Bulgaria's Poli Genova Proceeds to Eurovision Final

Bulgarian singer Poli Genova, who represents Bulgaria at this year's edition of the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "If Love Was a Crime", qualified for the final which will take place in Stockholm on Saturday.

Genova, who also participated in 2011, was one of the eighteen artists performing in the second semifinal on Thursday.

This is the only second time Bulgaria qualifies for the final after its debut participation in the contest in 2005.

The first time Bulgaria reached the final was in 2007 when Stoyan Yankoulov and Elitsa Todorova finished fifth in the final standing.

This year Bulgaria returned to Eurovision after not participating in the last two editions of the contest.

The nine other countries qualifying for the final from the second semifinal are Latvia, Georgia, Australia, Ukraine, Serbia, Poland, Israel, Lithuania and Belgium.

The ten countries proceeding from the first semifinal held on Tuesday are Azerbaijan, Russia, the Netherlands, Hungary, Croatia, Austria, Armenia, the Czech Republic, Cyprus and Malta.

In the final, the twenty countries qualifying from the two semifinals will be joined by the Big Five - France, Germany, the UK, Spain and Italy, which qualify automatically as the biggest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

The other country qualifying automatically for the final is Sweden, which claimed the right to host the 61st edition of the contest after Mans Zelmerlow won last year's Eurovision with "Heroes".

The final will take place in the Ericsson Globe in the Swedish capital on Saturday.

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