"It's crazy," said Lucas Anagua, 17, a fan in the crowds at Praca do Comercio, the main square in Lisbon where the game had been shown on huge screens. "I'm going to party tonight."

Fireworks and music broke out across the capital, where the game, won 1-0 by Portugal, had been shown on television screens on a blistering hot summer night.

Substitute Eder secured the win with a goal in extra time.

"I maintained the faith," President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa told RTP television. "We were able to put up with everything. This was Portugal at its best."

Cars beeped their horns and thousands of people filled the streets, donning the Portuguese flag and shouting "Portugal, Portugal, Portugal."

"This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen," said another fan.

The win helped make up for Portugal's loss to underdog Greece when it hosted the Euro 12 years ago. The country's last major soccer conquest was in 2006, when Portugal finished fourth in the World Cup.

"The victory for the national side is recognition of the value of Portuguese soccer and gives prestige to our country," said the Portuguese Football Association in a statement.

For a country that suffered hard under Europe's debt crisis but is now recovering economically under its new Socialist government, the victory will be a welcome relief.

The victory was especially sweet because captain Cristiano Ronaldo was forced to leave the game after suffering an injury in the first half, leaving Portugal's team without its star.</s>The winner of the 62nd Eurovision song contest is Portugal’s Salvador Sobral who wrung his hands delightfully while singing the sweetly, string-laden throw-back ‘Amar Pelos Dois’. It was written by his sister, Luisa, who sang with him at the end.

Portugal hadn’t won the contest once in 53 years and, frankly, we were beginning to worry about them. It was also The Irish Times’s favourite song (I think I can speak for the whole paper) so, for once, Europe made the right decision and all is right with the world. Frankly after Brexit and Trump we needed this.

Ireland’s entry, Brendan Murray’s ‘Dying to Try’, didn’t even qualify for the final. As an Irishman at Eurovision these days you get used to people pitying you. “Johnny Logan, Linda Martin… what happened, Ireland?” asked a flag wearing Swede called Juha Piik. Then he squeezed my shoulder supportively. “Don’t worry, you will win again sometime.”

It was momentarily easy to forget there was a Russian-fomented conflict in eastern Ukraine

The night before the final, Kiev looked beautiful. The fountains were lit up, fire-breathers and bands were dotted around Maidan square and the Eurovision village was filled with families and friendly people happy to give me detailed directions (a woman drew me a map at one point). It was momentarily easy to forget that there was a Russian-fomented conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Then, this morning, a sign went up in Maidan square reminding people, in English and Ukrainian, that the death toll in Donbass “is the price we paid for every single day we live in peace.”

Putin paper

You can also buy toilet paper with Putin’s face on the sheets in the shops here and geopolitics has even infiltrated the contest. The Russian contestant, Julia Samoilova, was forbidden entry to Ukraine for playing a concert in contested Crimea. Russia refused to send a replacement. She played another concert there on Tuesday.

Unsurprisingly there were policemen and soldiers everywhere and searches and scans at every venue. This didn’t seem to dampen any of the enthusiasm.

Eurovision is, I now realise, a glittery Utopian bubble. Before the show, amid the usual flag-draped, face-painted fans, I spotted a couple of Jedwards, a princess, people dressed in national costumes, a sort of glittery Jedi, some pearly kings and at least one man in a fez, a rainbow cape and a T-shirt declaring he had the “Body of a God’ (it was above a picture of Buddha).

Inside in the venue Kiev’s ex-boxer mayor, Vitali Klitschko, gave a press conference about the planning. It was preceded with a video that included a touching tribute to the hundred people who died at the Maidan in 2014 “for a European future” and succeeded by about 20 minutes of selfies with Eurovision fans (the people in the press centre aren’t all journalists in the traditional sense).

At ten o’clock Kiev time, the three male hosts, Oleksandr Skichko, Volodymyr Ostapchuk and Timur Miroshnychenko, (this year’s tagline, incidentally, is “celebrate diversity”) began to marshal a massive three hour simulcast that stretched across Europe, from its frozen Scandinavian north to its blistering Australian south (Europe is more a state of mind than a continent at Eurovision).

