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| Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest | |
|---|---|
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| Participating broadcaster | Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) |
| Participation summary | |
| Appearances | 64 (53 finals) |
| First appearance | 1956 |
| Highest placement | 1st: 1956, 1988, 2024 |
| Host | 1956, 1989, 2025 |
Participation history
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| External links | |
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Switzerland's page at Eurovision.tv  | |
 For the most recent participation seeSwitzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 | |
Switzerland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 64 times since its debut at the first contest in 1956, missing only four contests because of being relegated due to poor results the previous year: 1995, 1999, 2001, and 2003. Switzerland hosted the inaugural contest in 1956 in Lugano, where it also won. The country claimed its second victory in 1988, 32 years after the first, and its third in 2024, 36 years after the second win.
Lys Assia won the inaugural contest in 1956 with the song "Refrain" and returned to place second in 1958. Switzerland achieved second place with Esther Ofarim (1963) and Daniela Simmons (1986), and third place with Franca di Rienzo (1961) and Arlette Zola (1982). The country won for the second time in 1988 with Céline Dion and the song "Ne partez pas sans moi". Annie Cotton secured Switzerland's 15th top-five finish by placing third in 1993.
Since the introduction of the qualifying round in 1993, Switzerland has reached the top ten only four times. Since the semi-final round's inception in 2004, the country has failed to reach the final in 11 of 19 contests, finishing last in the semi-final on four occasions. Switzerland returned to the top five after 26 years when Luca Hänni finished fourth in 2019, achieving the country's 16th top-five result. This was followed by Gjon's Tears placing third in 2021, marking the 17th top-five finish. Switzerland won the contest for the third time in 2024, with Nemo and the song "The Code". The country has also finished last in the semi-finals four times since 2004, with Piero and the MusicStars (2004), Michael von der Heide (2010), Mélanie René (2015), and Rykka (2016).
Switzerland has four official languages, French, German, Italian, and Romansh. For intermittent periods prior to its abolition in 1999, the rules stated that the song had to be performed in an official language, which gave Switzerland leeway as it could submit entries in any of the four languages. Out of its 64 appearances in the contest, Switzerland has sent 65 songs, 24 of which were in French,[a] 12 in German, 18 in English, 10 in Italian and 1 in Romansh. The first two of Switzerland's winning songs were sung in French, with the third being sung in English.
A mix of different selection processes have been used to determine Switzerland's entry in each year's contest. Since 2019, SRG SSR has used an internal selection process, although televised national finals were used in previous years, held under various names including Concours Eurovision from the 1950s to 2000s, and Die Grosse Entscheidungsshow between 2011 and 2018. In the 1980s, the Swiss national finals tended to have ten participating songs each year: three in French, three in German, three in Italian and one in Romansch.
| 1 | First place |
| 2 | Second place |
| 3 | Third place |
| ◁ | Last place |
| X | Entry selected but did not compete |
| † | Upcoming event |
| Artist | Song | Language | AtCongratulations | At Eurovision | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final | Points | Semi | Points | Year | Place | Points | |||
| Céline Dion | "Ne partez pas sans moi" | French | Failed to qualify | 10 | 98 | 1988 | 1 | 137 | |
| Year | Location | Venue | Presenter(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | Lugano | Teatro Kursaal | Lohengrin Filipello |
| 1989 | Lausanne | Palais de Beaulieu | Lolita Morena and Jacques Deschenaux |
| 2025 | TBA † | ||
| Year | Category | Song | Composer(s) lyrics (l) / music (m) |
Performer | Final | Points | Host city | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Composer Award | "Tout l'univers" | Gjon Muharremaj, Xavier Michel, Wouter Hardy & Nina Sampermans (m &l) | Gjon's Tears | 3 | 432 |  Rotterdam
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| 2024 | Composer Award Artistic Award[e] |
"The Code" | Benjamin Alasu, Lasse Midtsian Nymann, Linda Dale, Nemo Mettler (m&l) | Nemo | 1 | 591 |  Malmö
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| Year | Conductor[f] | Musical director | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | Fernando Paggi | [g] | [4] | |
| 1957 |  Willy Berking
|
N/A | [h] | |
| 1958 | Paul Burkhard | |||
| 1959 |  Franck Pourcel
|
[i] | ||
| 1960 | Cédric Dumont | |||
| 1961 | Fernando Paggi | |||
| 1962 | Cédric Dumont | |||
| 1963 |  Eric Robinson
|
[j] | ||
| 1964 | Fernando Paggi | |||
| 1965 | Mario Robbiani | |||
| 1966 |  Jean Roderes
|
[k] | ||
| 1967 | Hans Moeckel | |||
| 1968 | Mario Robbiani | |||
| 1969 | Henry Mayer
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| 1970 | Bernard Gérard
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[5] | ||
| 1971 | Hardy Schneiders | |||
| 1972 | Jean-Pierre Festi
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| 1973 | Hervé Roy
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| 1974 | Pepe Ederer
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| 1975 | Peter Jacques | |||
| 1976 | Mario Robbiani | |||
| 1977 | Peter Jacques | |||
| 1978 | Daniel Janin
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| 1979 | Rolf Zuckowski
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| 1980 | Peter Reber | [6] | ||
| 1981 | Rolf Zuckowski
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| 1982 |  Joan Amils
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| 1983 | Robert Weber | [l] | ||
| 1984 | Mario Robbiani | |||
| 1985 | Anita Kerr | |||
| 1986 |   Atilla Şereftuğ
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| 1987 | No conductor | |||
| 1988 | Atilla Şereftuğ
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| 1989 | Benoît Kaufman
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[m] | ||
| 1990 | Bela Balint | N/A | ||
| 1991 |  Flaviano Cuffari
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| 1992 | Roby Seidel | |||
| 1993 | Marc Sorrentino | |||
| 1994 | Valeriano Chiaravalle
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| 1996 |  Rui dos Reis
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| 1997 | Pietro Damiani
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| 1998 | No conductor | |||
| Year | Head of delegation | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| 2016–2021 | Reto Peritz | |
| 2022–2024 | Yves Schifferle | |
| 2025 | Daniel Meister |
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Over the years Switzerland has broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest on three television stations, SRF (German language), RTS (French language) and RSI (Italian language).
