As the Head of all 41 Delegations gather in Tel Aviv for their annual meeting, traditionally two months ahead of Eurovision week, it was just revealed that the Host Country would be 14th in the running order in the Grand Final, basically opening the second half of the show which will include 26 songs.
Since 2013, the running order is determined by the Producers of the show. Each country, who makes it to the Grand Final, only draws whether they will compete in the first or second half of the show.
The only country that randomly draws its placement is of course the host country. This is done to provide full transparency and fairness to the process.
Evi Papamichael, the Cypriot Head of Delegation, got the honour of executing the draw under the close supervision of Eurovision Executive Supervisor, Mr. Jon Ola Sand. Papamichael randomly drew the number 14 of the 26 balls, thus determining the host country starting position in the Grand Final.
Within the next few weeks, the producers of the show will determine the running order of the semi finals.