Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025
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Croatia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 with the song "Poison Cake", written by Bas Wissink, Ben Pyne, Emma Gale, Filip Majdak and Marko Bošnjak, and performed by Bošnjak himself. The Croatian participating broadcaster, Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT), organised the national final Dora 2025 in order to select its entry for the contest.
Croatia| Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 2025 | ||||
| Participating broadcaster | Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) | |||
| Country | Croatia | |||
| Selection process | Dora 2025 | |||
| Selection date | 2 March 2025 | |||
| Competing entry | ||||
| Song | "Poison Cake" | |||
| Artist | Marko Bošnjak | |||
| Songwriters |
| |||
| Placement | ||||
| Semi-final result | Failed to qualify (12th) | |||
| Participation chronology | ||||
| ||||
Croatia was drawn to compete in the first semi-final, which took place on 13 May 2025 and was later selected to perform in position 14. At the end of the show, Croatia was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and hence failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Croatia placed 12th out of the 15 participating countries in the semi-final, with 28 points.
Background
Prior to the 2025 contest, Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Croatia 29 times since its first entry in 1993.[1] Its best result in the contest was second, achieved in 2024 with the song "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" performed by Baby Lasagna. This was also its first top-five finish since "Marija Magdalena" by Doris Dragović in 1999. Following the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, Croatia had thus far featured in nine finals.[1]
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, HRT organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster confirmed its participation in the 2025 contest on 20 September 2024.[2] Between 1993 and 2011, HRT organised the national final Dora in order to select its entry, while it opted to internally select its entry in 2012 and 2013. After missing the contest in 2014 and 2015, HRT continued the internal selection procedure between 2016 and 2018. Since 2019, it has used Dora to select its entry, a method that was continued for its 2025 participation.[2]
Before Eurovision
Dora 2025
Dora 2025 was the twenty-sixth edition of the national selection Dora organised by HRT to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2025. The competition consisted of two semi-finals on 27 and 28 February 2025 and a final on 2 March 2025, all taking place at the Marino Cvetković Sports Hall in Opatija and hosted by Duško Čurlić and Barbara Kolar with Zlata Mück Sušec hosting segments from the green room.[3][4] All shows were broadcast on HRT 1, via radio on HR 2, and online via the streaming service HRTi as well as via Dora's official YouTube channel and the broadcaster's website hrt.hr.[5][6]
Format
Twelve entries performed in each semi-final, with eight qualifying for the final based on the results of a public televote.[7][8] The winner of the final was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from the public and a jury composed of four national panels – Osijek, Rijeka, Split and Zagreb – and four international panels – Helsinki, Ljubljana, Madrid and Yerevan;[9] each of these panels consisted of three music industry professionals. The viewers and the juries each had a total of 464 points to award. Each jury group distributed their points following the same pattern used in the Eurovision Song Contest, i.e. 1–8, 10 and 12 points. The viewer vote was based on the percentage of votes each song achieved through telephone and SMS voting; for example, if a song gained 10% of the viewer vote, then that entry would be awarded 10% of 464 points rounded to the nearest integer: 46 points.[10]
Competing entries
