Recommendations of the Editorial team
Bulgaria celebrates its first ESC victory, but for Germany the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 ended again in disappointment. Sarah Engels landed at number 23 out of 25 with “Fire”. Only Austria and Great Britain performed even worse. In total, the German candidate received just twelve points. They came exclusively from the juries: four points from Portugal, four from Italy, two from Belgium and two from Bulgaria.
Failed by the viewers
Particularly bitter: Engels didn’t get a single point from the televoting. However, that does not mean that viewers for Germany did not call or vote online anywhere. At the ESC, only the ten most popular songs in a country receive points in the audience voting – according to the well-known scheme of 1 to 8, 10 and 12 points. Engels apparently didn’t make it into the top ten in any country with “Fire”.
With this result, there can be no question of a narrow failure at the top places. There were worlds between Germany and tenth place: Greece reached tenth place with Akylas and “Ferto” with 220 points, i.e. 208 points more. Even Lithuania in 22nd place was ten points ahead of Germany with 22 points.
German language, unlucky language?
A small language curse is also noticeable this year: contributions with German text ended up at the end of the field. The British entry from Look Mum No Computer was called “One, Two, Three” and came last with just one point. Austria sent COSMÓ into the race with “Tanzschein” and ended up in 24th place with six points. Sarah Engels sang “Fire” in English, but from a German perspective the result still fits in with the dark trend of the evening: German-language titles and German ESC hopes did not have a good evening in Vienna.
The winners of the evening
Bulgaria won with DARA and “Bangaranga” surprisingly clearly with 516 points – the country’s first ESC victory. Israel came second with Noam Bettan and “Michelle,” while Romania came third with Alexandra Căpitănescu and “Choke Me.” The big favorite Finland, which was ahead in the betting odds before the final, only came in sixth place.
For Engels, however, the starting position was difficult even before the final. Germany was far behind with the bookmakers, and they had to start in second place – a position that is considered particularly ungrateful among ESC fans. Singing directly to Denmark and directly in front of Israel was hardly a dramaturgical gift. Nevertheless, the starting position alone does not explain why Germany came away completely empty-handed in the public voting.
