Azerbaijan are one of the 18 competing countries at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025 in Tbilisi this coming Saturday. Their artist Yağmur will perform “Miau miau” in slot number 2 during the show.
Amsterdam 2012
Azerbaijan’s interest in participating at Junior Eurovision began as early as 2008, the same year they entered the adult version for the first time. Despite intending to debut in Junior Eurovision in 2008, they were absent from the contest in the end and instead monitored the contest for subsequent years.
In 2012, the same year they hosted the adult contest in Baku, Azerbaijan officially debuted at Junior Eurovision with an internally selected song, “Boys and Girls” by Omar and Suada. Unfamiliar with the rules, Azerbaijan had sent the entry fully in English, which was against the rules of the contest at the time, as English is not a national language of Azerbaijan. The EBU granted them a few days to adjust the lyrics.
Azerbaijan’s success at the contest was not quite as immediate as it had been at the adult contest at that time. Omar and Suada managed to finish only 11th out of the 12 competitors. They did, however, secure 10 points from Albania, who also debuted this year.
Kyiv 2013
Undeterred, Azerbaijan returned straight back to the contest for the 2013 edition, which was held in Ukraine. Once more, the Azerbaijani national broadcaster İTV opted for an internally selected song, announcing Rustam Karimov as the artist at the start of November 2013, then revealing his entry “Me and My Guitar” four days later.
At the contest, Rustam did secure a better position than the previous year for Azerbaijan when he finished in seventh place, even managing to pick up 10 points each from Georgia and the hosts Ukraine.
Minsk 2018
Following two mediocre results for Azerbaijan’s standards, the Azerbaijani broadcaster decided to withdraw from the contest after their first two attempts. Following a four-year break, they returned when the contest travelled to Belarus.
Image Source: Andres Putting
Fidan Huseynova was the third artist to represent Azerbaijan at the contest, once more selected through an internal selection. Her entry “I Wanna Be Like You” was released in October 2018, a month after the artist announcement.
This was the largest Junior Eurovision Song Contest to date and sadly Fidan could only secure 16th place out of the 20, marking Azerbaijan’s lowest finish to date, only managing to secure a high of 6 points from the jury of Albania. Following a disappointing result, Azerbaijan once more took a two-year break, including the 2020 edition, which was held remotely due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Paris 2021
Azerbaijan was one of a stream of countries that announced their return to the contest in 2021 once restrictions surrounding the pandemic had softened. An internal selection saw Sona Azizova be selected as the artist with her entry “One of Those Days” revealed in November 2021.
Azerbaijan fared much better than previous attempts, seeing them finish in fifth place on the night, the first time at the junior contest that Azerbaijan secured a top 5 finish. Italy and Ukraine’s jury gave them 12 points each for the scoreboard.
Image Source: İTV
Azerbaijan’s return was only temporary, as they did not compete in 2022. It was heavily believed that this was due to the contest being held in Armenia, with whom they have ongoing tension. However, İTV confirmed the reason for withdrawal was in fact because several candidates who they had invited via The Voice of Azerbaijan were not interested in competing in Junior Eurovision. Having also sat out for 2023 and 2024, this year Azerbaijan makes a return.
Junior Eurovision 2025
Junior Eurovision 2025 will be held on December 13 in Tbilisi after Andria Putkaradze gave Georgia their record-breaking fourth victory with “To My Mom”. The contest will be held at the Olympic Palace, which previously hosted the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2017.
A total of 18 countries will participate in Junior Eurovision 2025. These countries are:
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Malta: Eliza Borg – “I Believe”
Azerbaijan: Yağmur – “Miau miau”
Croatia: Marino Vrgoč – “Snovi”
San Marino: Martina Crv – “Beyond the Stars”
Armenia: Albert – “Brave Heart”
Ukraine: Sofia Neresesian – “Motanka”
Ireland: Lottie O’Driscoll Murray – “Rúin”
Netherlands: Meadow – “Freeze”
Poland: Marianna Kłos – “Brightest Light”
North Macedonia: Nela Mančeska – “Miracle”
Montenegro: Asja Džogović – “I tužna i srećna priča”
Italy: Leonardo Giovannangeli – “Rockstar”
Portugal: Inês Gonçalves – “Para onde vai o amor?”
Spain: Gonzalo Pinillos – “Érase una vez (Once Upon a Time)”
Georgia: Anita Abgariani – “Shine like a star”
Cyprus: Rafaella Panteli and Christos Georgiou – “Away”
France: Lou Deleuze – “Ce monde”
Albania: Kroni Pula – “Fruta perime”
Image source: Andres Putting / EBU
