Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009

Belgium were represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 by the French-language broadcaster Radio Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française (RTBF), who choose the Belgian entry for the contest through an internal selection. The song did not progress from the first semi-final of the competition, finishing second to last with just one point.

Eurovision Song Contest 2009
Country Belgium
National selection
Selection processInternal Selection
Selection date(s)10 March 2009
Selected entrantPatrick Ouchène
Selected song"Copycat"
Finals performance
Semi-final resultFailed to qualify (17th, 1 point)
Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2008 • 2009 • 2010►

Background

Belgium debuted at the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956 and since has participated a total of fifty times. The country was only absent three times in its history: 1994, 1997, and 2001, when its low score the year before prevented reentry. Belgium won the contest once, in 1986 in Bergen, Norway with the song "J'aime la vie" sung by Sandra Kim. It achieved second place in 1978 and 2003 and was last eight times.[1] Since the introduction of the semi-finals in 2004, Belgium has failed to appear at the contest final.[2]

Since Belgium is represented by two broadcasters at the contest (Radio Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française (RTBF) and Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep (VRT)), they each take turns sending the entry; RTBF is French-speaking, while VRT is Dutch-speaking. All entries prior to 1999 except for 1977, where sung in either French or Dutch, but Belgium has never sent a representative singing in German, its third official language.[2] While VRT usually organizes a long-lasting national final, RTBF has a history of internal selections with varying levels of success, from a second place for Urban Trad in 2003 to a bottom 5 place in the semi final for The KMG's in 2007.[3] The 2009 contest marked the turn for RTBF to once again send an entrant and it decided to hold an internal selection as it had in 2007.[2]

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

On 10 March 2009, RTBF announced Patrick Ouchène as the Belgian entrant at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the song "Copycat". The song was selected in Autumn 2008 after RTBF launched an appeal to record companies.[2][4]

At Eurovision

Points Awarded by Belgium[5]
Split voting results from Belgium (final)
Draw Country Jury points Televoting points Scoreboard (Points)
01  Lithuania 4
02  Israel 12 8
03  France 5 1
04  Sweden
05  Croatia
06  Portugal 10 6
07  Iceland 2
08  Greece 8 5
09  Armenia 10 7
10  Russia 3
11  Azerbaijan 1 6 3
12  Bosnia and Herzegovina
13  Moldova 8 4
14  Malta 4
15  Estonia 2
16  Denmark
17  Germany 6 2
18  Turkey 5 12 12
19  Albania 1
20  Norway 7 7 10
21  Ukraine
22  Romania
23  United Kingdom 3
24  Finland
25  Spain
Points Awarded to Belgium (Semi-Final 1)
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
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See also

References
  1. "History by Country: Belgium". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 3 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-29.
  2. Costa, Nelson (2009-01-29). "Belgium: RTBF selected song to Moscow". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 17 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-29.
  3. Kuipers, Michael (2008-07-27). "Internal selection for Belgium in 2009". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 25 August 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-24.
  4. Horvat, Ivan (2009-01-29). "Belgian song presentation in early March". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-01-29.
  5. Eurovision Song Contest 2008
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