| Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest | |
|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest | |
 | |
| Participating broadcaster | Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) |
| Participation summary | |
| Appearances | 41 (33 finals) |
| First appearance | 1981 |
| Highest placement | 2nd:2018 |
 For the most recent participation seeCyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 | |
Cyprus has participated in theEurovision Song Contest 41 times since making its debut in1981. The Cypriot broadcaster that participates in the contest is theCyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC). Its first entry was "Monika" performed by the group Island, which finished sixth. The country's best result is a second-place finish with "Fuego" byEleni Foureira in2018. Cyprus holds the record for having competed in the most editions of the contest without ever winning.
Between2006 and2013, Cyprus failed to qualify from the semi-final round six times before withdrawing in2014. On 14 July 2014, CyBC officially confirmed its return to the contest for2015, with the country then qualifying for the final every year since, has since qualified for the final every year, a streak that lasted until2022 when it did not qualify. Cyprus returned to the final again in2023 and2024, but failed to qualify once more in 2025.
TheCyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) is a full member of theEuropean Broadcasting Union (EBU), and thus is eligible to participate in theEurovision Song Contest. It has participated in the contest representing Cyprus since its26th edition in 1981.
Since its first entry, CyBC has participated every year except for1988,2001, and2014. In 1988, CyBC withdrew its entry after it determined that the intended entry was ineligible; the song had been presented to jurors (but not selected) in the 1984 internal selection process, which was a violation of their selection rules. In 2001, the country did not qualify for the contest due to insufficiently high average scores in previous contests, according to the qualification process at the time. In 2014, the broadcaster decided to not participate in the contest and cited public indifference, public opinion regarding the2012–13 Cypriot financial crisis, and related budget restrictions as factors for not taking part.[1] On 14 July 2014, CyBC officially confirmed their return to the contest in 2015.[2][3] Cyprus hosted the Eurovision Song Project, which included 2 semi-finals, 1 second chance round and a final.[4][5]
Since its return in 2015, Cyprus has only failed to qualify twice, those being in 2022 and 2025, and even reached its best result with "Fuego" byEleni Foureira coming second in 2018. Cyprus holds the record for most editions competing in the contest without a single win to date. Most of the Cypriot entries have been sung in Greek or English; the exceptions are in2000, in which the song "Nomiza" included both Greek and Italian, and in2007, in which "Comme ci, comme ça" byEvridiki was entirely in French. Additionally, in both 2018 and2021, the songs had some phrases in Spanish.
Cyprus's exchange of the maximum 12 points withGreece has occurred regularly in the contest, which is often met with derision from the audience.[6] In the 32 instances (1981–2025) of Cyprus being able to vote for Greece in a final, it has voted Greece as having the best song on 27 of them (the exceptions being 1981, 1985, 1990, 1991, 2015 and 2024). Since the introduction of televoting in1998, the two countries have consistently given each other the maximum 12 points except in 2015, when neither country gave their 12 points to the other, but both gave their maximum points to Italy.
Cyprus andTurkey never exchanged votes until 2003, a taboo attributed to theCyprus dispute.
Since its first entry in 1981, Cyprus has had a mixture of varied results. The best result achieved so far is a second place, reached byEleni Foureira at the 2018 contest.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Cyprus managed to reach the top 10 a number of times, something which made the Contest popular with the Cypriot public. Since 2004, Cyprus' performance has dropped notably. From 2006 to 2009 and again in 2011 and 2013, the country failed to reach the final.
At the same time when Cyprus' performance in the contest dropped vertically, Greece's performance improved very fast by one win and seven top ten results in one decade. This created a shift of interest, with the Cypriot public being more interested in the success of the Greek entry. This is probably because Greece, since 2004, seems to send very popular singers that have a well established fan-club in Cyprus, while Cyprus usually elects their contestants through an open talent contest, which often results in somewhat unknown artists representing the country.
