Some believe that the order in which the songs will be performed is important as to who will qualify to the final – and then again to how many points they receive in the final. No matter if this is true or not the running order will be decided via a draw today.

The 43 delegation head’s, also called HoD’s have arrived to Belgrade where the draw will take place this afternoon. First they will officially submit their entries and when that is done it is time to decide in which order the songs will be performed.

Some prefer to start early and be a part of making sure it all kicks of well while others prefer to go on stage later in the show. For some it doesn’t matter whether they get an early spot, a middle one or a late one; as long as they don’t end up right in between some of the favourites. Others again, feel so strong about their own chances that they can’t be bothered to even start thinking about which spot they want.

One thing is sure though; after todays draw the analysts will wake up and try to work out who will make it. They will look at how many points each song is likely to get from each of the other countries and they will take facts such as neighbour voting and the running order into consideration.

Should anyone be in doubt this means that the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest is about to kick off. EuroVisionary would like to wish all of our readers a happy Contest and good luck for your own country and/or your favourite song.

The running order can be watched online at Eurovision.tv from 16:15 CET and from 9:00 this morning you can follow Sietse Bakker’s Livelog there as well to keep up with the latest news from the HoD meeting.

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Results of the draw today:

Running order for first semi-final:

1. Montenegro
2. Israel
3. Estonia
4. Moldova
5. San Marino
6. Belgium
7. Azerbaijan (Could pick themselves)
8. Slovenia
9. Norway
10. Poland
11. Ireland
12. Andorra
13. Bosnia-Herzegovina
14. Armenia
15. Netherlands
16. Finland
17. Romania
18. Russia (could pick themselves)
19. Greece (Could pick themselves)

Running order for second semi-final:

1. Iceland
2. Sweden
3. Turkey
4. Ukraine
5. Lithuania
6. Albania
7. Switzerland
8. Czech Republic
9. Belarus
10. Latvia
11. Croatia
12. Bulgaria
13. Denmark (Could pick themselves)
14. Georgia
15. Hungary
16. Malta
17. Cyprus
18. FYR Macedonia (Could pick themselves)
19. Portugal (Could pick themselves) 

Running order in final:

2. United Kingdom
4. Germany
19. France
22. Spain
23. Serbia (Could pick themselves)

Voting order in the final: 

1. United Kingdom
2. Macedonia
3. Ukraine
4. Germany
5. Estonia
6. Bosnia-Herzegovina
7. Albania
8. Belgium
9. San Marino
10. Latvia
11. Bulgaria
12. Serbia
13. Israel
14. Cyprus
15. Moldova
16. Iceland
17. France
18. Romania
19. Portugal
20. Norway
21. Hungary
22. Andorra
23. Poland
24. Slovenia
25. Armenia
26. Czech Republic
27. Spain
28. Netherlands
29. Turkey
30. Malta
31. Ireland
32. Switzerland
33. Azerbaijan
34. Greece
35. Finland
36. Croatia
37. Sweden
38. Belarus
39. Lithuania
40. Russia
41. Montenegro
42. Georgia
43. Denmark