| Year | Commentator | Spokesperson | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SRF | RTS | RSI | |||
| 1956 | Fritz Schäuffele [de][12] | Raymond Colbert [fr][13] | No broadcast | No spokesperson | |
| 1957 | No broadcast | Commentary via RTF France | Mäni Weber | ||
| 1958 | Theodor Haller | ||||
| 1959 | Boris Acquadro | ||||
| 1960 | |||||
| 1961 | |||||
| 1962 | Commentary via RAI Italy | Alexandre Burger | |||
| 1963 | Georges Hardy | ||||
| 1964 | Robert Burnier | ||||
| 1965 | Jean Charles | ||||
| 1966 | Georges Hardy | Giovanni Bertini | |||
| 1967 | Robert Burnier | ||||
| 1968 | Georges Hardy | ||||
| 1969 | |||||
| 1970 | |||||
| 1971 | No spokesperson | ||||
| 1972 | |||||
| 1973 | |||||
| 1974 | Michel Stocker | ||||
| 1975 | |||||
| 1976 | |||||
| 1977 | |||||
| 1978 | |||||
| 1979 | Max Rüeger | ||||
| 1980 | Theodor Haller | ||||
| 1981 | |||||
| 1982 | |||||
| 1983 | |||||
| 1984 | Bernard Thurnheer | Serge Moisson | Ezio Guidi | ||
| 1985 | |||||
| 1986 | |||||
| 1987 | Wilma Gilardi | ||||
| 1988 | Ezio Guidi | ||||
| 1989 | Thierry Masselot | Giovanni Bertini | |||
| 1990 | Emanuela Gaggini | ||||
| 1991 | Lolita Morena | ||||
| 1992 | Mariano Tschuor | Ivan Frésard | |||
| 1993 | Bernard Thurnheer | Jean-Marc Richard | |||
| 1994 | Wilma Gilardi | Sandra Studer | |||
| 1995 | Heinz Margot | Joanne Holder | Did not participate | ||
| 1996 | Sandra Studer | Pierre Grandjean | Yves Ménestrier | ||
| 1997 | Heinz Margot, Roman Kilchsperger | Jonathan Tedesco | Sandy Altermatt | ||
| 1998 | Jean-Marc Richard | Regula Elsener | |||
| 1999 | Sandra Studer | Did not participate | |||
| 2000 | Astrid Von Stockar | ||||
| 2001 | Phil Mundwiller | Did not participate | |||
| 2002 | Jonathan Tedesco, Claudio Lazzarino | Diana Jörg | |||
| 2003 | Roman Kilchsperger | Jean-Marc Richard, Alain Morisod | Daniele Rauseo, Claudio Lazzarino | Did not participate | |
| 2004 | Marco Fritsche | Daniela Tami, Claudio Lazzarino | Emel Aykanat | ||
| 2005 | Sandra Studer | Jean-Marc Richard, Marie-Thérèse Porchet | Cécile Bähler | ||
| 2006 | Jean-Marc Richard, Alain Morisod | Sandy Altermatt, Claudio Lazzarino | Jubaira Bachmann | ||
| 2007 | Bernard Thurnheer | Jean-Marc Richard (all), Henri Dès (final), Nicolas Tanner (semi-final) |
Sven Epiney | ||
| 2008 | Sven Epiney | Jean-Marc Richard, Nicolas Tanner | Sandy Altermatt | Cécile Bähler | |
| 2009 | |||||
| 2010 | Christa Rigozzi | ||||
| 2011 | Jonathan Tedesco | Cécile Bähler | |||
| 2012 | Clarissa Tami, Paolo Meneguzzi | Sara Hildebrand | |||
| 2013 | Alessandro Bertoglio | Mélanie Freymond | |||
| 2014 | Sven Epiney, Peter Schneider, Gabriel Vetter | Alessandro Bertoglio, Sandy Altermatt | Kurt Aeschbacher | ||
| 2015 | Clarissa Tami, Paolo Meneguzzi | Laetitia Guarino | |||
| 2016 | Clarissa Tami, Michele Carobbio | Sebalter | |||
| 2017 | Sven Epiney (all); Stefan Büsser, Micky Beisenherz (final) | Clarissa Tami (all); Sebalter (final) | Luca Hänni | ||
| 2018 | Sven Epiney | Clarissa Tami, Sebalter | Letícia Carvalho | ||
| 2019 | Jean-Marc Richard, Nicolas Tanner (all); Bastian Baker (final) |
Sinplus | |||
| 2021 | Jean-Marc Richard, Nicolas Tanner (all); Joseph Gorgoni (final) |
Clarissa Tami (2nd semi-final and final); Sebalter (final) |
Angélique Beldner | ||
| 2022 | Jean-Marc Richard (all); Nicolas Tanner (semi-finals) Gjon's Tears (final) |
Clarissa Tami (all); Francesca Marigiotta (1st semi-final and final) Boris Piffaretti (2nd semi-final and final) |
Julie Berthollet | ||
| 2023 | Jean-Marc Richard, Nicolas Tanner, Priscilla Formaz | Ellis Cavallini and Gian-Andrea Costa | Chiara Dubey | ||
| 2024 | Jean-Marc Richard (all), Nicolas Tanner (all), Julie Berthollet (final) | Jennifer Bosshard | |||
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