Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest

Switzerland has been represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 65 times since its debut at the first contest in, missing only four contests because of being relegated due to poor results the previous year:,,, and. Switzerland hosted the inaugural contest in 1956 in Lugano, where it also won. The country claimed its second victory in, 32 years after the first, and its third in, 36 years after the second win. The Swiss participating broadcaster in the contest is the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation.
"Refrain " performed by Lys Assia won the inaugural contest in 1956 for Switzerland; she returned to place second in with "Giorgio". The country achieved second place with "T'en va pas" by Esther Ofarim and "Pas pour moi" by Daniela Simmons, and third place with "Nous aurons demain" by Franca di Rienzo and "Amour on t'aime" by Arlette Zola. It won for the second time in 1988 with "Ne partez pas sans moi" performed by Céline Dion. "Moi, tout simplement" by Annie Cotton secured Switzerland's 15th top-five finish by placing third in.
Since the introduction of the qualifying round in 1993, Switzerland has reached the top ten six times. Since the semi-final round's inception in 2004, the country has failed to reach the final in 11 of 19 contests, finishing last in the semi-final on four occasions. Switzerland returned to the top five after 26 years when "She Got Me" by Luca Hänni finished fourth in, achieving the country's 16th top-five result. This was followed by "Tout l'univers" by Gjon's Tears placing third in, marking the 17th top-five finish. Switzerland won the contest for the third time in 2024, with "The Code" by Nemo. The country has also finished last in the semi-finals four times since 2004, with "Celebrate" by Piero and the MusicStars, "Il pleut de l'or" by Michael von der Heide, "Time to Shine" by Mélanie René, and "The Last of Our Kind" by Rykka.

Participation

The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation is a full member of the European Broadcasting Union, thus eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. It has participated in the contest representing Switzerland since the in 1956.
Switzerland has four official languages, French, German, Italian, and Romansh. For intermittent periods prior to its abolition in 1999, the rules stated that the song had to be performed in an official language, which gave SRG SSR leeway as it could submit entries in any of the four languages. Out of its 65 appearances in the contest, it has sent 66 songs, 25 of which were in French, 12 in German, 18 in English, 10 in Italian, and one in Romansh. The first two of Switzerland's winning songs were sung in French, with the third being sung in English.

Selection methods

SRG SSR has used a mix of different selection processes to determine its entry in each year's contest. Since 2019, it has used an internal selection process, although televised national finals were used in previous years, held under various names including Concours Eurovision from the 1950s to 2000s, and Die Grosse Entscheidungsshow between 2011 and 2018. Starting in 1986, the Swiss national finals tended to have ten participating songs each year: three in French, three in German, three in Italian, and one in Romansch.

Songs	Selection methods	Years
42	Artist and song with national selections	,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
24	Artist and song with internal selections	,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,
1	Internally selection among songs from national selection after being held

Participation overview

''Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest''

Hostings

Year	Location	Venue	Presenter
	Lugano	Teatro Kursaal	Lohengrin Filipello
	Lausanne	Palais de Beaulieu	Lolita Morena and Jacques Deschenaux
	Basel	St. Jakobshalle	Hazel Brugger, Sandra Studer and Michelle Hunziker

Awards

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Year

Related involvement

Conductors

Heads of delegation

Each participating broadcaster in the Eurovision Song Contest assigns a head of delegation as the EBU's contact person and the leader of their delegation at the event. The delegation, whose size can greatly vary, includes a head of press, the performers, songwriters, composers, and backing vocalists, among others.

Year	Head of delegation
–	Reto Peritz
–	Yves Schifferle
	Daniel Meister
	Yves Schifferle

Commentators and spokespersons

SRG SSR has broadcast the contest in Switzerland on its three television stations: German-language Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen, French-language Radio Télévision Suisse, and Italian-language Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana. Additionally, the final of the 2025 contest was broadcast on Romansh-language Radio RTR.