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Switzerland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 56 times since making its debut at the first contest in 1956, missing only four contests, in 1995, 1999, 2001 and 2003. Switzerland hosted the first contest in 1956, and won it themselves. Switzerland won the contest again in 1988.
Lys Assia won the very first contest in Lugano in 1956 with the song "Refrain". She returned to place second in 1958. Switzerland would go on to finish third in 1961 with Franca Di Rienzo and 1982 with Arlette Zola, and place second with Esther Ofarim in 1963 and Daniela Simons in 1986, before winning the contest for the second time in 1988 with Celine Dion and the song "Ne partez pas sans moi". In 1993, Annie Cotton gave the country its eighth top three result, when she placed third.
In the 21st century, Switzerland has only once reached the top ten, in 2005 with the girl band Vanilla Ninja finishing eighth. Since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Switzerland has failed to qualify for the final eight times. At the 2014 contest, Sebalter gave the country its second best result of the century, finishing 13th.
Switzerland had been absent from Eurovision four times since their participation began in the first contest. These absences, in 1995, 1999, 2001 and 2003 were caused by poor results in previous contests that relegated Switzerland from the contest.[1][2][3][4]
Switzerland has four official languages, French, German, Italian, and Romansh. For decades, the song requirements stated that the song had to be performed in a national language, which gave Switzerland leeway as they could perform in any of the four languages. Out of their 55 appearances in the Contest, Switzerland has sent 52 songs, 24 of which were in French, 12 in German, nine in Italian, nine in English, and one in Romansh. Both of Switzerland's winning songs have been sung in French.
As of 2014, Switzerland's voting history is as follows:
Over the years Switzerland has broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest on three television stations, SRF (German language), RTS (French language) and RSI (Italian language).
Jean Philippe at Luxembourg (1962)
Yovanna at Naples (1965)
Henri Dès at Amsterdam (1970)
Peter, Sue and Marc at The Hague (1976)
Piero and the MusicStars at Istanbul (2004)
DJ BoBo at Helsinki (2007)
Paolo Meneguzzi at Belgrade (2008)
Anna Rossinelli at Düsseldorf (2011)
Takasa at Malmö (2013)
Sebalter at Copenhagen (2014)
Celine Dion, United Kingdom, French Language, Iceland, Netherlands
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