Intervision Song Contest

1965–1968: Golden Clef Intervision Contest

The first series of Intervision Song Contest, officially called Golden Clef Intervision Contest (Czech: Zlatý klíč Intervize)^[3][8] ran from 1965 to 1968 in Czechoslovakia.^[2][9] The inaugural contest was held at the Musical Theatre Karlín in Prague, with subsequent editions held in Bratislava and Karlovy Vary.^[10]

1977–1980: Sopot

The first Sopot International Song Festival was initiated and organised in 1961 by Władysław Szpilman, assisted by Szymon Zakrzewski from Polish Artists Management (PAGART).^[11] The first three editions were held in the Shipyard hall of Gdańsk (1961–1963), after which the festival moved to the Forest Opera in Sopot. The main prize has been Amber Nightingale for most of its history.

Between 1977 and 1980 the Sopot International Song Festival was replaced by the Intervision Song Contest, which was still held in the same venue. Unlike the Eurovision Song Contest, the Sopot International Music Festival often changed its formulas to pick a winner and offered many different contests for its participants. For example, at the 1980 contest two competitions were organised: one for artists representing television companies, the other for those representing record companies. In the first competition, the jury considered the artistic merits of the songs entered, while in the second, it judged the performers' interpretation.^[12] The festival has always been open to non-European acts, and countries like Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Mongolia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Peru, South Africa, and many others have been represented in the event.

The festival lost popularity in Poland and abroad in the 1980s. Telewizja Polska (TVP)'s unconvincing attempts at organising several of the contests led to the authorities of Sopot giving the organisation of the 2005 festival to a private broadcaster, TVN. Since 1999, there had been no competition. TVP chose to invite well-known artists instead, featuring the likes of Whitney Houston or The Corrs. In 2005, TVN was expected to bring the competition back. In 2006 TVN invited Elton John. In 2010 and 2011, the festival did not take place due to renovation of the Forest Opera. Since 2012, it has been called Sopot Top of the Top Festival and is broadcast annually by Polsat. The festival also provided opportunity to listen to international stars. It featured Charles Aznavour, Boney M, Johnny Cash, and more recently: Chuck Berry, Vanessa Mae, Annie Lennox, Vaya Con Dios, Chris Rea, Tanita Tikaram, La Toya Jackson, Whitney Houston, Kajagoogoo, as well as Goran Bregovic and Anastacia.

2008: Five Stars - Intervision

In 2008, Five Stars: Intervision was organised where eleven countries participated and was won by Tajikistan.^[13] In 2009, the then Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin, proposed restarting the competition, this time between Russia, China and the Central Asian member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.^[14][15]

In May 2014, it was announced that the contest would return, featuring countries from the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.^[16] Russian singer and producer Igor Matvienko, announced that the contest would take place in October 2014 in the coastal city of Sochi, which played host to the 2014 Winter Olympics.^[16][17] Seven countries had declared their interest to compete prior to the event's cancellation: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, China, and Uzbekistan.^[18][19] Russia had also selected Alexander Ivanov as its representative.^[20] The contest was scheduled to take place in October 2014, ostensibly due to "Russian anger at the moral decay of the West", particularly in response to the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 winner Conchita Wurst. Moreover, the revival was seen as part of "Putin's broader cultural diplomacy agenda".^[21] Despite plans to stage the contest in both 2014 and 2015, a revival has not taken place.^[22][23] Ivanov later represented Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Help You Fly", but failed to qualify for the final.^[24]

2025–present

In November 2023, Russian Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova and Channel One Russia's Director General Konstantin Ernst revealed at St. Petersburg's International Cultural Forum that the broadcaster planned to produce a revival of the Intervision Song Contest featuring the member countries of BRICS.^[6] This occurred after the broadcaster's membership in the European Broadcasting Union was suspended, upon the exclusion of Russia from the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 due to its invasion of Ukraine.^[25] On 8 June 2024, Russian government official Mikhail Shvydkoy told RIA Novosti that "more than 16 countries" would take part in the competition, naming Azerbaijan, Belarus, Brazil, China, Cuba, and Kazakhstan.^[26]

On 3 February 2025, president Putin signed a decree formalising the revival of the competition. Intervision 2025 was held in the Moscow area on 20 September 2025. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko was appointed as chair of the event's organizing committee, while domestic policy chief Sergey Kiriyenko was installed as chair of its supervisory board.^[27] 23 countries competed in the event, which was won by Vietnam.^[28] The 2026 edition is planned to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, organised by the country's culture ministry.^[29]

Winners by country

More information Wins, Country ...

Wins	Country	Years
6	Czechoslovakia	1965, 1967, 1968, 1977, 1978, 1980
2	Soviet Union	1978, 1980
1	Bulgaria	1966
	Poland	1979
	Finland	1980
	Tajikistan	2008
	Vietnam	2025

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Winners by language

Invited

Countries that expressed interest, were invited, or even "confirmed" by the organisers, but ended up not participating: