Format
The contest final took place on 16 May 2009 at the Olympic Indoor Arena in Moscow, Russia with two semi-finals preceding it on 12 and 14 May. Thirty-seven countries participated in one of the two semi-finals of the contest, with the "Big Four" countries (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) and the host pre-qualified for the final. In addition to those pre-qualified, the final also included the ten selected countries from each semi-final, making a total of twenty-five participants.
A discussion on changes to the format of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest had taken place at an EBU meeting in Athens, Greece in June 2008 where a proposal was made that could have resulted in the "Big Four" losing their automatic place in the final of the contest. However, it was confirmed that the "Big Four" countries would continue to automatically qualify for the final at the 2009 contest.
Read more about this topic: Eurovision Song Contest 2009