There were self-deprecating skits, an ethereal interval performance and unnecessarily sleazy “banter” with female jury members from “the lads” (it was their way of “celebrating diversity”, presumably).

In the midst of the voting came the sad news that Israel would no longer be performing (their government, in a strike against to press freedom, has shut down the Israel Broadcasting Authority).

There were also appearances from previous Ukrainian winners - Jamala, who won last year (but this year was briefly interrupted by a streaker), and Ruslana, who won in 2004, and has in recent years bravely diverted much of her energy into social activism and politics (you can’t get away from politics at Eurovision). And then, of course, there were the finest 26 pop songs that Europe, from the UK to Israel, had to offer.

The contestants

Here’s a summary:

Ukraine’s own O’Torvald generated power chords before a giant blue head which shot lasers from its eyes (my catechism is a bit rusty, but I think this was “Jesus”).

Moldova’s Sunstroke Project did a jaunty dance and married their backing singer brides (the marriage is, I believe, legally binding).

Belarus’s Naviband manoeuvred a large speed boat through a CGI city (ersatz locomotion is a bit of a theme of this year’s contest).

And Israel’s vocoder-tonsiled beefcake and his grinding chums danced their way out of danger when the stage sporadically went on fire (cowboy builders).

Croatia’s excellently operatic Jacques Houdek was my second favourite act (after Portugal), because he duetted with himself and sometimes I do that when I’m stressed. But I had one quibble. He began by saying - “There are only two ways to live your life - one is as though nothing is important the other is that everything is important” - when for accuracy he should really have added a third way (“live your life as though some things are a bit important sometimes”).

My third favourite was Italy’s Occidentali’s Karma, a very entertaining song about materialism and cultural-appropriation ironically sung by a spiv from a 1960s Brit-flick. You might remember it as “the one with the monkey” (he performed alongside a prancing man in a gorilla suit) or, possibly, as you’re an Irish Times reader, “the one that referenced Desmond Morris’s The Naked Ape”.

Yodel-rap

The Eurovision can really surprise you sometimes. Romania’s Ilinca and Alex Florea demonstrated, for example, that yodel-rap is actually a viable genre. I loved this song. Unfortunately, they also deployed two big silver cannons on stage which was a bit dangerous given how miffed and unpredictable Russia is right now.

UK also toyed with politics as Lucie Jones sang ‘Never Going to Give Up On You’ to the assembled nations of Europe (Yes. The Brits are just mocking us now).

And Azerbaijan’s Dihaj may also have been doing something political… for all anyone could make out. She sang about “skeletons” to a horse-headed man who was sitting on a step ladder. I was pretty sure I’d dreamt this act after Tuesday’s first semi-final, but it was on again tonight, so either I’m having a prolonged nervous breakdown (a possibility, I’ve been here since Monday), or it really happened. Anyway, it was intense and I liked it.

Germany’s Levina was less intense. In fact, she was so relaxed she started her performance lying down. Greece’s Demy sang about love whilst topless hunks larked about in an electrically treacherous paddling pool (I suppose it kept them off the streets).

Armenia vogued. The Netherlands En-Vogued. Lush-larynxed Australia treadmilled. Austria’s Nathan Trent, with his power over the crescent moon, opened a portal to hell and summoned the dark soul of Ed Sheeran (I know Ed Sheeran isn’t dead - I just presume he has a house in hell).

And Bulgaria sent us a freakish child with the voice of a grown man. I liked this precociously big-voiced infant and wished him well.

For the most part, a good time was had by all. Yes, Eurovision is silly - with its bellowing divas, demented fiddlers and outlandish props - but most good pop is silly and the Eurovision actively brings people together with music, often good music. If you dislike it you’re basically a monster.