On 20 September 2024, HRT opened a submission period where artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster with the deadline on 15 November 2024.[11] 221 entries were received by the broadcaster during the submission period, a new record since Dora was relaunched in 2019.[12] A seven-member expert committee consisting of Željen Klašterka (musician and composer), Tihomir Preradović (composer and music producer), Monika Lelas (radio host and editor), Ivan Pešut (musician, music producer, composer and guitarist), Jelena Balent (music editor and singer), Davor Medaković (music editor) and Luka Grgić (stage director) reviewed the received submissions and selected twenty-four artists and songs as well as four backup entries for the competition.[12] HRT announced the competing entries on 5 December 2024 and among the competing artists were Magazin, who represented Croatia in 1995, and Marko Škugor, who represented Croatia in 2013 as a member of Klapa s Mora.[13]
On 24 December 2024, HRT announced that Lara feat. LSQ had withdrawn from the contest, and that they would be replaced by Swingers.[14] On 7 January 2025, HRT announced that Natalie Balmix was disqualified due to submitting a finalised version of her entry that was "more than 50 percent musically and lyrically changed", and that she would be replaced by Fenksta.[15]
Entry withdrawn/disqualified Replacement entry
| Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Ananda | "Lies Lay Cold" |
|
| EoT | "Bye Bye Bye" |
|
| Fenksta | "Extra" |
|
| Filomena | "Strong" |
|
| Irma | "Enigma" |
|
| Ivxn | "Monopol" |
|
| Jelena Radan | "Salut!" |
|
| Lara feat. LSQ | "Mama" |
|
| Laurakojapjeva | "NPC" |
|
| Lelek | "The Soul of My Soul" |
|
| Luka Nižetić | "Južina" | |
| Magazin | "AaAaA" | |
| Marin Jurić Čivro | "Gorjelo je" | |
| Marko Bošnjak | "Poison Cake" |
|
| Marko Škugor | "Šta da Boga molim ja" |
|
| Marko Tolja | "Through the Dark" |
|
| Martha May | "Running to the Light" |
|
| Matt Shaft | "Welcome to the Circus" |
|
| Natalie Balmix | "Život ide dalje" |
|
| Natalli | "Dom si srcu mom" |
|
| Nipplepeople | "Znak" | |
| Ogenj | "Daj, daj" |
|
| Petar Brkljačić | "Kraj" |
|
| Supersonic Trio | "Animal" |
|
| Swingers | "Ful kul (Full Cool)" |
|
| Teenah | "Aurora" |
|
| # | Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
| ||
| 2 |
| ||
| 3 | Patricia Gasparini | "Karma" |
|
| 4 | llyricum | "Tananai" |
|
Semi-finals
The two semi-finals took place on 27 and 28 February 2025. The eight qualifiers for the final from each semi-final were determined exclusively by a public televote. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Nina Badrić, who represented Croatia in 2012, performed as an interval act during the first semi-final, while Alessandra Mele, who represented Norway in 2023, performed as an interval act during the second semi-final.[16]
| R/O | Artist | Song | Televote | Place | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phone | SMS | Total | ||||
| 1 | Matt Shaft | "Welcome to the Circus" | 2,876 | 2,602 | 5,478 | 5 |
| 2 | Jelena Radan | "Salut" | 1,508 | 768 | 2,276 | 10 |
| 3 | Nipplepeople | "Znak" | 2,127 | 2,432 | 4,559 | 6 |
| 4 | Swingers | "Ful kul" | 1,093 | 507 | 1,600 | 11 |
| 5 | Martha May | "Running to the Light" | 1,203 | 341 | 1,544 | 12 |
| 6 | Lelek | "The Soul of My Soul" | 2,842 | 2,752 | 5,594 | 4 |
| 7 | Teenah | "Aurora" | 1,576 | 889 | 2,465 | 9 |
| 8 | Ivxn | "Monopol" | 2,043 | 1,850 | 3,893 | 7 |
| 9 | Marko Tolja | "Through the Dark" | 4,197 | 1,673 | 5,870 | 2 |
| 10 | Magazin | "AaAaA" | 4,349 | 2,111 | 6,460 | 1 |
| 11 | Natalli | "Dom si srcu mom" | 1,725 | 787 | 2,512 | 8 |
| 12 | EoT | "Bye Bye Bye" | 2,723 | 2,903 | 5,626 | 3 |
| R/O | Artist | Song | Televote | Place | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phone | SMS | Total | ||||
| 1 | Laurakojapjeva | "NPC" | 2,188 | 1,732 | 3,920 | 5 |
| 2 | Marko Škugor | "Šta da Boga molim ja" | 2,986 | 1,023 | 4,009 | 4 |
| 3 | Fenksta | "Extra" | 1,738 | 1,942 | 3,680 | 6 |
| 4 | Marin Jurić Čivro | "Gorjelo je" | 1,441 | 634 | 2,075 | 12 |
| 5 | Filomena | "Strong" | 1,916 | 770 | 2,686 | 7 |
| 6 | Supersonic Trio | "Animal" | 1,272 | 1,064 | 2,336 | 10 |
| 7 | Irma | "Enigma" | 1,417 | 915 | 2,332 | 11 |
| 8 | Luka Nižetić | "Južina" | 3,512 | 2,204 | 5,716 | 3 |
| 9 | Ananda | "Lies Lay Cold" | 1,531 | 918 | 2,449 | 9 |
| 10 | Marko Bošnjak | "Poison Cake" | 3,487 | 2,932 | 6,419 | 2 |
| 11 | Petar Brkljačić | "Kraj" | 1,751 | 895 | 2,646 | 8 |
| 12 | Ogenj | "Daj, daj" | 6,798 | 7,314 | 14,112 | 1 |
Final
The final took place on 2 March 2025 and featured the 16 qualifiers from the preceding two semi-finals. The winner, "Poison Cake" performed by Marko Bošnjak, was decided by a combination of votes from a professional jury and the Croatian public via televoting.
