Croatia are one of the 18 competing countries at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025 in Tbilisi this coming Saturday. Their artist Marino Vrgoč will perform “Snovi” in slot number 3 during the show.
Copenhagen 2003
Croatia was one of the original countries that competed in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest back in the first edition in 2003. HRT organised a selection titled Dječja Pjesma Eurovizije to pick Croatia’s debut entry. Eventually, Dino Jelušić closed the selection and took first prize where he represented Croatia in Copenhagen with the entry “Ti si moja prva ljubav”.
Dino was drawn to perform in slot number 2, a slot that famously had never been a position that an eventual winner had performed in at the adult version of the contest at the time and still to this day.
Dino however, defeated all odds and managed to be the first ever winner of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, giving Croatia their first ever Eurovision win as an independent country.
Lillehammer 2004
At the time, Junior Eurovision followed a different system to the adult contest where it is assumed the winning country will host the following edition. This was not the case in 2004, as Manchester in the United Kingdom was already secured as the host before the 2003 edition had even taken place.
Manchester, however, pulled out at a later stage due to budgeting and at this stage, Croatia took over the role of host. However, they too actually never fulfilled this duty, as it was reported at the time that an error meant that the venue for Junior Eurovision at the time was double booked.
Nevertheless, fresh from their win, Croatia held the second edition of Dječja Pjesma Eurovizije where 12 entries competed. “Hej mali” by Nika Turković was selected and competed for Croatia in the newly selected host country of Norway.
Croatia managed to secure another podium finish with third place. Coincidentally, Spain and the United Kingdom were also in the top 3 for these first two years, just in different orders.
Hasselt 2005
A third instalment of Dječja Pjesma Eurovizije took place in 2005 where “Rock Baby” was declared the winner and third entry for Croatia at Junior Eurovision, performed by Lorena Jelusić, the younger sister of Junior Eurovision 2003 winner Dino Jelusić. It is worth pointing out that Croatia for a second year did propose a hosting bid for the contest this year, however they were beaten by the Belgian broadcasters RTBF and VRT.
Despite being successful to this point at the contest, sadly Croatia couldn’t quite replicate the same level of success a third time. They finished in 12th place in a pool of 16 participants. However, they did still secure a respectable 8 points in the results from F.Y.R. Macedonia.
Bucharest 2006
Croatia were once more willing to host the contest in 2006 when they bid against the Netherlands and eventual successful bidder Romania, who hosted the fourth contest in Bucharest.
Croatia sent Mateo Đido to be their fourth entrant at the contest with the song “Lea”. They managed to just sneak the top 10 when Mateo took 10th place, two points above Malta. This was thanks in big part to a set of 12 points granted to them by F.Y.R. Macedonia.
Behind the scenes however, Croatia were in trouble from the EBU this year, making the last minute decision to move the broadcast of the contest away from a main terrestrial channel. This resulted in a fine.
For the fourth year in a row, Croatia did still submit a bid to host in 2007 but were outbid once more by the Netherlands, where it’s believed the decision was made in just 10 minutes to have the contest in Rotterdam. Because of this and dwindling interest, not only did Croatia not host in 2007, but they withdrew altogether.
Marsa 2014
Eight years after their last presence at the contest. Croatia made a return to the contest in 2014 when it was held in Malta. In a new era of the contest, Croatia opted for an internally selected entry as opposed to a national selection.
Josie Zec went to the contest with the entry “Game Over”. Sadly within their absence they had lost momentum and Josie could only collect a single point from San Marino on top of the automatic 12 points that were granted to each contestant at the start of the voting sequence at the time.
Following a disappointing last place at the contest for the first time, Croatia withdrew from the contest again and didn’t return for 2015 or 2016. Despite a flurry of interest to come back in 2017, this also didn’t materialise.
After securing their best-ever result at the adult contest in 2024, a new surge of interest in Eurovision was seen in the country. HRT monitored last year’s contest before determining that 2025 would see Croatia’s first attendance at the contest in 11 years.
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: JuniorEurovision.tv