It is, as European Broadcasting Union executive supervisor Jon Ola Sand told me, “a non-political battlefield where countries can show their similarities and their differences.” And tonight, as always, harmony reigned (except for the streaker). So goodbye lovely Kiev. Roll on Portugal.</s>In a year when Belarus had a near tumble off their boat on stage and Australia couldn’t help themselves by streaking during Jamala’s performance, the grand final then went ahead with barely a fault. At the end of the day, when all the votes were tallied, it was Portugal who were crowned the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with 758 points. Second place went to Bulgaria, with 615 points. Moldova came in at third with 374 points.

Portugal’s performer, Salvador Sobral, offered up the following when asked about his win for Portugal.

Sobral then went on to ask his sister onto the stage to help him sing the song she originally wrote for him.

You can view Portugal’s official Eurovision Song Contest entry for 2017 below.

The full results for the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest are below.

Eurovision 2017 was fraught with controversy from the moment Ukraine was announced the winner in 2016. At first, some fans speculated that Ukraine’s song “1944” violated the official rules of Eurovision. Officials, however, deemed the song was acceptable under the rules of Eurovision.

While there was initial debate over whether Russia would attend Eurovision 2017 due to ongoing political disputes between themselves and the Ukraine, Russia announced their 2017 entrant would be Yulia Samoylova with her song “Flame is Burning.”

However, on 13 April 2017, Russia announced their withdrawal from the Eurovision Song Contest. This withdrawal was caused by Ukraine placing a three-year ban on Yulia Samoylova from entering the country. While full details of the reason for banning the Russian contestant, the Telegraph suggests it has to do with the fact Samoylova entered Crimea in 2015. Due to disputes between the two countries, Russia believes Crimea belongs to them, while Ukraine believes Crimea is an “illegally occupied territory and reserves the right to impose a travel ban on anyone who visits it without obtaining appropriate permission from Kiev first.”

According to the Guardian, as a result of this ban, Russia will not be broadcasting the Eurovision Song Contest this year.

Fears have been rising over whether Israel would be eligible to enter Eurovision next year, thanks to their closure of local broadcasting network, thus nullifying their European Broadcasting Union membership due to a lack of news broadcasting on their new network. Israel went on to confirm their withdrawal from future Eurovision events during their live vote broadcast. Unfortunately for Israel, they finished with a result of 23rd.

With Eurovision being known as “gay Christmas” to some in the LGBT community, some fans were concerned at just how welcome members of this groups would be when they attended Eurovision 2017 in Ukraine.

Jonathan Khoo, a 39-year-old programmer from San Francisco, told the Independent of his concerns for Eurovision this year.

Fears were unfounded, however, and the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 ran smoothly in this regard.

Entering the Eurovision Song Contest can be exciting enough in itself. However, for Macedonia’s entrant, Jana Burceska, a pregnancy announcement and marriage proposal added exponentially to the occasion according to the BBC. Unfortunately, Macedonia did not qualify for the grand final of Eurovision 2017.

While Australia advanced to the finale of Eurovision 2017, a vocal hiccup recorded during rehearsal went on to be “repeated during the performance recaps during the voting period for fans,” according to News.com.au. His performance during the grand final, however, was flawless, but not enough to win the event. They placed ninth at the end of the competition. But, it was the streaker that turned up in an Australian flag and bared his naked behind during Jamala’s performance while voting was underway that caused the biggest stir.

What do you think about Portugal winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2017? Let us know your thoughts by commenting below.</s>Portugal won the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time ever early Sunday with a melancholy ballad performed by a singer who suffers from a serious heart condition.

The fado-tinged song "Amar Pelos Dois" was performed by 27-year-old Salvador Sobral, who is awaiting a heart transplant.

It scored a crushing victory, winning top marks both from the televoters and the countries' professional juries.

The black-clad singer took to a small separate stage for his minimalist performance of the song composed by his sister Luisa.

"I don't know about national hero," Portugal's first ever winner told journalists afterwards, adding jokingly "I think the real hero is (Portugese footballer Cristiano) Ronaldo."

