Who Will Win Eurovision 2025? Sweden Still Favourites; Ireland Longshots

The Eurovision Song Contest takes place this week, but which act from the 37 countries is proving the biggest hit on betting sites?

Basel will host the 2025 event after Nemo’s genre-defying ‘The Code’ gave Switzerland their first victory since Celine Dion with ‘Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi’ in 1988.

Nemo’s wild mixture of opera and hip-hop saw off the challenge of Croatia’s rocky Rim Tim Tagi Dim to give the Swiss their third overall win.

Ireland finished a respectable sixth with 2024 witchcraft offering Doomsday Blue by Bambie Thug, but this year they face a battle to make the final with Emmy's electro-pop song Laika Party which is a best-priced 250/1.

The United Kingdom finished well down the table with 46 points for Olly Alexander’s Dizzy and this year have taken the country-pop route with Remember Monday’s ‘What The Hell Just Happened?’

Their odds on a first UK success since Katrina and The Waves in 1997 have been cut from 150/1 to 80/1, so momentum is starting to pick up.

Sweden are 6/5 favourites to win the Eurovision Song Contest for a record eighth time, so which artists are in the running to top the Grand Final leaderboard on May 17?

The first semi-final takes place tonight (Tuesday) and the second is on Thursday, so Gambling.com is taking you through the top five in the Eurovision 2025 odds and the UK's entry for what should be another fun-packed night.

Eurovision 2025 Winner Odds: 

Sweden

Act: KAJ

Song: Bara Bada Bastu

Sweden have won Eurovision three times in the last 12 editions and seven overall, the joint-highest with Ireland.

With 11 top-10 finishes in the last 13 appearances, it’s no surprise the Scandinavians usually appear at the top of the betting market in the build-up, and 2025 is no exception from a musical-comedy group that are actually Finnish.

In true Abba fashion, this year’s entry took the initials from the first names of the three group members to come up with KAJ.

Surprisingly, their classic Euro pop song celebrating the niche Finnish sauna scene will be the first to be sung in Swedish by representatives of that country since 1998 – a risky strategy.

The gamble is that their jokes in Bara Bada Bastu will fall on deaf ears, but it’s catchy enough and a refreshing change from the typically serious fare we’ve seen from the Swedes in the past. 

Number one in both Sweden and Finland, it also broke the record for the most streamed Swedish-language song in one day on Spotify (almost 1.4 million).

Momentum is clearly gathering for another Swedish success story.

Chances: Never underestimate the Swedes – even when they’re Finns.

Austria

Act: JJ

Song: Wasted Love

JJ may have one letter fewer than KAJ, but the Austrian certainly packs a punch with Wasted Love which bears a passing resemblance to Switzerland’s 2021 pop-opera track Tout l’univers from Gijon’s Tears, although not as good.

It’s certainly a dramatic track and allows JJ to showcase his stunning soprano voice which seems to go higher in pitch with every note.

There’s a surprising shift towards techno at the end of the song, so those who liked The Code may find themselves voting for Wasted Love.

It still has to get through the second semi-final stage but that is surely a formality for Austria which famously won Eurovision in 2014 with Conchita Wurst’s ‘Rise Like A Phoenix’.

Betting apps make this song a clear second favourite behind frontrunner Sweden.

Chances: Mixing pop and opera seems to be a popular genre for Eurovision these days and it wouldn’t be a shock if Wasted Love proved a big hit with the public.

France

Act: Louane

Song: Maman

France are one of the big five, so automatically qualify for the Grand Final, but despite winning Eurovision five times, recent success has proved elusive. 

That said, the French have gone close in the last few years, with the excellent ‘Voila’ sung by Barbara Pravi finishing runner-up to Roman rockers Maneskin.

Twelve months ago, Slimane was fourth with tear-jerker Mon Amour and this year’s entry Maman is in a similar vein.

Louane lost both of her parents during her teenage years and Maman is about her mother, who died in 2014 after a long illness.

Subject matter apart, it doesn’t seem to have the quirkiness that is needed to win Eurovision and may have to settle for a podium finish.

Chances: Top five at best, but the odds suggest better.

Israel

Act: Yuval Raphael

Song: New Day Will Rise

Israel are the seventh most successful nation at Eurovision and they could be on to another winner with New Day Will Rise, according to bookmakers.

Yuval Raphael’s brooding number could not be more removed from Netta’s winning song Toy which dazzled the Lisbon audience seven years ago.

