| Free European Song Contest 2021 | |
|---|---|
| Dates | |
| Final | 15 May 2021 |
| Host | |
| Venue | Lanxess Arena, Cologne, Germany |
| Presenter(s) | Steven Gätjen Conchita Wurst |
| Executive producer | Stefan Raab |
| Host broadcaster | ProSieben |
| Participants | |
| Number of entries | 16 |
| Debuting countries |  Belgium England France Greece Scotland Slovenia |
| Non-returning countries |  Bulgaria Denmark Israel Kazakhstan The Moon United Kingdom |
| Vote | |
| Voting system | Each country awards 12, 10, 8-1 points for 10 songs; 13 countries have votes provided by a single juror, three (Austria, Germany, and Switzerland) have votes determined via televoting. |
| Winning song |  Ireland"The One" |
The Free European Song Contest 2021 was the second edition of the Free European Song Contest,[2] organised by the German television network ProSieben and the production company Raab TV.[3]
The show was broadcast on 15 May 2021 at 20:15 CEST on the television channel ProSieben and on the streaming platform Joyn.[4] It was presented for the second consecutive time by Steven Gätjen and Conchita Wurst.[5]
The winning song was "The One" by Rea Garvey, representing Ireland. It marked Ireland's first victory in the event. For the second consecutive year, the Netherlands finished as runner-up, this year represented by Danny Vera with his 2019 hit "Rollercoaster." Debutant Belgium finished in third place with Milow and his song "ASAP." Although he finished with the same number of points as fellow debuting country Scotland, tiebreak rules put the Belgian entry ahead.
- ^ Granger, Anthony (14 May 2021). "Tonight: The Free European Song Contest 2021". Eurovoix World. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
- ^ Spiteri, Steven (17 May 2020). "Germany: Free European Song Contest to return in 2021". Eurovisionworld. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
- ^ Granger, Anthony (2021-03-16). "Free European Song Contest 2021 To Be Held On May 15". Eurovoix World. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
- ^ "FREE EUROPEAN SONG CONTEST - "FREE EUROPEAN SONG CONTEST" 2021: Comeback des freien, europäischen Songwettbewerb #FreeESC am 15. Mai". www.prosieben.de (in German). 2021-03-16. Archived from the original on 2021-10-19. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
- ^ "FREE EUROPEAN SONG CONTEST - "FREE EUROPEAN SONG CONTEST" 2021: Steven Gätjen und Conchita Wurst sind die Moderatoren". www.prosieben.de (in German). 2021-04-06. Archived from the original on 2022-05-03. Retrieved 2021-04-08.