Eurovision Song Contest 1976 - Participating Countries

Participating Countries

Further information: List of countries in the Eurovision Song Contest

Sweden, Malta and Turkey withdrew from this contest reducing the number of participating countries down to eighteen from the previous competitions record of nineteen countries that took part. Austria and Greece returned to the contest.

Sweden withdrew from the contest, as the broadcaster Sveriges Radio (SR) did not have enough money to host another contest if Sweden won again. A new rule was therefore introduced that in the future each broadcaster participating would have to pay a part of the cost of staging the contest. As the author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor notes in his book The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History, there had been public demonstrations in Sweden against the contest, which also played a part in SR's decision to withdraw. The same book also notes that the victorious song went on to become the biggest selling winning single in the history of the contest and won with 80.39% of the possible maximum score; a record under the voting system introduced in 1975.

Malta, having selected Enzo Guzman with the song "Sing Your Song, Country Boy" to represent them, then withdrew from the contest for undisclosed reasons, as the singer has confirmed. Malta would not return to the competition until 1991. The entry from Greece aroused controversy as it was about the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The previous year Greece had withdrawn from the contest in protest over this matter. This year it was Turkey's turn to withdraw.

Liechtenstein attempted to submit an entry to the contest, but as they had no broadcasting service of their own, they were not allowed to. Their entry would have been "Little Cowboy" by Biggi Bachmann.