"I just wanted to sing a beautiful song as it is -- it's in Portugese," he said of his decision to sing in his native language despite speaking fluent English.

"If I can help to bring some change to music, I will be really joyful."

The ceremony in the capital of ex-Soviet Ukraine began with a glittering light show as the contestants took bows on a stage lit up in the colours of their respective national flags.

Jon Ola Sand, executive supervisor of Eurovision afterwards praised the "amazing set-up" in Ukraine and Sobral's performance.

He said the winner was "bringing music back to the Eurovision Song Contest."

But the glitzy contest was marred by the ongoing fighting with Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko opted not to attend after four civilian deaths.

The annual celebration of catchy europop, ludicrous costumes and glittering divas watched by some 200 million TV viewers was being hosted by Ukraine for the second time.

Bulgaria's big-voiced 17-year-old singer Kristian Kostov came second with a confident performance of "Beautiful Mess".

Third was Moldova's SunStroke Project with a raucous song called "Hey, Mamma" featuring a saxophonist in sunglasses and dancers in wedding dresses and veils.

The latest edition of the contest, that began in 1956 with just seven countries, offered the usual wacky stage acts and cheesy beats.

Italian Francesco Gabbani, who came sixth, invoked Hamlet and Desmond Morris's anthropology book "The Naked Ape" in his song while a gorilla-costumed dancer boogied alongside him.

Romania came seventh with an unlikely combination of yodelling and rap while Azerbaijan's act that came 14th featured a man wearing a horse's head on a stepladder.

Macedonia's contestant Jana Burceska failed to make the final but stole the show during the semi-finals by receiving a televised marriage proposal and screaming "Yes!" as her boyfriend knelt down with a ring.

Britain may be experiencing a post-Brexit vote chill in Europe, but pulled out all the stops with a big ballad performed by Lucie Jones, coming 15th.

Portugal was celebrating their big win Saturday with President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa saying: "When we are very good, we're the best of the best. Congratulations Salvador Sobral."

Ahead of the show, fans streamed into the venue, an exhibition centre outside the city centre, wearing flower garlands and draped in national flags while some waved rainbow gay pride flags.

"It's just so great. Everyone loves it. And you just wanna be here!" shouted Jasmine from Britain, wearing a garland of ribbons and flowers.

For the contest, Kiev's main Kreshchatyk Street was transformed into a Eurovision fan zone with a large stage, beanbags and European Union flags.

Fans with flags painted on their faces snapped selfies, danced, sang and drank beer.

Amid heightened security, some 10,000 police were deployed on the streets, some carrying semi-automatic weapons.

Ukraine was hosting Eurovision amid a continuing armed conflict with pro-Russian separatists in the country's industrial east that has now killed more than 10,000.

A top Ukrainian official said Saturday that "Russian invading forces" had killed four civilians in shelling hours before the contest started.

And that news led President Poroshenko to cancel his appearance at Eurovision.

He wrote on Facebook that "due to the shelling of Avdiivka and the death of peaceful civilians, I took a decision to cancel my presence at the Eurovision final."

Kiev barred Russia's singer Yuliya Samoilova because she had illegally entered Crimea to perform there after Moscow's disputed annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine.

Russia responded by refusing to air the contest and viewers in separatist eastern Ukraine were also unable to watch.

Russia has vowed that Samoilova will compete in 2018, placing Ukraine in a tricky dilemma over whether to participate alongside her.

Ukraine first hosted Eurovision in 2005 when the contest symbolised the country's quest to open up to Europe after the 2004 pro-Western Orange Revolution.

Last year its contestant Jamala won with a song called "1944", referring to the Stalin-era deportation of her Crimean Tatar ethnic group from the Black Sea peninsula.

This year, Ukraine has used the contest to take tentative steps to soften the climate of homophobia prevalent in the ex-Soviet Union.

The authorities handed out a map of gay-friendly venues to fans of the contest with a massive gay following.</s>Portugal has won the Eurovision song contest for the first time, taking the prize in Ukraine on Saturday night.

