International Song Contest

Venue: Hyllie Arena

Hosts: Carola & Mans Zelmerlow

The Netherlands have won the International Song Contest for the third time in the history of the contest. Within Temptation took part for the second time, and also won the contest for the second time with the song What Have You Done. Portuguese entry Fado Ladino was only one point behind in the very exciting voting sequences.

In the Malmo Hyllie Arena it was a giant battle between Poland, Portugal, Spain and The Netherlands. After each voting round, one of these countries took the lead in the contest. The deciding votes came from Venezuela. They gave only five points to the Netherlands, who at that stage took the lead from Portugal again. But because the song from Rosa Negra did not get the 6, 7, 10 or 12 points from the South-American country, it was enough for Within Temptation to win the contest again.

The Dutch delegation leader Dennis in a reaction: "although I expected to qualify for the Final of ISC-23, I did not expect this song to win the contest. It was a close battle with Bruno's song from Portugal, and I'm happy to pick up my third win in the contest. But also compliments to Portugal. It's great that both Netherlands and Portugal showed the world that we can book good results in music contest, although we do very bad in the Eurovision Song Contest. Thanks to everyone who have voted for Within Temptation!"

The results from the Semi-Final were about the same as the Big Final. The Netherlands won the semi with Portugal following in second place. Biggest surprise was Spain, who only came fifth in the Semi-Final, but almost won in the Final. Also a tearjerker for Bosnia-Herzegovina. They were only 4 points short of reaching the Final at the cost of Bulgaria.

Due to a change of rules only the best twelve countries are automatically qualified for ISC-23, which will probably be held in Rotterdam. The qualified countries are: Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Denmark, Russia, Poland, Germany, Sweden, Australia, Serbia, Taiwan, Japan. If any of these countries decide not to take part in the next contest (The delegation leader from Australia is thinking about adopting another country), Romania (and after that country, the United Kingdom) will take their direct places in the Final.

SEMI-FINAL

1		Denmark	Julie	Home
2		Ireland	Flogging Molly	What's Left Of The Flag
3		Taiwan	Angela Chang & Weiqi Fan	Ruguo De Shi
4		Spain	Lorena	Sin Medida
5		Portugal	Rosa Negra	Fado Ladino
6		Czech Republic	Peha	Spomal
7		Croatia	Ivana Banfic	I Opet Sama
8		Malta	Chasing Pandora	Feel The Rain
9		Barbados	Rihanna	Umbrella
10		Romania	Ionuţ Ungureanu	Time
11		Poland	Gosia Andrzejewicz	Words
12		Japan	Crystal Kay	Kitto Eien Ni
13		Venezuela	Keiser	Facil De Amar
14		Netherlands	Within Temptation ft. Keith Caputo	What Have You Done
15		Australia	Paulini	Who Will I Run To
16		Bosnia-Herzegovina	Erato	Nema Vise Nas
17		Serbia	Slobodan Trkulja & Balkanopolis	Nebo
18		Bulgaria	Emilia	S Teb Da Poludeia
19		Uzbekistan	Xo'ja	Aytmagansan
20		Italy	Franco Battiato	Il Vuoto
21		Chile	Divina	Que Puedo Hacer
22		Slovenia	Maja Misson	Dovoli Mi
23		Greece	Dimitra Galani	Aspro Peristeri

1		Portugal	Rosa Negra	Fado Ladino
2		Israel	Nurit Galron	Sfinote'a
3		Ukraine	Ani Lorak & Valery Meladze	Return Me My Love
4		Australia	Paulini	Who Will I Run To
5		Romania	Ionuţ Ungureanu	Time
6		Indonesia	Ella	Teruja
7		Taiwan	Angela Chang & Weiqi Fan	Ruguo De Shi
8		Latvia	Igeta	In A Desert
9		France	Anggun	La Perle Noire
10		United Kingdom	Coldplay	Speed Of Sounds
11		Denmark	Julie	Home
12		Bulgaria	Emilia	S Teb Da Poludeia
13		Germany	Cascada	Everytime We Touch
14		Poland	Gosia Andrzejewicz	Words
15		Norway	Dusty Cowshit	Chicken Rodeo
16		Barbados	Rihanna	Umbrella
17		Sweden	Velvet	Fix Me
18		Netherlands	Within Temptation ft. Keith Caputo	What Have You Done
19		Spain	Lorena	Sin Medida
20		Estonia	Koit Toome & Airi Ojametsaga	Kui Ei Lõpeks Eal Me Öö
21		Brazil	Luka	Enamorada
22		Serbia	Slobodan Trkulja & Balkanopolis	Nebo
23		Iceland	Friorik Omar Hjorleifsson	Eldur
24		Russia	Sergey Lazarev	Shattered Dreams
25		Japan	Crystal Kay	Kitto Eien Ni
26		Hungary	Unique	Én