| 2 | Second place |
| ◁ | Last place |
| X | Entry selected but did not compete |
| Year | Artist | Song | Language | Final | Points | Semi | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Island | "Monika"(Μόνικα) | Greek | 6 | 69 | No semi-finals | ||
| 1982 | Anna Vissi | "Mono i agapi"(Μόνο η αγάπη) | Greek | 5 | 85 | |||
| 1983 | Stavros and Constantina | "I agapi akoma zi"(Η αγάπη ακόμα ζει) | Greek | 16 | 26 | |||
| 1984 | Andy Paul | "Anna Mari-Elena"(Άννα Μαρί-Έλενα) | Greek | 15 | 31 | |||
| 1985 | Lia Vissi | "To katalava arga"(Το κατάλαβα αργά) | Greek | 16 | 15 | |||
| 1986 | Elpida | "Tora zo"(Τώρα ζω) | Greek | 20 ◁ | 4 | |||
| 1987 | Alexia | "Aspro mavro"(Άσπρο μαύρο) | Greek | 7 | 80 | |||
| 1988 | Yiannis Dimitrou | "Thimame"(Θυμάμαι) | Greek | WithdrawnX | ||||
| 1989 | Fanny Polymeri and Yiannis Savvidakis | "Apopse as vrethoume"(Απόψε ας βρεθούμε) | Greek | 11 | 51 | |||
| 1990 | Anastazio | "Milas poli"(Μιλάς πολύ) | Greek | 14 | 36 | |||
| 1991 | Elena Patroklou | "S.O.S." | Greek | 9 | 60 | |||
| 1992 | Evridiki | "Teriazoume"(Ταιριάζουμε) | Greek | 11 | 57 | |||
| 1993 | Zymboulakis and Van Beke | "Mi stamatas"(Μη σταματάς) | Greek | 19 | 17 | Kvalifikacija za Millstreet | ||
| 1994 | Evridiki | "Ime anthropos ki ego"(Είμαι άνθρωπος κι εγώ) | Greek | 11 | 51 | No semi-finals | ||
| 1995 | Alexandros Panayi | "Sti fotia"(Στη φωτιά) | Greek | 9 | 79 | |||
| 1996 | Constantinos | "Mono gia mas"(Μόνο για μας) | Greek | 9 | 72 | 15 | 42 | |
| 1997 | Hara and Andreas Konstantinou | "Mana mou"(Μάνα μου) | Greek | 5 | 98 | No semi-finals | ||
| 1998 | Michael Hajiyanni | "Genesis"(Γένεσις) | Greek | 11 | 37 | |||
| 1999 | Marlain | "Tha'ne erotas"(Θα'ναι έρωτας) | Greek | 22 | 2 | |||
| 2000 | Voice | "Nomiza"(Νόμιζα) | Greek, Italian | 21 | 8 | |||
| 2002 | One | "Gimme" | English | 6 | 85 | |||
| 2003 | Stelios Constantas | "Feeling Alive" | English | 20 | 15 | |||
| 2004 | Lisa Andreas | "Stronger Every Minute" | English | 5 | 170 | 5 | 149 | |
| 2005 | Constantinos Christoforou | "Ela Ela" | English | 18 | 46 | Top 12 in2004 final[a] | ||
| 2006 | Annet Artani | "Why Angels Cry" | English | Failed to qualify | 15 | 57 | ||
| 2007 | Evridiki | "Comme ci, comme ça" | French | 15 | 65 | |||
| 2008 | Evdokia Kadi | "Femme Fatale" | Greek | 15 | 36 | |||
| 2009 | Christina Metaxa | "Firefly" | English | 14 | 32 | |||
| 2010 | Jon Lilygreen andthe Islanders | "Life Looks Better in Spring" | English | 21 | 27 | 10 | 67 | |
| 2011 | Christos Mylordos | "San aggelos s'agapisa"(Σαν άγγελος σ'αγάπησα) | Greek | Failed to qualify | 18 | 16 | ||
| 2012 | Ivi Adamou | "La La Love" | English | 16 | 65 | 7 | 91 | |
| 2013 | Despina Olympiou | "An me thimasai"(Aν με θυμάσαι) | Greek | Failed to qualify | 15 | 11 | ||
| 2015 | John Karayiannis | "One Thing I Should Have Done" | English | 22 | 11 | 6 | 87 | |
| 2016 | Minus One | "Alter Ego" | English | 21 | 96 | 8 | 164 | |
| 2017 | Hovig | "Gravity" | English | 21 | 68 | 5 | 164 | |
| 2018 | Eleni Foureira | "Fuego" | English | 2 | 436 | 2 | 262 | |
| 2019 | Tamta | "Replay" | English | 13 | 109 | 9 | 149 | |
| 2020 | Sandro | "Running" | English | Contest cancelled[b]X | ||||
| 2021 | Elena Tsagrinou | "El Diablo" | English | 16 | 94 | 6 | 170 | |
| 2022 | Andromache | "Ela"(Έλα) | English, Greek | Failed to qualify | 12 | 63 | ||
| 2023 | Andrew Lambrou | "Break a Broken Heart" | English | 12 | 126 | 7 | 94 | |
| 2024 | Silia Kapsis | "Liar" | English | 15 | 78 | 6 | 67 | |
| 2025 | Theo Evan | "Shh" | English | Failed to qualify | 11 | 44 | ||
| 2026 | Antigoni | "Jalla"(Τζιάλλα) | English, Greek | TBA | ||||
