Romansh. For decades, the song requirements stated that the song had to be performed in a national language, which gave Switzerland leeway as they could perform in any of the four languages. Out of their 60 appearances in the contest, Switzerland has sent 61 songs, 24 of which were in French, 12 in German, 15 in English, 10 in Italian and 1 in Romansh. Both of Switzerland's winning songs have been sung in French.

''Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest''

Hostings

Awards

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Related involvement

Conductors

Commentators and spokespersons

Over the years Switzerland has broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest on three television stations, SRF (

German language German ( ) is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is also a ...

RTS RTS may refer to: Medicine * Rape trauma syndrome, the psychological trauma experienced by a rape victim * Revised Trauma Score, a system to evaluate injuries secondary to violent trauma * Rubinstein–Taybi syndrome, a condition characterized by ...

(

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in N ...

) and RSI (

Italian language Italian (''italiano'' or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about 8 ...

Gallery

File:Eurovisie Songfestival 1962 te Luxemburg, voor Zwitserland Jean Philippe, Bestanddeelnr 913-6591.jpg, Jean Philippe in Luxembourg () File:Eurovision Song Contest 1965 - Yovanna.jpg,

Yovanna Ioanna Fassou Kalpaxi (Greek: Ιωάννα Φάσσου Καλπαξή; born 14 November 1938), known professionally as Yovanna, is a Greek singer, novelist and poet known for her participation in the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest representing Swi ...

in Naples () File:Henri Des (Zwitserland), Bestanddeelnr 923-3707.jpg,

Henri Dès Henri Dès (born 14 December 1940 in Renens, Vaud, Switzerland as Henri Destraz) is a Swiss French-language children's singer and songwriter immensely popular in European Francophone countries. In 1970, he released his first album, ''Retour''. D� ...

in Amsterdam () File:Eurovisie Songfestival 76 Den Haag Peter, Sue and Marc (Zwitserland), Bestanddeelnr 928-5029.jpg, Peter, Sue and Marc in The Hague () File:Piero Esteriore - Switzerland 2004.jpg, Piero and the MusicStars in Istanbul () File:2006ch Press Conference.jpg,

Six4one six4one was a six-piece supergroup formed in November 2005 for the sole purpose of representing Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. The group was made up of six people who were chosen at a casting session that took place November 25� ...

during a press conference in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

() File:ESC 2007 Switzerland - DJ Bobo - Vampires are alive.jpg,

DJ BoBo Peter René Baumann (born 5 January 1968), better known under his stage name DJ BoBo, is a Swiss singer-songwriter, rapper, dancer, and music producer. He has sold 14 million records worldwide and has released 12 studio albums as well as several ...

in Helsinki () File:Paolo Meneguzzi, Switzerland, Eurovision 2008, 2nd semifinal.jpg,

Paolo Meneguzzi Paolo Meneguzzi (born 6 December 1976, as Pablo Meneguzzo) is a Swiss Italians, Swiss Italian singer. He is the son of Loredana Pacchiani and Gomez Meneguzzo. Biography In 1996, while the name Paolo Meneguzzi was still unknown in Italy, Paolo wo ...

in Belgrade () File:Michael von der Heide in Oslo (cropped).jpg,

Michael von der Heide Michael von der Heide (born 16 October 1971 in Amden, Switzerland) is a Swiss musician, singer, and actor. Early life Von der Heide was born the son of a German father and a Swiss mother. Eurovision Song Contest Eurovision Song Contest 1999 In ...

in Oslo () File:Switzerland at ESC 2011 (cropped).jpg, Anna Rossinelli in Düsseldorf () File:ESC2013 - Switzerland 06.jpg, Takasa in Malmö () File:ESC2014 - Switzerland 01.jpg,

Sebalter Sebastiano Paù-Lessi, (born 1 July 1985) better known by his stage name, Sebalter (stylised SEBalter) is a Swiss singer, fiddler, and attorney who represented his country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He perfo ...

in Copenhagen () File:20150516 ESC 2015 Mélanie René 0212.jpg, Mélanie René in Vienna () File:ESC2016 - Switzerland 06.jpg, Rykka in Stockholm () File:Eurovision Song Contest 2017, Semi Final 2 Rehearsals. Photo 247.jpg, Timebelle in Kyiv () File:Zibbz (Switzerland 2018).jpg,

Zibbz Zibbz (sometimes stylized as ZiBBZ) is a Swiss duo made of siblings Corinne and Stefan Gfeller. They represented Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "Stones". They are from Zürich, but are based in Los Angeles. B ...

in Lisbon () File:ESC2019-Switzerland (cropped).jpg, Luca Hänni in Tel Aviv () File:Gjons tears-1621721556.JPG, Gjon's Tears in Rotterdam () File:Eurovision 2022 - Semi-final 1 - Switzerland - Marius Bear.jpg, Marius Bear in Turin ()

Notes

References

External links

Points to and from Switzerland
''eurovisioncovers.co.uk'' {{Authority control Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest