Countries that haven't yet won Eurovision and their best results

Throughout the Eurovision Song Contest's 65 year history, twenty-seven countries have won the contest. Out of all the countries that have ever competed, twenty-five countries are yet to claim the Eurovision trophy.

Today we take a look at all sixteen countries who are competing at this year's contest who are yet to win the trophy and look at their best placed entries at Eurovision.

We have ranked these countries in order of how many years since each country debuted to 2020 as this years contest has not yet commenced.

Malta - 49 years

The current record holders are Malta who have competed for 49 years without a win. They debuted all the way back in 1971 with Joe Grech and the song ‘Marija L-maltija’. They’ve gotten very close to a win on two occasions, but have ultimately come up just short. In both 2002 (Ira Losco with ‘7th Wonder’) and 2005 (Chiara with ‘Angel’) Malta finished as runner up. The 2021 contest will be Malta's 50th year competing and hopefully this is the year they break their drought.

Cyprus - 39 years

In 1981 Cyprus made their debut, with Island and their song ‘Monika’ finishing in 6th place. Cyprus have also fallen just short of claiming the Eurovision trophy, with the high tempo and hair choreography from Eleni Foureira in her song ‘Fuego’ finishing in second behind Netta's 'Toy' in Lisbon in 2018 their best result.

Iceland - 34 years

The country with the third longest drought since their debut is Iceland. They debuted in 1986, but actually had been wanting to participate for several years prior but had to wait until a satellite connection to Iceland could be established. Unfortunately for Iceland they didn’t do very well in that inaugural contest in Bergen, with Icy and their song ‘Gleðibankinn’ only finishing in 16th place. Just like Malta and Cyprus, Iceland’s best result is 2nd place, with Iceland achieving that result in 1999 with Selma's 'All Out of Luck' and in 2009 with Yohanna's 'Is It True?'.

Croatia - 27 years

Ex – Yugoslav country Croatia made its debut in the 1993 contest. Their best result yet was 4th in 1996 with Maja Blagdan's 'Sveta ljubav' (along with her impressive high note) and in 1999 with Doris Dragović's 'Marija Magdalena'.

Slovenia - 27 years

Along with Croatia, Slovenia also made its debut at Eurovision in 1993 . They finished in 22nd place in their first contest. Slovenia have managed 7th place on two occasions in 1995 with Darja Švajger's 'Prisluhni mi' and 2001 with Nuša Derenda's Energy.

Poland - 26 years

In 1994 Poland made their debut at Eurovision. Their first ever entry was also their best result to date, with Edyta Górniak and her song ‘To Nie Ja!’ finishing 2nd in Dublin.

Lithuania - 26 years

Fellow 1994 debutants Lithuania are the only Baltic nation yet to win Eurovision. From a 25th place result on debut in Dublin, Lithuania’s highest result to date was in 2006, when LT United finished 6th with the song ‘We Are The Winners’ in Athens.

Romania - 26 years

Romania also debuted in 1994, with Dan Bittman finishing 21st with the song ‘Dincolo De Nori’. Romania’s best result was 3rd, which they achieved in 2005 with 'Let Me Try' by Luminița Anghel and Sistem and in 2010 with 'Playing with Fire' by Paula Seling and Ovi.

North Macedonia - 22 years

In 1998 North Macedonia, known back then as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, made their debut in Birmingham. From a 19th place finish that night in the United Kingdom, their best result was actually at the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, with Tamara Todevska finishing 7th in the Grand Final after winning the jury vote with the song 'Proud'.

Albania - 16 years

Albania made their debut in the contest in 2004 where they finished in 7th place in the Grand Final with the song 'The Image of You' by Anjeza Shahini. They’d have to wait until 2012 to better that result, with Rona Nishliu finishing 5th in the Grand Final in Baku with 'Suus'. This remains Albania's best result to date.

Bulgaria - 15 years

It was Bulgaria’s turn to make their debut at Eurovision in 2005. Bulgaria only managed a 19th place result in the semi final. Their best result came in 2017, with Kristian Kostov finishing 2nd behind Salvador Sobral in Kyiv with the song 'Beautiful Mess'.

Moldova - 15 years

Moldova also joined the Eurovision family in 2005, debuting in Kyiv. Zdob si Zdub was Moldova’s debut artist, and their song ‘Boonika Bate Toba’ finished 6th in the Grand Final. Like Bulgaria, Moldova also achieved their best result at the 2017 contest, with fan favourite Sunstroke Project's 'Hey Mamma!' finishing 3rd in Kyiv.

Czech Republic - 13 years

The Czech Republic had to wait until 2007 to make their debut, with Kabát finishing in dead last in the semi final. It took them until 2016 to qualify for the Grand Final, but since then they’ve qualified every year bar one. Their best result came in 2018, with Mikolas Josef and his very catchy song ‘Lie To Me’ finishing 6th in the Grand Final in Lisbon.

Georgia - 13 years

Georgia also debuted in 2007, and unfortunately over the last 13 years the Junior Eurovision powerhouse yet to win the adult version of the contest. Georgia's best result at Eurovision has been 9th on two occasions, in 2010 with Sopho Nizharadze's 'Shine' and in 2011 with Eldrine's 'One More Day'.

San Marino - 12 years

In 2008 San Marino debuted, with Miodio finishing 19th in its semi final. Unfortunately for San Marino, it took them until 2014 to finally qualify for the Grand Final, but it was their second qualification in 2019 that saw their best result ever, with Serhat and his very catchy song ‘Say Na Na Na’ finishing in 19th place.

Australia - 5 years

Finally, the only other country competing this year that hasn’t won the competition yet is Australia! Since our great start at Eurovision with a 5th place finish in our debut year back in 2015, we came so close to winning the whole thing the following year with Dami Im's 'Sound of Silence' which won the jury vote and was the overall runner up.

With a few of these countries being some of the favourites in this years contest, we might not have to wait too long until we see a non-winning country take out the Eurovision Song Contest again! We will have to wait till May to see.