| R/O | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Total | Place | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phone | SMS | Total | Points | ||||||
| 1 | EoT | "Bye Bye Bye" | 30 | 4,488 | 4,844 | 9,332 | 21 | 51 | 8 |
| 2 | Natalli | "Dom si srcu mom" | 2 | 2,549 | 987 | 3,536 | 8 | 10 | 15 |
| 3 | Ivxn | "Monopol" | 19 | 2,470 | 2,610 | 5,080 | 11 | 30 | 10 |
| 4 | Filomena | "Strong" | 0 | 2,549 | 1,480 | 4,029 | 9 | 9 | 16 |
| 5 | Fenksta | "Extra" | 16 | 2,924 | 3,672 | 6,596 | 15 | 31 | 9 |
| 6 | Laurakojapjeva | "NPC" | 12 | 3,519 | 3,626 | 7,145 | 16 | 28 | 12 |
| 7 | Nipplepeople | "Znak" | 52 | 3,738 | 4,843 | 8,581 | 19 | 71 | 7 |
| 8 | Ogenj | "Daj, daj" | 42 | 15,071 | 19,990 | 35,061 | 78 | 120 | 2 |
| 9 | Petar Brkljačić | "Kraj" | 14 | 2,071 | 1,392 | 3,463 | 8 | 22 | 14 |
| 10 | Matt Shaft | "Welcome to the Circus" | 2 | 5,069 | 6,537 | 11,606 | 26 | 28 | 11 |
| 11 | Marko Škugor | "Šta da Boga molim ja" | 10 | 5,241 | 2,289 | 7,530 | 17 | 27 | 13 |
| 12 | Magazin | "AaAaA" | 62 | 14,339 | 7,607 | 21,946 | 49 | 111 | 3 |
| 13 | Marko Bošnjak | "Poison Cake" | 83 | 8,537 | 12,633 | 21,170 | 47 | 130 | 1 |
| 14 | Marko Tolja | "Through the Dark" | 42 | 9,492 | 4,714 | 14,206 | 32 | 74 | 6 |
| 15 | Lelek | "The Soul of My Soul" | 33 | 12,299 | 18,424 | 30,723 | 69 | 102 | 4 |
| 16 | Luka Nižetić | "Južina" | 45 | 8,925 | 8,388 | 17,313 | 39 | 84 | 5 |
| R/O | Song | Ljubljana |
Rijeka |
Madrid |
Split |
Yerevan |
Osijek |
Helsinki |
Zagreb |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Bye Bye Bye" | 4 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 30 | ||
| 2 | "Dom si srcu mom" | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||
| 3 | "Monopol" | 1 | 12 | 1 | 5 | 19 | ||||
| 4 | "Strong" | 0 | ||||||||
| 5 | "Extra" | 8 | 7 | 1 | 16 | |||||
| 6 | "NPC" | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 12 | |||
| 7 | "Znak" | 7 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 52 |
| 8 | "Daj, daj" | 10 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 42 | |
| 9 | "Kraj" | 1 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 14 | ||||
| 10 | "Welcome to the Circus" | 2 | 2 | |||||||
| 11 | "Šta da Boga molim ja" | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 10 | ||||
| 12 | "AaAaA" | 2 | 4 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 12 | 62 |
| 13 | "Poison Cake" | 12 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 7 | 83 |
| 14 | "Through the Dark" | 5 | 12 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 42 | |
| 15 | "The Soul of My Soul" | 6 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 33 | ||
| 16 | "Južina" | 6 | 4 | 10 | 2 | 10 | 3 | 10 | 45 |
| Jury | Members |
|---|---|
| Ljubljana |
|
| Rijeka |
|
| Madrid |
|
| Split |
|
| Yerevan |
|
| Osijek |
|
| Helsinki |
|
| Zagreb |
|
At Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 took place at the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland, and consisted of two semi-finals held on the respective dates of 13 and 15 May and the final on 17 May 2025. All nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) were required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete in the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progressed to the final. On 28 January 2025, an allocation draw was held to determine which of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show, each country would perform in; the EBU split up the competing countries into different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.[22] Croatia was scheduled for the second half of the first semi-final.[23] The shows' producers then decided the running order for the semi-finals; Croatia was set to perform in position 14.[24]
In Croatia, all shows were broadcast on HRT 1 and HR 2.[25][26][27][28][29][30]
Semi-final
Croatia performed in position 14, following the entry from Netherlands and before the entry from the Cyprus.[24] At the end of the show, the country was not announced among the top 10 entries in the semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final.
Voting
Points awarded to Croatia
Points awarded by Croatia
|
|
Detailed voting by Croatia
The members of the Croatian jury were:[33]
- Miroslav Lesić
- Tihomir Preradović
- Antonela Doko
- Mia Negovetić
- Monika Lelas Halambek
| R/O | Country | Jury | Televote | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Juror A | Juror B | Juror C | Juror D | Juror E | Rank | Points | Rank | Points | ||
| 01 |  Norway | 9 | 16 | 19 | 15 | 4 | 10 | 1 | 7 | 4 |
| 02 |  Luxembourg | 22 | 23 | 18 | 19 | 15 | 22 | 22 | ||
| 03 |  Estonia | 7 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 17 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 12 |
| 04 |  Israel | 5 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 12 | |
| 05 |  Lithuania | 18 | 24 | 23 | 18 | 14 | 21 | 14 | ||
| 06 |  Spain | 17 | 15 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 11 | 19 | ||
| 07 |  Ukraine | 11 | 17 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 2 | 9 | 2 |
| 08 |  United Kingdom | 19 | 22 | 20 | 17 | 19 | 23 | 24 | ||
| 09 |  Austria | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 6 | 5 |
| 10 |  Iceland | 20 | 18 | 25 | 16 | 26 | 24 | 10 | 1 | |
| 11 |  Latvia | 4 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 20 | 4 | 7 | 17 | |
| 12 |  Netherlands | 13 | 11 | 15 | 14 | 22 | 17 | 11 | ||
| 13 |  Finland | 21 | 19 | 21 | 12 | 5 | 12 | 4 | 7 | |
| 14 |  Italy | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 5 | 6 |
| 15 |  Poland | 12 | 21 | 24 | 21 | 9 | 18 | 13 | ||
| 16 |  Germany | 24 | 8 | 12 | 24 | 21 | 15 | 8 | 3 | |
| 17 |  Greece | 6 | 5 | 14 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 15 | |
| 18 |  Armenia | 14 | 12 | 16 | 23 | 11 | 16 | 23 | ||
| 19 |  Switzerland | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 21 | |
| 20 |  Malta | 23 | 20 | 22 | 26 | 16 | 25 | 18 | ||
| 21 |  Portugal | 10 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 23 | 13 | 25 | ||
| 22 |  Denmark | 16 | 25 | 17 | 20 | 10 | 20 | 26 | ||
| 23 |  Sweden | 8 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 18 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 8 |
| 24 |  France | 15 | 14 | 10 | 13 | 12 | 14 | 16 | ||
| 25 |  San Marino | 26 | 26 | 26 | 25 | 25 | 26 | 20 | ||
| 26 |  Albania | 25 | 9 | 13 | 22 | 24 | 19 | 2 | 10 | |
Notes
- San Marino uses a jury in the semi-finals.