Czech Republic in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021

Prior to the 2021 Contest, the Czech Republic had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest eight times since its first entry in 2007.[1] The nation competed in the contest on three consecutive occasions between 2007 and 2009 without qualifying to the final: in 2007 Kabát performing "Malá dáma" placed 28th (last) in the semi-final achieving only one point, in 2008 Tereza Kerndlová performing "Have Some Fun" placed 18th (second to last) in her semi-final scoring nine points, in 2009 Gipsy.cz performing the song "Aven Romale" placed 18th (last) in their semi-final failing to score any points. The Czech broadcaster withdrew from the contest between 2010 and 2014 citing low viewing figures and poor results for their absence. In 2015, the Czech Republic returned to the contest and once again failed to qualify to the final with the song "Hope Never Dies" performed by Marta Jandová and Václav Noid Bárta, placing 13th in their semi-final with 33 points. In 2016, Gabriela Gunčíková and the song "I Stand" qualified for the final and placed 25th out of 26 entries, marking the Czech Republic's first qualification to the final since their debut in 2007. In 2018, Mikolas Josef with the song "Lie to Me" finished in sixth place with 281 points, achieving the Czech Republic's best-ever result in the contest and their first top 10 finish. In 2019, Lake Malawi with the song "Friend of a Friend" finished in eleventh place with 157 points, achieving the Czech Republic's second best result in the contest.

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. For the 2021 contest, the semi-final allocation draw held for 2020 which was held on 28 January 2020, will be used for 2021 contest. Czech Republic was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 20 May 2021, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[3]