Mediterranean Song Contest 01

Mediterranean Song Contest 01, often referred to as MSC 01, is the first edition of the Mediterranean Song Contest. It is being held in Barcelona, Spain. It is the first time Spain is hosting the contest, which is being held in the Palau Sant Jordi, hosted by Anne Igartiburu and Mario Vaquerizo.

Thirty seven countries are participating in the first edition of the contest. All countries are making their debut.

Location
For more information, see Barcelona.

Barcelona is the capital city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, in the Kingdom of Spain, as well as the country's second most populous municipality, with a population of 1.6 million within city limits. Its urban area extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of around 4.7 million people, being the sixth-most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris, London, Madrid, the Ruhr area and Milan. It is the largest metropolis on the Mediterranean Sea, located on the coast between the mouths of the rivers Llobregat and Besòs, and bounded to the west by the Serra de Collserola mountain range, the tallest peak of which is 512 metres (1,680 feet) high.

Founded as a Roman city, in the Middle Ages Barcelona became the capital of the County of Barcelona. After merging with the Kingdom of Aragon, Barcelona continued to be an important city in the Crown of Aragon as an economic and administrative centre of this Crown and the capital of the Principality of Catalonia. Besieged several times during its history, Barcelona has a rich cultural heritage and is today an important cultural centre and a major tourist destination. The headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean is located in Barcelona. The city is known for hosting the 1992 Summer Olympics as well as world-class conferences and expositions and also many international sport tournaments.

Bidding phase
It was announced there would be a bidding phase for the selection of the host city. The four Spanish candidate cities were revealed on August 29th, 2016. These were revealed to be A Coruña with the Coliseum da Coruña, Barcelona with the Palau Sant Jordi, Bilbao with the Bizkaia Arena and Madrid with both the Barclaycard Center and the Palacio Vistalegre.

The host city was revealed to be Barcelona along with the hosts of the contest on the 31st August 2016.

Key  Host venue

Semi Final 1
Eighteen countries participated in the first semi final. In addition to the participants, Spain also voted. The countries highlighted in pink qualified to the grand final, whereas the countries highlighted in gold qualified to the wildcard battle.

Semi Final 2
Eighteen countries are participating in the second semi final. In addition to the participants,  Spain   will also vote.

Grand Final
At least 22 countries will participate in the grand final: 20 direct qualifiers from the semi final, the host country, and an unknown number of qualifiers from the wildcard round. All 37 countries will vote.