• Dates – Grand Final: Saturday, 25 March 1972 – 20:00 CET
  
• Host – Venue & Location: Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
• Presenter (s): Moira Shearer
• Musical Director: Malcolm Lockyer
• Director: Terry Hughes
• Executive Producer: Bill Cotton
• Executive Supervisor: Clifford Brown
• Multicamera Director: Terry Hughes
• Host broadcaster: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
• Interval Act: Military Tattoo at Edinburgh Castle
• Participants – Number of entries: 18 [🇧🇪 Belgium (17ª), 🇫🇷 France (17ª), 🇩🇪 Germany (17ª), 🇮🇹 Italy (17ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (17ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (17ª), 🇬🇧 United Kingdom (15ª), 🇲🇨 Monaco (14ª), 🇪🇸 Spain (12ª),  Yugoslavia (12ª), 🇮🇪 Ireland (8ª), 🇱🇺 Luxembourg (16ª), 🇫🇮 Finland (11ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (12ª), 🇵🇹 Portugal (8ª), 🇸🇪 Sweden (13ª), 🇲🇹 Malta (2ª), 🇦🇹 Austria (15ª)]
• Debuting countries: —
• Return: —
• Non-returning countries: —
• Nil Points: —
• Vote – Voting system: Two-member juries (one aged 16 to 25 and the other 25 to 55) rated songs between one and five points.
• Winning song:  “Après toi” – Vicky Leandros 🇱🇺 Luxembourg (3ª)

About. Host Broadcaster BBC arranged the 1972 Eurovision Song Contest outside London for the first time. The honour of hosting went to the Scottish capital Edinburgh after Monaco, which won the year before, was unable to provide a suitable venue. The contest resulted in two big hits all over the continent: Après Toi by winner Vicky Leandros and Beg, Steal Or Borrow by The New Seekers who ended up in second place.

Eurovision travels to Scotland. The BBC stepped in to host the Eurovision Song Contest in 1972 and chose a venue outside of London for the first time. The contest was broadcast live to Asia for the first time with viewers in Japan, Taiwan, The Philippines, Hong Kong and Thailand, all able to watch the show. It also was the first year that a video wall was used to present song titles and artists.

About the winner. Luxembourg won the song contest for the third time with the entry Aprés Toi performed by Vicky Leandros. The writer of the winning song, Yves Desca, also wrote the winning song of 1971 by Séverine. It was the first time in the history of the Song Contest that the same songwriter won twice in a row and for two different countries. Greek-born singer Vicky Leandros also took part in the contest for the second time and won for Luxembourg thanks to a well-planned PR campaign. This time she also used her surname, something she had avoided the first time when she participated just as “Vicky” in 1967. The winning song, Après Toi, sold míllions of copies all over Europe, and Vicky Leandros appeared in TV-shows all over Europe. She would try to enter the Eurovision Song Contest again in 2006, but only came 3rd in the German national final for the contest.

Facts & figures. The Irish entry “Ceol An Ghrá” by Sandie Jones was sung in the Irish language and until now, it remains the only song ever to be sung in Irish in the Eurovision Song Contest; Malta took part in the contest for the second time and came last again with Helen & Joseph’s “L’ imhabba”.

