Croatia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 29 times since making its debut at the. The Croatian participant broadcaster in the contest is Hrvatska radiotelevizija (HRT), which has selected its entrant at the Dora festival since 1993, excluding from 2012 to 2018. Croatia's best result in the contest is a second-place finish in. Croatia achieved six top ten results in seven years, with "Nostalgija" performed by Magazin and Lidija finishing sixth, "Sveta ljubav" by Maja Blagdan fourth , "Neka mi ne svane" by former Magazin member Danijela Martinović fifth , "Marija Magdalena" by Doris Dragović fourth , "Kad zaspu anđeli" by Goran Karan ninth , and "Strings of My Heart" by Vanna tenth. A period of 23 years without a top ten result followed, which was interrupted by a second-place finish in 2024 with "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" by Baby Lasagna. Croatia failed to reach the final for four years in succession (–), before choosing to not participate in and. Croatia returned and reached the final in both and, before again failing to reach the final for four consecutive contests (–). This non-qualification streak was broken in, when Croatia advanced to the final. In total, Croatia has failed to reach the final in nine of the last fourteen contests it has entered.

Participation

Hrvatska radiotelevizija (HRT) is a full member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 1 January 1993, thus eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest since then. It has participated in the contest representing Croatia since its that same year. Before its independence in 1991, Croatia was part of Yugoslavia. Ten n entrants in the Eurovision Song Contest came from the former SR Croatia (,, , , , , , , , and ). Apart from being the most successful Yugoslav republic in the contest, it gave the socialist republic its only win, "Rock Me", performed by Riva in 1989 in Lausanne. The was held in Zagreb as a result, hosted by HRT's predecessor Radio Televizija Zagreb on behalf of the Yugoslav Radio Television (JRT).

History

1990s

After the dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1991, HRT had organised Crovizija, a festival to select a Croatian representative for the. If it had been a member of the EBU in time for the contest, the first Croatian entry at Eurovision would have been "Aleluja" by the band Magazin. In February 1993, HRT organised HTF - Hrvatski televizijski festival (Croatian television festival), which was to select the country's debut entry as an independent state for the 1993 contest. The band Put won performing the song "Don't Ever Cry" which was, despite the English title, also partially performed in Croatian. The song came third in the Kvalifikacija za Millstreet pre-selection event, which allowed their participation in the 1993 contest. HTF was also held in 1994 for the 1994 contest, until being renamed to Dora in 1995, the name which is still to this day used for the Croatian pre-selection event. The new name for the contest was inspired by the Croatian composer Dora Pejačević. Along with Cyprus, Malta, Norway, Portugal, and Sweden, Croatia was never relegated in the 1990s, and, unlike Cyprus, Norway, and Portugal, it was never relegated in the beginning of the 21st century. Relegation meant that the country would have to sit out the subsequent contest due to poor placement.

2000s

Croatia continued selecting its participants through Dora for the entirety of the decade. After Vanna's song "Strings of my Heart" finished 10th at the contest, the country has not achieved a Top 10 placement until placing second at the contest. The edition of the contest saw Croatia failing to qualify for the finals for the first time ever. The country qualified for the finals again at the and contests, achieving their lowest placements at the time, placing 21st and 18th respectively.

2010s

Both 2010 and 2011 Dora winners, Feminnem and Daria Kinzer respectively, failed to quality for the finals at the and contests. In 2012, Dora was cancelled, and for the first time ever since the country's debut in 1993, no pre-selection contest was held. An internal selection was made by HRT instead, with Nina Badrić and Klapa s Mora selected to represent Croatia at the and contests respectively. Both entries ultimately continued Croatia's non-qualification streak. HRT announced on 19 September 2013 that they would not participate in the contest, citing the financial difficulties, as well as a string of poor results between and influencing their decision to take a year's break. The last time Croatia qualified for the grand final at the time was in. Croatia would not return to the contest in 2015, and on 5 May 2015, HRT announced that it wouldn't broadcast the 2015 contest either. It was the first time since for HRT to not broadcast the contest. On 26 November 2015, it was announced that Croatia would return to the contest in. It was also reported that the entry would possibly be the winner of the first season of The Voice – Najljepši glas Hrvatske. Nina Kraljić won The Voice and was selected to represent Croatia with the internally selected song "Lighthouse". The entry qualified for the final, making it the first time Croatia had made it to the final since 2009. After the successful return in 2016, Croatian national broadcaster HRT confirmed on 17 September 2016 that they would also participate in 2017. Jacques Houdek, the coach of Nina Kraljić in The Voice, was internally selected to represent the country on 17 February 2017, exactly five months after they confirmed the participation. Franka Batelić was internally selected to represent the country at the contest. On 30 October 2018, it was announced by HRT that the national final, Dora, would return in 2019, traditionally taking place in Opatija, a famous summer resort. Roko won the first renewed edition of Dora with "The Dream", ultimately failing to qualify for the finals at the contest.

2020s

In March 2021, it was confirmed that HRT and Opatija had signed a three-year long contract regarding the organization of HRT Music Days and Dora, meaning both of these events were held in the city annually until 2024. Damir Kedžo won the 2020 edition of Dora with "Divlji vjetre", but did not represent Croatia due to the contest's cancellation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Albina and Mia Dimšić won the subsequent Dora editions, both failing to qualify for the finals at the and contests. Let 3 won Dora in 2023 and went on to secure the country's first finale qualification since 2017, ultimately finishing 13th. The following year's 2024 edition of Dora was held in Zagreb through two semi-final shows on 22 and 23 February, and the final show on 25 February 2024. Baby Lasagna won with "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" and achieved the country's best result to date, having placed second at the contest.

Participation overview

Prior to 's dissolution, artists from the Croatian federal unit represented Yugoslavia in, , , , , , , , , and.

Awards

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Winners by OGAE members

Barbara Dex Award

Related involvement

Conductors

Heads of delegation

Each participating broadcaster in the Eurovision Song Contest assigns a head of delegation as the EBU's contact person and the leader of their delegation at the event. The delegation, whose size can greatly vary, includes a head of press, the contestants, songwriters, composers and backing vocalists, among others.

Commentators and spokespersons

For the show's broadcast on HRT, various commentators have provided commentary on the contest in the Croatian language. At the Eurovision Song Contest after all points are calculated, the presenters of the show call upon each voting country to invite each respective spokesperson to announce the results of their vote on-screen. From until, Croatia was part of and TV Zagreb, the affiliate of JRT in the socialist republic, broadcast the contest with Croatian commentary.

Photo gallery

Notes and references