Salvador Sobral, performing a jazz-style ballad written by his sister Luisa, was a clear winner in the annual song contest held this year in Kiev and broadcast to an expected global audience of over 200 million people.

The theme of this year’s contest was “celebrate diversity”, although there was widespread criticism on social media of the fact that all three presenters for the show were white men, while there was an overwhelmingly white roster of performers.

The contest also saw a streaker interrupt the programme.

The stage invader, wrapped in an Australian flag, took to the stage during a performance by last year’s winner Jamala, and bared his bottom. He was wrestled off the stage by a security guard as the singer continued to perform.

The contest took place against the backdrop of continued fighting between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists hundreds of kilometres east of Kiev.

Russia boycotted this year’s competition after Ukraine barred its contestant from entering the country - a symptom of the countries’ toxic relations since Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014.

Ukraine won last year’s Eurovision with its Crimean Tatar entry Jamala. In a grim reminder of the continued conflict in the east, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko cancelled his scheduled appearance at the competition after four civilians were killed in artillery attacks that Kiev blamed on the separatist rebels.

“We were planning together with (my wife) Maryna to attend the final competition and invited our soldiers and people with disabilities to cheer on Ukraine together,” Poroshenko said in a statement.

“But due to the shelling on Avdiyivka and deaths of civilians, I decided to cancel (my attendance).”

It was the 62nd edition of Eurovision, recognised by Guinness World Records as the longest-running annual TV music competition. It began in 1956 with just seven countries. Ireland have won most often - seven times in all - following by Sweden.</s>KIEV, May 13 (Reuters) - Portugal's Salvador Sobral won the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday performing a jazz-style ballad written by his sister, taking the top spot for the first time in the country's history and celebrating with a call to "put emotion back into music".

Along with singers from Italy and Bulgaria, Sobral was a favorite going into the final of the annual song fest, which was hosted in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, and he led the voting throughout the evening. Portugal finished ahead of Bulgaria and Moldova.

A soft-spoken, 27 year-old with a scraggly beard, Sobral won with "Amar Pelos Dois" ("Love For Both of Us"), sung in his native Portuguese. This is the first time Portugal won since it first entered the contest in 1964. After being announced as the winner, Sobral performed the ballad again, this time in duet with his sister Luisa.

"Music is not fireworks, music is feeling," he said after winning. "Let's put emotion back into music."

Asked later at a press conference whether he was now a national hero, he said: "Honestly man I just want to live a peaceful life, if I thought of myself as a national hero it would be a bit weird, you know."

Ukraine hosted the competition while it also fights a war, hundreds of kilometres (miles) away in the east, against Russian-backed separatists.

As is custom in the contest, geopolitics played a part.

Russia boycotted this year's event after Ukraine barred its contestant from entering the country - a symptom of the countries' toxic relations since Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014. Ukraine won last year's Eurovision with its Crimean Tatar entry Jamala.

In a grim reminder of the continued conflict in the east, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko cancelled his scheduled appearance at the competition after four civilians were killed in artillery attacks that Kiev blamed on the separatist rebels.

This was the 62nd edition of Eurovision, recognised by Guinness World Records as the longest-running annual TV music competition. It began in 1956 with just seven countries. Ireland have won most often - seven times in all - following by Sweden.

Sobral came into the competition having told local media that he has a heart problem, without giving details. In the run-up he wore a sweatshirt drawing attention to the migrant crisis in Europe, but was asked to stop wearing it by the organizers.

"I hope this can bring a change not only to this contest, but to music in general, and pop music," Sobral said about his win, contrasting his song to music normally pumped out "16 times a day" on radio stations.

Other hopefuls this year included Italian Francesco Gabbani. He was tipped to win with a number, viewed nearly 114 million times on YouTube, that mixes Buddhist imagery with a dancing ape, and that he explained as poking fun at the West's superficial embrace of eastern culture.

