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Cyprus secured a place in Saturday’s Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 on Thursday night, as singer Antigoni Braxton delivered a crowd-pleasing performance of “Jalla” during the competition’s second semi-final in Vienna.

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The live broadcast began at 10 p.m. Athens time from the Wiener Stadthalle arena and aired on state broadcaster ERT, with 15 countries competing for the final 10 spots in Saturday’s final. Cyprus emerged as one of the night’s standout qualifiers, with social media reaction and audience response suggesting strong momentum for the Mediterranean entry.

Performing with an energetic stage production blending Middle Eastern-inspired rhythms and contemporary pop choreography, Braxton drew enthusiastic applause inside the arena. Greek media throughout the week, had highlighted Cyprus as one of the semi-final’s potential surprise contenders, citing strong rehearsal reactions and growing fan support ahead of Thursday’s show.

Alongside Cyprus, the countries that qualified from Thursday’s second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 were Albania, Australia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Malta, Norway, Romania and Ukraine, completing the lineup for Saturday’s Grand Final in Vienna.

This year’s Eurovision contest has generated heightened attention across Greece and Cyprus, particularly after a week dominated by discussions over staging, televoting dynamics and the geopolitical undertones that increasingly shape the competition. Analysts and fan communities had pointed to the second semi-final as especially competitive, with several Balkan, Nordic and Mediterranean entries battling for qualification.

Saturday’s Grand Final will now feature the newly qualified countries alongside the “Big Five” — France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom — as well as host nation Austria. For Cyprus, qualification marks another strong Eurovision showing and raises hopes of a potential return to the contest’s upper ranks after several mixed results in recent years.