o/r	country	participant (s)	song – translate – Language	Points	rank
01	🇩🇪 Germany ARD	Mary Roos	Nur die liebe läßt uns leben (Only love lets us live) German	107	03
02	🇫🇷 France ORTF	Betty Mars	Comé-comédie (Comic comedy) French	081	11
03	🇮🇪 Ireland RTÉ	Sandie Jones	Ceol an ghrà (The music of love) Irish	072	15
04	🇪🇸 Spain  TVE	Jaime Morey	Amanece (It’s dawning) Spanish	083	10
05	🇬🇧 United Kindom BBC	The New Seekers	Beg, steal or borrow English	114	02
06	🇳🇴 Norway NRK	Grethe Kausland & Benny Borg	Småting (Little things) Norwegian	073	14
07	🇵🇹 Portugal RTP	Carlos Mendes	A festa da vida (The party of life) Portuguese	090	07
08	🇨🇭 Switzerland SSR SRG	Véronique Müller	C’est la chanson de mon amour (This is the song of my love) French	088	08
09	🇲🇹 Malta MTPBS	Helen & Joseph	L-Imħabba (Love) Maltese	048	18
10	🇫🇮 Finland YLE	Päivi Paunu & Kim Floor	Muistathan (Remember) Finnish	078	12
11	🇦🇹 Austria ÖRF	Milestones (The Milestones)	Falter im wind (Butterfly in the Wind) German	100	05
12	🇮🇹 Italy  RAI	Nicola di Bari	I giorni dell’ arcobaleno (The Rainbow Days) Italian	092	06
13	Yugoslavia JRT	Tereza Kesovija (Тереза Кесовија)	Muzika i ti (Музика и ти, Music and you) Serbo-Croatian	087	09
14	🇸🇪 Sweden SR	Family Four	Härliga sommardag (Lovely summer day) Swedish	075	13
15	🇲🇨 Monaco TMC	Anne-Marie Godart & Peter McLane	Comme on s’aime (How we love each other) French	065	16
16	🇧🇪 Belgium RTBF	Serge & Christine Ghisoland	À la folie ou pas du tout (Madly or not at all) French	055	17
17	🇱🇺 Luxembourg CLT	Vicky Leandros	Après toi (After you) French	128	01
18	🇳🇱 The Netherlands NOS	Sandra & Andres	Als het om de liefde gaat (When It’s All About Love) Dutch	106	04

Participation map

Participating countries  Countries that participated in the past but not in 1972

ESC 1972 Scoreboard Ι Detailed voting results:

The Eurovision Song Contest 1972 was the 17th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Edinburgh, United Kingdom and was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), who agreed to stage the event after Monaco, who won in 1971, were unable to meet the demands of hosting the event and could not find a suitable venue. The contest was held at the Usher Hall on 25 March 1972 and was hosted by Scottish ballet dancer Moira Shearer.

Eighteen countries took part in the contest, the same countries as the previous year.

The winner was Luxembourg with the song “Après toi”, performed by Vicky Leandros, with lyrics by Yves Dessca, and music composed by Mario Panas (which was the writing pseudonym of Vicky’s father Leo Leandros). “Après toi” became the winner with the lowest percentage of the total vote, winning with just 8.30% of the points available. Yves Dessca also wrote “Un Banc, Un Arbre, Une Rue” that had won the previous edition, and became the second person to win the contest twice, the first person to win for two different countries and the first person to win two years in a row. Germany finished in third place for the third consecutive year, equalling their highest placement from the previous two editions.

1.Location. Following Séverine’s win for Monaco at the 1971 contest in Dublin, Ireland with the song “Un banc, un arbre, une rue”, the principality were unable to meet the demands of hosting the event. Rainier III of Monaco received a letter from the European Broadcasting Union about hosting the 1972 contest in the principality, but he was unable to provide a venue, the props and the remainder of the requirements. Therefore the BBC from the United Kingdom stepped in, and chose to stage the contest in Edinburgh, making it the first of four times that the BBC had chosen a venue outside London with the 1974, 1982 and 1998 contests held in Brighton, Harrogate and Birmingham respectively. It is also the only time that the contest has been held in Scotland. The Usher Hall, the venue for the 1972 contest, is a concert hall, situated on Lothian Road, in the west end of the city. It has hosted concerts and events since its construction in 1914 and can hold approximately 2,900 people in its recently restored auditorium, which is well loved by performers due to its acoustics. The Hall is flanked by The Royal Lyceum Theatre on the right and The Traverse Theatre on the left. Historic Scotland has registered the Hall with Category A listed building status.

2.Format. The stage design included a screen to introduce and accompany the on stage competing performances, and to show an interval act and voting sequence that were done at Edinburgh Castle. Before each country’s performance, a picture of each song’s performers along with their names and the song’s title were projected on the screen, and during each performance, animated spiral shapes were projected as additional visual effect. The interval act was performed at the outside vast Esplanade of the Great Hall of Edinburgh Castle. The jurors were stationed in the castle, and watched the competing performances at Usher Hall on TV.