Jacques Houdek, known as 'Mr Voice' in Croatia, blended pop and operatic singing styles in the song "My Friend". Romania fielded a duo that combined rap and yodelling.

Ukraine has won the competition twice, including last year with a song about the mass deportation of Tatars from Crimea by Josef Stalin, and its winners performed on Saturday.

Moscow fielded a candidate this year who had violated Ukrainian law by performing in Crimea after the Russian takeover. Kiev accused Moscow of deliberately provoking a row.

Russian singer Yulia Samoylova performed in Crimea again on Tuesday, coinciding with the first Eurovision semi-final.

"I think politics shouldn't intervene," said Liza Ignatieva, a 21-year-old university student in Moscow. "But they broke the rules of the event by not letting her in. Why they invented new rules for Russia only? Yes, we have bad relations but they shouldn't do it to us."

More than 10,000 have been killed in the war between Ukraine and pro-Russian fighters that erupted in 2014 following the Maidan street protests that ousted a pro-Russian president, and the annexation of Crimea.

But during Eurovision at least, Maidan and its surrounding streets have been filled with fans. Big screens and food stalls have been set up in the centre of the capital, and Ukrainian memorabilia put on sale.

"And yes, there is a war going on, but it's further, further out," said Stephanie Novak, a visiting fan from Australia.

"And I think isn't it the whole point of Eurovision to help bring Europe together? What could be better than bringing Europe to a country that is being so affected by war at the moment and to show them what a beautiful country it is." (Additional reporting by Sergiy Karazy and Natalia Zinets in Kiev, Axel Bugge in Lisbon and Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow; Editing by Mark Potter and Mary Milliken)</s>The Eurovision 2017 song contest has its winner! The annual song competition crowned Salvador Sobral of Portugal for his song “Amar Pelos Dois” (“Love for Both”).

The win is the first for the country; Bulgaria came in second.

The contest, which aired in the U.S. on Logo, has launched the careers of the likes of ABBA, Celine Dion, Julio Iglesias, and Olivia Newton-John since its inception in 1956. A post-war invention that joined 1950s economic treaties aimed at unifying Europe the song contest invites musicians from dozens of countries to submit original songs each year for the chance to compete for the winning title. It is considered the world’s largest non-sporting TV event.

This year’s competition, the 62nd, was held in Ukraine, home country of last year’s winner Jamala. It is tradition for the home country of the year’s previous winner to host the competition, a fact which had Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling urging Europe to vote for the U.K. in this year’s competition to force Britain to host a European celebration in the wake of Brexit and anti-EU sentiment. “Nothing would be funnier. Vote now, Europe” she said, retweeting a tweet that asked, “What would be funnier than making the UK host a huge, expensive celebration of Europe in 2018?”

Eurovision often attracts viewers for those hoping to see something outlandish or surprising (Austrian bearded drag queen Conchita Wurst won in 2014). This year was no exception when a dancing monkey in Italy’s performance nearly stole the show. Within seconds, the bizarre sight was trending on Twitter.

Viewers were similarly confused and bemused by a performance featuring a man wearing a horse’s head.

But viewers quickly moved on from the monkey and the horse to a performance from Ukrainian pop singer and drag singer Verka Serduchka, who came in second place in the competition in 2007. Serduchka, who made a cameo appearance in the Melissa McCarthy film Spy, gave Lady Gaga a run for her money with her headgear and attracted droves of attention on social media.</s>The performance by Salvador Sobral, this year's winner of the Eurovision Song Contest, was different than the others.

Most of the performances are noted for a lot of glitz and being pretty cheesy.

Twenty-five competitors carried on that tradition this year — performing on a wide stage backed by flashing lights, bursts of flames and other effects.

Sobral took a different take in his performance on Saturday — singing from a small elevated circle in the middle of the crowd.

His Song "Amar Pelos Dois" — "Love For Both" — struck an intimate chord with the audience.

While accepting the award, Sobral said, "Music is not fireworks, music is feeling."

