Junior Eurovision 2021 country line-up revealed

Tonight the final list of competing countries for the 2021 Junior Eurovision Song Contest was revealed by the EBU.

19 countries will take part in the year's contest taking place in Paris in December, they are:

• Albania

• Armenia

• Azerbaijan

• Bulgaria

• France

• Germany

• Georgia

• Ireland

• Italy

• Kazakhstan

• Malta

• Netherlands

• North Macedonia

• Poland

• Portugal

• Russia

• Serbia

• Spain

• Ukraine

The field is bolstered by the return of seven countries.

Five nations that withdrew last year due to the pandemic are back – Albania, Ireland, Italy, North Macedonia and Portugal. Unfortunately, Australia is not one of them, with the current travel restrictions keeping us out of the contest for another year.

Armenia is also back this year, after withdrawing in 2020 due to the conflict issues that were occurring at the time.

Azerbaijan is also back this year, after having last competed in 2018.

The final returning country is Bulgaria, who last competed in 2016.

With much of the field yet to be announced, the next few months are going to be exciting as we find out which young, talented stars will grace the stage in Paris in December.