Last year’s entry from Eden Golan was originally called ‘October Rain’ but had to be renamed ‘Hurricane’ over concerns that it referred to the Hamas attack during that month in 2023.

The video for New Day Will Rise involves a group of young people having a picnic in the countryside, so read into that what you will. 

A shower of violins gives way to the piano and Yuval’s powerful voice during three unoriginal minutes aimed at tugging at your heart strings.

Chances: Third and fifth in the last two years, Israel seem to know what makes a successful Eurovision song, but this one falls pretty flat.

Finland

Act: Erika Vikman

Song: Ich Komme

Momentum is shifting towards a big performance from Finland's Erika Vikman, who leaves very little to the imagination for her raunchy track 'Ich Komme' which translates as 'I Come' from German.

Vikman's leather outfit immediately informs discerning members of the public that a tear-jerking ballad is not on the cards.

It's a catchy enough song, though, which gets faster and faster as it reaches its climax, during which she shoots into the air on a huge gold microphone. Get the drift?

The jury on Wiwibloggs, an independent website devoted to all things Eurovision, voted Ich Komme their favourite song of this year's 37 entries, so it clearly has appeal.

It's perhaps too much of a one-trick pony to deserve winner status, but it will definitely go down well with the audience in Basel. 

Chances: The question is whether this track will capture the hearts of the wider public and we suspect it will fall short. 

United Kingdom

Act: Remember Monday

Song: What The Hell Just Happened?

The UK always seem to head to Eurovision looking to avoid the dreaded nil points, but Sam Ryder proved that the right song can capture the hearts of the continent and afar.

Remember Monday are a country-pop trio from Farnborough, of all places, and they were 150/1 at one point but as the final approaches, it seems the UK are starting to take a punt on them causing a surprise.

Most bookmakers, though, have them priced at 80/1 or lower for this likeable track which has had music writers thrashing out all their wackiest mash-up comparisons.

It’s fun, zany and lively, and should go down well with the audience in Basel, but will the wider public wonder what just happened?

Chances: It won’t win but its lack of earnestness may set it apart from some of the favourites. 

Eurovision 2025 Odds: Outsiders For Swiss Success

Although the bookmakers are usually spot-on when it comes to picking Eurovision winners, the market often becomes volatile, especially once the live rehearsals get under way.

Despite being a best-priced 28/1 with SpreadEx, Belgium are as low as 12/1 with some bookmakers for Red Sebastian's techno track Strobe Lights.

Sepp Herreman's voice is fairly bland in the lower register and although he hits some high notes midway through the song, we wonder whether he may falter when it comes to performing live.

The Netherlands won Eurovision with Duncan Laurence’s Arcade in 2019, but it’s been a toe-curling last couple of years for the Dutch.

First, Mia Nicolai and Dion Cooper failed to qualify for the Grand Final in 2023 and 12 months ago Joost Klein was kicked out of the competition for a “backstage incident”.

Claude seems to be a safe pair of hands for the Netherlands this year, combining English and French in his uplifting track C’est La Vie which has drifted to 33/1 from 16/1 in the Eurovision winner odds.

A catchy, if corny, chorus is likely to go down well in Basel, but what will the public think?

Estonia, like Sweden, have taken the comic route with Tommy Cash's Espresso Macchiato, which hasn't gone down too well with some Italians for its stereotyping of their lifestyle.

Spoken in broken English, it's pure kitsch, though, as he stares lovingly at a cup of coffee in the opening line and later belts out “mi money numeroso, I work around the clocko. That’s why I’m sweating like a mafioso.” 

It's great fun, doesn't take itself seriously and could be one to watch at 50/1.

The big sound of Czechia's entry, 'Kiss Kiss Goodbye' by Slovakian Adonxs, was 28/1 for success in Basel, but its odds have been lengthening by the day and it could struggle to get past the semi-final stage.

SpreadEx are out on a limb at 80/1 and although Betfred are as low as 20/1, most betting sites are in the 50/1 to 66/1 range.

Malta are one to watch at 70/1. Miriana Konte had to rework and rename her dance track 'Kant' - Maltese word for 'singing' - to 'Serving' presumably because the EBU, the Eurovision organisers, thought it sounded rude.

It's got the vibe of Netta's Toy and ticks a lot of boxes, so we expect her odds to drop considerably in the build-up to Eurovision.

Ireland, though, are massive outsiders at 250/1 for dance track Laika Party, a tribute to the Russian dog which was the first living organism in space. 

The track, co-written by one Irish and three Norwegian songwriters, is sung by Emmy, who is from Norway.