Kristian Kostov of Bulgaria was runner-up and Moldova's Sunstroke Project finished third.

This is the 62nd year for Eurovision which was started to bring recently warring European countries together.

This year's contest was hosted by Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, and it was not without controversy.

"Russia's participation was scuttled by host Ukraine over the two nations' diplomatic and military conflict. "Russia is one of Eurovision's heavy hitters, tied with Sweden for the most top-five finishes this century. But this year's Russian entrant, Yuliya Samoylova, was blocked from competing by Ukraine because she had toured in Crimea after Russia's 2014 annexation of the peninsula. "In response, Russia's state-owned Channel 1 television is refusing to broadcast the contest, replacing Saturday's final with a screening of the film "Alien." "The Moscow-Kiev split is a headache for Eurovision's producer, the European Broadcasting Union, which strives mightily to keep pop and politics separate. Overtly political flags and banners are banned, and lyrics are monitored for provocative content. "In 2009, the EBU nixed the Georgian entry "We Don't Wanna Put In," a dig at Russian President Vladimir Putin. The union, however, has been criticized for not barring "1944" last year, allowing Russia-Ukraine tensions to fester."



Eurovision has a major following, and it has helped to boost the careers of many performers — including Sweden's ABBA which won in 1974 with the song "Waterloo."</s>It’s the Eurovision Song Contest this weekend and it doesn’t take a geography expert to tell you that although Australia are competing, Australia is indeed NOT in Europe.

In fact, Australia couldn’t be much further from Europe, here is a helpful map (below) to illustrate this issue.

If you’re thinking to yourself ‘I don’t remember this happening every year’, you are correct.

So, why are Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest?

Australia first competed in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2015 when it was held in Vienna, in Australia. This was to mark the show’s 60th anniversary.

This was originally meant to just be a one-off event but later on in 2015 it was confirmed by SVT that Australia would be entering again the following year.

The reasoning is basically down to TV rights. Former Bake Off host Mel Giedroyc described how it came about on BBC’s Eurovision: You Decide: "The simple fact is, Australia’s host TV broadcaster SBS is part of the European Broadcasting Union, otherwise known as the EBU.

"And this is a qualification requirement for entering the Eurovision Song Contest. So that’s why we’ll see them in May."

The Eurovision itself has something of a cult following down under, and while it costs a fair amount for SBS to broadcast the event the ratings justify the costs entirely.

SBS has been showing the Eurovision Song Contest for three decades now and the fact it doesn't start until 2am in Australia doesn’t seem to deter viewers one bit.

While us Brits love to stay up to the early hours watching the likes of the Super Bowl and Wrestlemania, Ozzies enjoy getting the beers in and enjoying the Eurovision. Which is understandable, alcohol makes the whole thing much more bearable.

Aren't Israel also in the Eurovision Song Contest?

Yes they are, and yes Israel is also not in Europe.

Israel has been competing regularly in the competition since 1973.

This is allowed because the Israel Broadcasting Authority is a member of the Eurovision governing body.

Why aren't Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest?

This is the first time in nearly two decades that Russia will not be at the Eurovision Song Contest. The reason they're absent this year comes down to politics.

The final this year will be held in Ukraine, and Ukraine and Russia have a fragile history, to say the least. Things became extremely heated in 2014 with the controversial annexation of the disputed Crimea region by Russian forces.

These events were thought to be lightly referenced in Ukraine's 2016 Eurovision entry '1944', which won the competition. Russia didn't take kindly to this and earlier this year Ukraine's security services banned Russia's singer from entering the country for the contest.

The European Broadcasting Union condemned Ukraine's decision to do this and negotiated a compromise whereby the Russian entrant would be allowed to perform via satellite during both the semi-finals and Grand Final should she qualify.

Russian broadcaster Channel One found this to be strange and decided against broadcasting the event entirely and said in a statement that Russia will not be competing at all.

At this point it is still unknown whether Russia will return in 2018.</s>Portugal won the Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev, Ukraine on Saturday, marking the first time that country has won the contest since 1964. The winning song, "Amar Pelos Dois," had been a favorite through last week's semifinals.

In his acceptance speech, singer Salvador Sobral railed against what he called "disposable music," saying he thought his win was "a victory for music with people who make music that actually means something." After his win, Sobral reprised the winning song as a duet with his sister Luísa, who wrote and composed it.

Sobral first performed his winning ballad bare-bones, stripped of many of the larger-than-life on-stage (and off-stage) treatments associated with Eurovision. There were no backup dancers or pyrotechnics; a stage manager urged audience members in the arena not to cheer as Sobral's quieted performance began. Another relatively rare feature of this year's winner was that Sobral sung in Portuguese, not English, which often hampers a country's shot at winning. The last non-English winner was in 2007, when Serbia's Marija Šerifović won with "Molitva."

Kristian Kostov, of Bulgaria, came in second with "Beautiful Mess."

Eurovision began 1956, with seven countries from continental Europe competing. The contest has since grown to into a mega-production; this year's show featured acts from 42 countries, including non-European countries like Israel and Australia.

The winner is determined through a mix of voting from viewers at home and the opinions of music industry professionals from each represented country, through a complex format intended to maximize the chances for a dramatic reveal of the winner. The competition's rules, like finding the baby in a king cake, have the winning country host the following year's contest.

This year's contest was in danger of being overshadowed by politics, however, despite the rules generally discouraging political overtures.

Ukraine, the winner of last year's competition with a song that referenced the mass deportation of Crimean Tatars during World War II, was viewed as thinly-veiled criticism of the 2014 annexation of Crimea. Ukraine and Russia have publicly sparred over the win since.

Julia Samoylova, intended to be Russia's Eurovision envoy this year, was banned by Ukrainian authorities from entering the country after the host country learned she'd performed in Crimea without permission from Ukrainian authorities following the territory's annexation in 2014. After failing to convince Ukraine to reverse its decision to bar Samoylova, Eurovision organizers gave Russia the option to have her perform remotely or for Russia to choose a different artist, an offer rejected by the Russian channels which selected her. In a statement quoted by the Tass news agency, Russian representatives said the offer "clearly runs counter to the very essence of the event."

The detente wasn't Russia's only Eurovision controversy in recent years; 2014's contest saw the country's entry booed, a reaction to Russia's laws around LGBT rights. That booing continued, to varying degrees, through subsequent years.

Aside from the political imbroglios, Eurovision has for most of its existence been known for its oddball performances — and this year was no exception.

Romania's entry, "Yodel It!" by Illinca and Alex Florea, indeed had, as the title suggests, a fair bit of yodeling, which also featured rap as well as regular singing.

Jacques Houdek's "My Friend," from Croatia, was a duet, fairly common in Eurovision. But here, Houdek's partner was himself, with Houdek dramatically pivoting each time he switched voices. Not to mention the fact that he did all this in two languages — and neither Croatian.

Italy, a favorite to win this year, ended in sixth place. Francesco Gabbani's "Occidentali's Karma" was staged featuring a man in a gorilla costume dancing on the stage — a nod, the singer said, to anthropologist Desmond Morris' book The Naked Ape, which helped inspire the song.

Moldova entered "Hey Mama," by the Sunstroke Project, a band whose exuberant saxophonist became the "Epic Sax Guy" meme when the group first brought it to Eurovision in 2010. Moldova's entry this year was about an overprotective mother-in-law. The band is, no doubt, hoping "Hey Mama" will manage to go viral as well.

For its part, the diminutive Balkan nation of Montenegro brought "Space," by Slavko Kalezić, who donned a mesh shirt, sparkly pants, and danced around the stage waving his unnaturally long pony tail in a circle. He did not make it to the final.

Next year's contest is scheduled for May, in Portugal.
Salvador Sobral of Portugal wins the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Amar pelos dois. While the country debuted in the 1964 edition of the contest, this marks the first win by a Portuguese entrant.