Eurovision 2024: Switzerland’s Nemo wins the most controversial edition of the song contest

The most controversial edition of Eurovision has come to an end and Switzerland has been crowned the 2024 winner. Here’s what you need to know.

After an edition of Eurovision marred in controversy over Israel’s inclusion and anti-Israel protests, as well as the Netherlands’ last-minute exclusion, Switzerland and its representative Nemo has emerged victorious over the 25 songs selected for the final.

Favourites for victory included Croatia, Ukraine, Ireland and Portugal, but Switzerland reigned supreme.

Nemo’s song ‘The Code’, which was one of our favourites here at Euronews Culture, was an immediate winner, and everything tonight – from the theatrical performance and delivery – was perfect. It was quite the unanimous pick from the juries and garnered enough points from the public to pip Croatia to the post.

This is the third victory for Switzerland, who previously won the very first edition back in 1956, and in 1988 with Celine Dion.

Here is the Top 5 in the score board:

Switzerland – 591 points
Croatia – 547 points
Ukraine – 453 points
France – 445 points
Israel – 375 points

Israel got a shock 338 points from the audience, which temporarily put them in the lead. They ended up fifth.

The bottom 5 were Georgia, Spain, Slovenia, Austria and last place to Norway. (The UK was the only country to have received nul points from the audience.)

As you can see, we didn’t do too badly with our predictions – with 3 of our 5 picks making the Top 5. 12 points to Euronews Culture, and all that.

So, United By Music, as the Eurovision slogan goes? Not so much this year. Controversy reigned throughout, even during the final ceremony.

Martin Österdahl, Eurovision’s executive supervisor, was booed by the audience as he confirmed that tonight’s voting had been verified – due to the EBU’s decision to eliminate the Dutch contestant Joost Klein earlier in the day. And when Israel announced its points, the audience were audibly booing.

Earlier in the day; police were pushing back pro-Palestinian demonstrators around the Malmö Arena. More than a hundred demonstrators waved flags and chanted “Free Palestine”. Climate activist Greta Thunberg was among them – but stayed clear of the altercations between the most aggressive protesters and the large police contingent.

But a winner has been crowned, and we can wave goodbye to arguably the most tumultuous Eurovision in recent history. At least we got that ABBA ‘Waterloo’ cover from past Eurovision winners Charlotte Perelli (1999), Conchita Wurst (2014), and Carola (1992). That did make things better, even if it would have been nice to see ABBA grace the stage. Instead, we got a pre-recorded message from the band, represented by the ABBA-tars from their virtual Voyage concert in London.