| Year | Category | Song | Composer(s) lyrics (l) / music (m) | Performer | Final | Points | Host city | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Composer Award | "Stronger Every Minute" | Mike Konnaris (m & l) | Lisa Andreas | 5 | 170 |  Istanbul | |
| 2018 | Artistic Award[c] | "Fuego" | Alex Papaconstantinou, Geraldo Sandell, Viktor Svensson, Anderz Wrethov Didrick | Eleni Foureira | 2 | 436 |  Lisbon |
| Year | Conductor[d] | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 |  Michael Rozakis | [9] | |
| 1982 |  Martyn Ford | ||
| 1983 | Michael Rozakis | ||
| 1984 |  Pierre Cao | [e] | |
| 1985 | Charis Andreadis | [f] | |
| 1986 | Martyn Ford | ||
| 1987 |  Jo Carlier | [g] | |
| 1988 |  John Themis | [h] | |
| 1989 | Charis Andreadis | ||
| 1990 |  Stanko Selak | [i] | [10] |
| 1991 |  Alexander Kirov Zografov | ||
| 1992 | George Theofanous | ||
| 1993 | |||
| 1994 | |||
| 1995 | |||
| 1996 | Stavros Lantsias | ||
| 1997 | |||
| 1998 | Costas Cacogiannis |
Each participating broadcaster in the Eurovision Song Contest assigns a head of delegation as the EBU's contact person and the leader of their delegation at the event. The delegation, whose size can greatly vary, includes a head of press, the contestants, songwriters, composers and backing vocalists, among others.[11]
| Year | Head of delegation | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Marios Skordis | |
| 2003 | Marios Skordis | |
| 2005 | Tasos Trifonos | |
| 2007–present | Evi Papamichael |
 | This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(January 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Year | Television commentator | Radio commentator | Spokesperson | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | Unknown | Did not participate | [19] | |
| 1975 –1980 | No broadcast | |||
| 1981 | Fryni Papadopoulou | Neophytos Taliotis | Anna Partelidou | |
| 1982 | ||||
| 1983 | ||||
| 1984 | Pavlos Pavlou | |||
| 1985 | Themis Themistokleous | |||
| 1986 | Themis Themistokleous | Fryni Papadopoulou | ||
| 1987 | Themis Themistokleous | |||
| 1988 | Daphne Bokota (for ERT and RIK) | No radio broadcast | Did not participate | |
| 1989 | Neophytos Taliotis | Pavlos Pavlou | Anna Partelidou | |
| 1990 | ||||
| 1991 | Evi Papamichael[18] | |||
| 1992 | ||||
| 1993 | ||||
| 1994 | ||||
| 1995 | Andreas Iakovidis | |||
| 1996 | Marios Skordis | |||
| 1997 | ||||
| 1998 | Marina Maleni | |||
| 1999 | ||||
| 2000 | Loukas Hamatsos | |||
| 2001 | No radio broadcast | Did not participate | ||
| 2002 | Pavlos Pavlou | Melani Steliou | ||
| 2003 | Loukas Hamatsos[20] | |||
| 2004 | No radio broadcast | |||
| 2005 | Melani Steliou | |||
| 2006 | Constantinos Christoforou | |||
| 2007 | Vaso Komninou | Giannis Haralambous | ||
| 2008 | Melina Karageorgiou | Hristina Marouhou | ||
| 2009 | Nathan Morley | Sophia Paraskeva | ||
| 2010 | Christina Metaxa | |||
| 2011 | No radio broadcast | Loukas Hamatsos | ||
| 2012 | ||||
| 2013 | Melina Karageorgiou | |||
| 2014 | No radio broadcast | Did not participate | ||
| 2015 | Melina Karageorgiou | Loukas Hamatsos | ||
| 2016 | ||||
| 2017 | Tasos Tryfonos and Christiana Artemiou | Tasos Tryfonos and Christiana Artemiou | John Karayiannis | |
| 2018 | Costas Constantinou and Vaso Komninou | No radio broadcast | Hovig | |
| 2019 | Evridiki and Tasos Trifonos | |||
| 2021 | Louis Patsalides | Loukas Hamatsos | ||
| 2022 | Melina Karageorgiou and Alexandros Taramountas | |||
| 2023 | ||||
| 2024 | Melina Karageorgiou and Hovig | |||
| 2025 | Melina Karageorgiou and Alexandros Taramountas | Commentators unknown | ||
Stage directors[edit]
Costume designers[edit]
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