29 December 2025
As 2025 draws to a close, the time is upon us for the annual Eurovision Song Contest Battle. This is where the reigning champion faces off in direct battle against the current year’s challenger. The inaugural battle was in 2017 when Kyiv 2017 just beat Stockholm 2016 by two points. Since then, Kyiv 2017 has beaten every challenger, and often quite comfortably. While 2017 isn’t regarded as a strong Eurovision, it proved to be an even one, barring a few horrible entries. That consistency has been the difference. There’s also a few songs that I particularly like that many others wouldn’t. Countering that, those horrible songs are really horrible and often suffer huge defeats. There’s also several other weak entries, meaning 2017 often starts in serious deficit.
Kyiv 2017’s Victories
2024: 325 – 317 (Malmö)
2023: 334 – 325 (Liverpool)
2022: 360 – 357 (Turin)
2021: 345 – 343 (Rotterdam)
2019: 372 – 366 (Tel Aviv)
2018: 390 – 382 (Lisbon)
2017: 372 – 370 (Kyiv 2017 vs Stockholm 2016)
The rules are like those in boxing, where the winner of a round gets 10 points while the loser gets 9 or less depending on the severity of the defeat. Most important of all, there’s always a winner. If a country has no competitor, then I just award +1 or -1 depending if I like the entry.
Even when watching Basel 2025 at the time, I felt it had a strong chance to beat Kyiv 2017. Why? Some of the less liked songs are actually really well liked by me. Ireland (Emmy – Laika Party) is a classic example. While Ireland had a very strong entry in 2017, remember, the key to winning is consistency. Losing by just one point against a strong entry is as valuable as winning comfortably over a weak one.
As I scored each round of the battle, I could see Basel 2025 was doing well. Ultimately, the result boiled down to Switzerland – ironically, the host country of Eurovision 2025. I initially selected Basel 2025 (Zoë Më – Voyage) before thinking I should confirm and watch Kyiv 2017 again (Timebelle – Apollo). A factor that can hurt 2017 is that it is so long ago. Memories are fading as to the quality of entries.
Kyiv 2017 – Timebelle – Apollo
Basel 2025 – Zoë Më – Voyage
As soon as I starting watching Apollo, I switched the result. Then I thought to check my review at the time. Apollo scored 8 while Voyage scored 9. Hmmm. I noticed I was harsh in general with my scoring in 2017, so watched Voyage. Bang. Changed the result back and that was enough to crown a new champion. Congratulations Basel 2025 and congratulations Kyiv 2017 for the amazing winning streak.
Curiously, Kyiv 2017 won more individual rounds – 23 to 19. More critical in the loss were those bad songs. Kyiv 2017 starts with three weak ones in a row (previously four until I excluded the ineligible associate member, Australia, last year) and later has two horrors with San Marino and Spain, plus perennial losers, Lithuania and Slovenia. The only bad songs for Basel 2025 are Belgium and Croatia, with Georgia and Malta to a lesser degree, so Basel 2025 could be set for a long reign.
Mr Eurovision Australia 