Each country had two jury members, one aged between 16 and 25 and one aged between 26 and 55. They each awarded 1 to 5 points for each song, other than the song of their own country. They cast their votes immediately after each song was performed and the votes were then collected and counted. For the public voting sequence after the interval act, the jury members were shown on the stage’s screen with each lifting a signboard with the number between 1 and 5 for each song, as a visual verification of the scores they had awarded earlier. The eventual winner, Luxembourg, remained in a strong scoring position throughout the voting.

Séverine made the trip to Edinburgh to pass on the winning trophy to Vicky Leandros. However, she looked thoroughly uninterested in the Monegasque entry when seen by viewers checking her watch before the song was performed.

1972 was the first year that had no ties in the voting. Every year prior to 1972, at least two countries had received the same score.

3.Participating countries. All countries that participated in the 1971 contest were present this year.

3.1.Conductors. Each performance had a musical director who conducted the orchestra.

3.2.Returning artists.

Artist	Country	Previous year(s)
Tereza Kesovija	Yugoslavia	1966 (for 🇲🇨 Monaco)
Vicky Leandros	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	1967
Carlos Mendes	🇵🇹 Portugal	1968
Family Four	🇸🇪 Sweden	1971

3.3.Participants and results.

3.4.All the national selections for Eurovision Song Contest 1972: 

• National Selections in 1972:

COUNTRY	EVENT	WINNER
🇧🇪 Belgium	Eurosong 1972 (song selection) [a]	Serge & Christine Ghisoland – “À la folie ou pas du tout“
🇫🇮 Finland	(Finnish Selection 1972)	Päivi Paunu & Kim Floor – “Muistathan“
🇩🇪 Germany	Ein Lied für Edinburgh	Mary Roos – “Nur die Liebe läßt uns leben“
🇮🇪 Ireland	(Irish Selection 1972)	Sandie Jones – “Ceol an Ghrá“
🇮🇹 Italy	Sanremo 1972	Nicola Di Bari – “I giorni dell’arcobaleno“
🇲🇹 Malta	(Maltese Selection 1972)	Joseph Cutajar (Helen and Joseph) – “L-imħabba“
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	Nationaal Songfestival 1972 (song selection) [b]	Sandra & Andres – “Als het om de liefde gaat“
🇳🇴 Norway	Melodi Grand Prix 1972	Grethe Kausland & Benny Borg – “Småting“
🇵🇹 Portugal	Grande Prémio TV da Canção 1972	Carlos Mendes – “A festa da vida“
🇸🇪 Sweden	Melodifestival 1972	Family Four – “Härliga sommardag“
🇨🇭 Switzerland	Concours Eurovision 1972	Véronique Müller – “C’est la chanson de mon amour“
🇬🇧 United Kindom	A Song for Europe 1972 (song selection) [c]	The New Seekers – “Beg, Steal or Borrow”
Yugoslavia	Jugovizija 1972	Tereza Kesovija – “Muzika i ti” (Музика и ти)

• Internal Selections in 1972: 

4.Voting.

