Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026

Germany is set to be represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 with the song "Fire", written by Dario Schürmann, Luisa Heinemann, Raphael Lott, Sarah Engels and Valentin Boes, and performed by Engels herself. The German participating broadcaster on behalf of ARD, Südwestrundfunk (SWR), organised the national final format Eurovision Song Contest – Das deutsche Finale 2026 to select its entry for the contest.

As a member of the "Big Four", Germany automatically qualifies to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Prior to the 2026 contest, ARD has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Germany 68 times since its debut at the inaugural contest in 1956, making Germany, to this point, the country with the most entries in the contest; it has taken part in every edition, except in 1996, when it was eliminated in a pre-qualification round.^[1] It has won the contest on two occasions: in 1982 with the song "Ein bißchen Frieden" performed by Nicole, and in 2010 with the song "Satellite" performed by Lena. In 2025, "Baller" performed by Abor & Tynna placed 15th out of 26 competing songs in the final with 151 points.^[1]

As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, ARD organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. ARD confirmed its participation in the 2026 contest on 3 June 2025.^[2] For the first time, ARD has delegated the participation in the contest to its member Südwestrundfunk (SWR), starting in 2026. On 17 September 2025, SWR announced that it would organise a national final with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete in the contest.^[3]

Eurovision Song Contest – Das deutsche Finale 2026 ("Eurovision Song Contest – The German Final 2026") was the competition that selected the German entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2026. The competition took place on 28 February 2026 at the Studio Berlin in Adlershof, hosted by Barbara Schöneberger and Hazel Brugger, and consisted of a single show which was broadcast on Das Erste and One as well as online via the ARD Mediathek platform.^[4] The national final was watched by 3.651 million viewers in Germany with a market share of 18.1% – the highest since 2002.^[5]

Interested artists and composers were able to submit their entries for the competition between 15 September 2025 and 22 October 2025. Artists were required to be 18 years of age by 30 April 2026, be professional performers with an existing business environment as well as media experience, and have a connection to Germany (possess German citizenship, residency or ancestry, or be German-speaking).^[6][7] Additional proposals were received by SWR from record companies, music publishers, artist managers and international music industry representatives.^[8][9] The nine competing entries were selected over three stages. In the first stage, entries were selected for the second stage by members of the SWR editorial team.^[7] The second stage involved an international expert and audience panel shortlisting several entries for the third stage. In the third stage, the shortlisted artists further developed their songs in songwriting camps with international songwriters and producers, and a panel of music industry experts as well as the international panel selected the nine finalists.^[9][10][11] The nine participating acts were announced on 15 January 2026.^[12]

The final took place on 28 February 2026. The winner was selected through two rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, a 20-member international jury panel selected the top three entries to proceed to the second round. In the second round, the winner, "Fire" performed by Sarah Engels, was selected solely through public voting.^[13] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the show was opened by German 2025 entrants Abor and Tynna performing their entry "Baller", while former Eurovision entrants Ruslana (Ukraine 2004), Michael Schulte (Germany 2018), Luca Hänni (Switzerland 2019), Destiny (Malta 2021) and Carla (France Junior 2019) performed during the show.^[14] Four experts also provided feedback in regards to the songs during the show: comedian Carolin Kebekus, Swiss 1969 and 1980 entrant Paola Felix, actor Hans Sigl and Schulte.^[15][16]

The Eurovision Song Contest 2026 will take place at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria, and will consist of two semi-finals held on the respective dates of 12 and 14 May and the final on 16 May 2026. All nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete in the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progresses to the final. As a member of the "Big Four", Germany automatically qualifies to compete in the final on 16 May 2026, but is also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals. This was decided via a draw held during the semi-final allocation draw on 12 January 2026, when it was announced that Germany would be voting in the second semi-final. Despite being an automatic qualifier for the final, the German entry will also be performed during the semi-final.^[18]

• Official ARD Eurovision site