Eurovision Betting Tips: 3 Semi-Final Selections To Bet On

Eurovision Tips:

• Netherlands To Finish In The Top Five In The Grand Final – 11/10 With BoyleSports
• Belgium To Not Qualify From Semi-Final Two – 5/2 With Unibet
• Estonia To Not Qualify From Semi-Final Two – 9/4 With Unibet

This year's Eurovision Song Contest is well under way in Malmo, Sweden, and the first 10 qualifiers are safely through to Saturday night's Grand Final alongside host nation Sweden and the "Big Five" countries - France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Semi-Final One took place on Tuesday night with Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia and Ukraine all qualifying, but Poland, Iceland, Moldova, Azerbaijan and Australia all missed out.

Bambie Thug became Ireland's second finalist in the last 10 years and hopes are high that Ireland can record their first top-five finish since 1997.

Attentions on betting sites have now turned to Thursday's second semi-final, where the 10 best countries, from 16 nations, will progress to the final. 

Like Semi-Final One, the second semi's triumphant nations will be decided by televoting from participating countries, plus pre-qualified countries Spain, France and Italy.

Netherlands' Dutch Of Class 

Netherlands are best priced at 4/9 on Eurovision betting sites to win Semi-Final Two, but that is too short for us to get behind.

Instead, we're going to confidently presume they qualify and have a go on them for the Grand Final instead. Netherlands are 11/10 with BoyleSports to finish in the Top 5 in Saturday's showpiece. 

They are represented by Joost Klein, singing Europapa, and the upbeat dance tune could even go all the way. If Netherlands romp home on Thursday night, then their Top 5 Grand Final price will no doubt come in, so it could be worth having a go before the second semi-final. 

Switzerland, who are represented by Nemo, are also one to watch at 4/1 with most UK new bookies. Bookmakers clearly feel Switzerland may not get enough televotes to win Semi-Final Two, but they expect them to qualify and be in with a good chance of spoiling the party for overall favourites Croatia.

Israel are the third favourites to win Semi-Final Two at 8/1 on specials betting sites. 

Their catchy tune is likely to attract plenty of televotes and see them safely through to the Grand Final, but they are a massive 35/1 with Bet365 to win the whole thing. 

Their participation in this year's contest has caused some controversy and protest, with calls for their representative, Eden Golan, to be axed due to the Israel conflict in Gaza. 

Should this have an impact on Semi-Final Two, then Greece could capitalise. Greece are 28/1 with Bet365 to win the second semi, but only 4/7 with Coral to finish in the overall Top 10, just behind Israel, who are 4/11 with the same bookmaker. 

But it could be worth having a go on Greece to finish in the Top 3 of Semi-Final Two at 2/1 with Unibet, in case they overcome Israel (1/2).

Estonia To Shock Semi-Final 2? 

There could be further shocks in the second semi-final in the 'Not To Qualify' market on betting apps, so we've taken two at decent prices. 

Four nations look fairly doomed with Malta a massive 1/8 with Unibet not to qualify, Latvia are 11/50, and Czech Republic and San Marino are 1/4. We'd avoid using any free bets to back these nations to win.

Albania (4/9) and Denmark (4/9) aren't expected to do much better, but we're willing to take a punt that either 5/2 shots Belgium or 9/4 chances Estonia might come unstuck on Thursday night.

For Belgium, Mustii's Before the Party's Over has all the credentials of a decent Eurovision song, but the hype train behind it appears to be heading in the wrong direction. 

Belgium are more of a punt than Estonia, whose entry 5miinust and Puuluup look more unlikely to make it if there is to be a shock. 

• United Kindgom's essential Eurovision Song Contest stats
• Eurovision Song Contest general betting trends

Their staging and camera work in the rehearsals didn't seem that impressive, and despite the upbeat tune, there are some strong contenders in Semi-Final Two. 

What's more, the official YouTube video of their song, (Nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi, has been watched just 757,000 times on the video-sharing site, compared to the likes of Albania and Denmark's 1.1 million and 1.2 million respectively.