Voting results

		Total score
C o n t e s t a n t s	🇩🇪 Germany	107		8	6	9	5	6	6	5	4	5	5	7	5	8	8	7	7	6
	🇫🇷 France	81	5		5	2	9	7	2	3	5	4	2	3	5	2	6	7	8	6
	🇮🇪 Ireland	72	4	3		4	4	6	4	3	6	3	4	3	3	5	5	4	6	5
	🇪🇸 Spain	83	7	5	5		3	8	6	3	4	4	5	3	2	7	8	3	5	5
	🇬🇧 United Kindom	114	8	9	6	2		10	4	8	2	7	7	7	9	6	9	4	8	8
	🇳🇴 Norway	73	4	3	6	5	4		5	2	5	7	3	2	5	4	4	4	6	4
	🇵🇹 Portugal	90	3	4	7	7	4	2		6	5	2	4	9	4	7	4	7	10	5
	🇨🇭 Switzerland	88	4	5	6	5	4	7	2		4	7	8	5	5	4	6	4	7	5
	🇲🇹 Malta	48	3	2	4	2	6	2	2	2		5	2	2	2	3	3	2	2	4
	🇫🇮 Finland	78	4	3	3	6	5	6	4	3	3		3	3	4	4	5	8	6	8
	🇦🇹 Austria	100	6	6	6	6	3	5	5	7	5	4		6	8	10	5	4	5	9
	🇮🇹 Italy	92	4	5	3	2	3	6	7	9	6	6	6		4	8	6	6	6	5
	Yugoslavia	87	7	4	5	8	5	4	5	2	4	3	3	2		4	9	8	8	6
	🇸🇪 Sweden	75	5	3	5	3	3	5	4	2	4	5	4	3	7		5	7	5	5
	🇲🇨 Monaco	65	4	3	4	3	5	6	2	2	5	5	3	3	4	3		4	4	5
	🇧🇪 Belgium	55	2	3	4	2	5	2	3	3	5	4	2	3	2	2	4		6	3
	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	128	9	8	9	2	10	8	7	6	4	6	8	9	10	8	7	8		9
	🇳🇱 The Netherlands	106	6	6	8	8	9	8	5	6	3	9	6	3	9	6	5	2	7

4.1.10 points. Below is a summary of all perfect 10 scores that were given during the voting.

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 10 points
2	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	🇬🇧 United Kindom,  Yugoslavia
1	🇦🇹 Austria	🇸🇪 Sweden
	🇵🇹 Portugal	🇱🇺 Luxembourg
	🇬🇧 United Kindom	🇳🇴 Norway

4.2.Jury members. Listed below is the order in which votes were cast during the 1972 contest along with the names of the two jury members who voted for their respective country. Each country announced their results in groups of three.

5.Broadcasts. Each national broadcaster also sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language. This contest marked the first to feature unique commentators for every Francophone country, as prior to this year the French commentary was simulcast in Monaco as well (and for several years in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland).

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries

Country	Broadcaster(s)	Commentator(s)	–
🇦🇹 Austria	FS1	Ernst Grissemann
	Hitradio Ö3	Hubert Gaisbauer
🇧🇪 Belgium	RTB	French: Arlette Vincent
	BRT	Dutch: Herman Verelst
	RTB La Première	French: André Hagon
	BRT Radio 1	Dutch: Nand Baert
🇫🇮 Finland	YLE TV1	Heikki Seppälä
	Yleisohjelma	Matti Paalosmaa
🇫🇷 France	Deuxième Chaîne ORTF	Pierre Tchernia	–
🇩🇪 Germany	Deutsches Fernsehen	Hanns Verres
	Deutschlandfunk/Bayern 2	Wolf Mittler
🇮🇪 Ireland	RTÉ	Frank Hall
	RTÉ Radio	Kevin Roche
🇮🇹 Italy	Programma Nazionale and Secondo Programma Radio	Renato Tagliani
🇱🇺 Luxembourg	Télé-Luxembourg	Jacques Navadic
	RTL	Camillo Felgen
🇲🇹 Malta	MTV	Norman Hamilton	–
🇲🇨 Monaco	Télé Monte Carlo, Radio Monte-Carlo	José Sacré
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	Nederland 1	Pim Jacobs	–
🇳🇴 Norway	NRK	Roald Øyen
	NRK P1	Erik Heyerdahl
🇵🇹 Portugal	I Programa	Henrique Mendes
	Emissora Nacional Programa 1	Amadeu Meireles
🇪🇸 Spain	Primera Cadena	Julio Rico
	Primer Programa RNE	Miguel de los Santos
🇸🇪 Sweden	SR TV1	Bo Billtén	–
	SR P3	Björn Bjelfvenstam	–
🇨🇭 Switzerland	TV DRS	German: Theodor Haller	–
	TSR	French: Georges Hardy	–
	TSI	Italian: Giovanni Bertini
	2e Programme	French: Robert Burnier	–
🇬🇧 United Kindom	BBC1	Tom Fleming	–
	BBC Radio 2	Pete Murray	–
	BFBS Radio	Terry James	–
Yugoslavia	TVB 1	Serbo-Croatian: Milovan Ilić
	TVZ 1	Serbo-Croatian: Oliver Mlakar
	TVL 1	Slovene: Tomaž Terček

Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries

Country	Broadcaster(s)	Commentator(s)	–
Brazil	Rede Tupi	Unknown
🇬🇷 Greece	EIRT	Mako Georgiadou
Hong Kong	TBC	Unknown	–
🇮🇸 Iceland	Sjónvarpið	Björn Matthíasson
🇮🇱 Israel	Israeli Television	No commentator
Japan	TBC	Unknown	–
Philippines	ABS-CBN	No commentator	–
Taiwan	TBC	Unknown	–
Thailand	TBC	Unknown	–

6.Notes.

• [a] Serge & Christine Ghisoland were internally selected to represent Belgium at Eurovision 1972. The song “À La Folie Ou Pas Du Tout” that Serge & Christine performed at Eurovision was selected through a national final with ten songs.
• [b] Sandra & Andres were internally selected to represent Netherlands at Eurovision 1972. The song “Als Het Om De Liefde Gaat” that they performed at Eurovision was selected through the Nationaal Songfestival 1972 with three songs.
• [c] The group The New Seekers was internally selected to represent United Kingdom at Eurovision 1972. The song “Beg, Steal or Borrow” that the group performed at Eurovision was selected through A Song for Europe 1972 decided by postcard voting. The result from the show was announced one week later.

7.Trivial / Fun facts.

• The contest was broadcast live in Asia for the first time to Japan, Taiwan, The Philippines, Hong Kong and Thailand.
• It also was the first year that a video wall was used to present song titles and artists.
• Malta took part in the contest for the second time and came last again with Helen & Joseph’s L’ imhabba.

← Eurovision Song Contest 1971 • Eurovision Song Contest 1972 • Eurovision Song Contest 1973 →
Countries (in order of appearance)
Final	Germany ⦁ France ⦁ Ireland ⦁ Spain ⦁ United Kingdom ⦁ Norway ⦁ Portugal ⦁ Switzerland ⦁ Malta ⦁ Finland • Austria ⦁ Italy ⦁ Yugoslavia ⦁ Sweden ⦁ Monaco ⦁ Belgium ⦁ Luxembourg (winner) ⦁ The Netherlands
Artists (in order of appearance)
Final	Mary Roos ⦁ Betty Mars ⦁ Sandie Jones ⦁ Jaime Morey ⦁ The New Seekers ⦁ Grethe Kausland and Benny Borg ⦁ Carlos Mendes ⦁ Véronique Müller ⦁ Helen and Joseph • Päivi Paunu and Kim Floor ⦁ Milestones • Nicola Di Bari ⦁ Tereza Kesovija ⦁ Family Four ⦁ Anne-Marie Godart and Peter MacLane ⦁ Serge and Christine Ghisoland • Vicky Leandros (winner) ⦁ Sandra and Andres
Songs (in order of appearance)
Final	“Nur die Liebe läßt uns leben“ ⦁ “Comé-comédie” ⦁ “Ceol an Ghrá” ⦁ “Amanece” ⦁ “Beg, Steal or Borrow” ⦁ “Småting” ⦁ “A festa da vida” ⦁ “C’est la chanson de mon amour” • “L-imħabba” ⦁ “Muistathan” ⦁ “Falter im Wind” ⦁ “I giorni dell’arcobaleno”  ⦁ “Muzika i ti” (Музика и ти) ⦁ “Härliga sommardag” • “Comme on s’aime” ⦁ “À la folie ou pas du tout” ⦁ “Après toi” (winner) ⦁ “Als het om de liefde gaat”