Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996

Belgium was represented by Lisa del Bo, with the song '"Liefde is een kaartspel", at the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in Oslo on 18 May. 40 songs took part in the Belgian preselection, which consisted of four semi-finals in February, followed by the final on 9 March. All the shows took place at the Knokke Casino with hosts Michel Follet and Alexandra Potvin.

Semi-finals

Four semi-finals were held in February 1996 to select the 12 finalists for the Belgian final. 10 songs competed in each semi-final, with the top 3 songs, selected by a 7-member expert jury, progressing to the final. Each jury member awarded points on the Eurovision 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-10-12 scale to each song, although they could give any mark they wished to each song (i.e. they could award 12 points to more than one song if they chose).

Semi-final 1

**Semi-final 1–3 February 1996**
Draw	Artist	Song	Points	Place
1	Dave & Steve	"Geen illusie"	57	6
2	Chris	"De toekomst"	60	4 †
3	Garry Hagger	"Dat ik van je hou"	60	3 †
4	Chalina	"Toon wat"	37	9
5	Scharnier	"Oorlog"	44	8
6	Patrick Alessi	"Een andere wereld"	71	1
7	Marleen	"De kleine dingen"	50	7
8	Frank Valentino	"Hey Mister Lennon"	58	5
9	Mario Caselli	"Mademoiselle"	67	2
10	Rindu Rindu	"Golven van verlangen"	30	10

† The tie for third place was broken by each judge naming their preferred song, with 5 choosing Garry Hagger against 2 choosing Chris

Semi-final 2

**Semi-final 2–10 February 1996**
Draw	Artist	Song	Points	Place
1	Beau Geste	"Overmoed"	50	7
2	Axel Lane	"Laat me"	45	10
3	Chelsy	"Kijk me aan"	66	2
4	Gunther Levi	"Vandaag"	63	4=
5	Angie C	"Ritme van een lach"	47	9
6	William Reven	"Zo voel ik vandaag"	64	3
7	Davy Gilles	"Elke nacht"	48	8
8	Mieke	"Op dit moment"	63	4=
9	Fair Play	"Laat haar niet alleen"	51	6
10	Sabien Tiels	"Nooit meer alleen"	70	1

Semi-final 3

**Semi-final 3–17 February 1996**
Draw	Artist	Song	Points	Place
1	Enzo	"Mooi"	74	1
2	Hans van den Stock	"Blijf steeds bij mij"	42	7
3	Chadia	"Hou van mij"	40	8
4	Phil Kevin	"Als ik er niet meer ben"	33	10
5	Kaye	"Het nieuwe begint"	34	9
6	Rudy Meyns	"Ik hou van jou"	49	6
7	Corina	"Wereld van muziek"	53	5
8	Marijn Devalck	"Hou me in je hart"	57	4
9	Splinter	"Ik laat je nooit meer gaan"	67	3
10	Lisa del Bo	"Liefde is een kaartspel"	72	2

Semi-final 4

**Semi-final 4–24 February 1996**
Draw	Artist	Song	Points	Place
1	Cold Pizza	"Vertrouwen"	55	4
2	Peter van Laet	"Er is iets"	62	3
3	Onah	"Neem de biezen"	43	7=
4	P C Brown	"Dans met mij"	40	9
5	Nadia	"Morgen komt de lente"	66	1
6	Tempo	"M'n liefste"	54	5
7	Pino	"Onbereikbaar maar dichtbij"	43	7=
8	Aperitivo	"Jij"	28	10
9	Doran	"Jij alleen"	64	2
10	Chrissy	"Ik wil so graag bij jou zijn"	47	6

Final

The national final was held on 9 March with 12 songs competing. This time voting was done by ranking the songs, and consisted of a mixture of a professional jury (50%), a press jury (25%) and five regional juries (5% each). Despite having finished second to Enzo in her semi-final, del Bo emerged the clear winner having been ranked first by all but the press jury. The top three songs had all come from the third semi-final.^[1]

**Final - 9 March 1996**
Draw	Artist	Song	Points	Place
1	Lisa del Bo	"Liefde is een kaartspel"	216	1
2	Patrick Alessi	"Een andere wereld"	73	11
3	Chelsy	"Kijk me aan"	128	8
4	William Reven	"Zo voel ik vandaag"	119	9
5	Nadia	"Morgen komt de lente"	135	7
6	Peter van Laet	"Er is iets"	143	4
7	Sabine Tiels	"Nooit meer alleen"	139	6
8	Doran	"Jij alleen"	37	12
9	Garry Hagger	"Dat ik van je hou"	141	5
10	Splinter	"Ik laat je nooit meer gaan"	189	2
11	Enzo	"Mooi"	151	3
12	Mario Caselli	"Mademoiselle"	90	10

**Jury votes**
Song	Antwerp	Limburg	East Flanders	Flemish Brabant	West Flanders	Press jury	Professional Jury	Total
Liefde is een kaartspel	12	12	12	12	12	35	120	215
Een andere wereld	2	2	5	3	1	40	20	73
Kijk me aan	8	5	6	8	6	5	90	128
Zo voel ik vandaag	1	1	3	2	2	50	60	119
Morgen komt de lente	5	6	7	7	5	25	80	135
Er is iets	10	9	9	11	9	55	40	143
Nooit meer alleen	4	11	1	5	3	15	100	139
Jij alleen	3	4	2	1	7	10	10	37
Dat ik van je hou	6	8	4	4	4	45	70	141
Ik laat je nooit meer gaan	11	10	8	10	10	30	110	189
Mooi	9	7	11	6	8	60	50	151
Mademoiselle	7	3	10	9	11	20	30	90

At Eurovision

In 1996, for the only time in Eurovision history, an audio-only pre-qualifying round of the 29 songs entered (excluding hosts Norway who were exempt) was held in March in order for the seven lowest-scoring songs to be eliminated before the final. "Liefde is een kartspel" placed 12th, thus qualifying for the final.

On the night of the final del Bo performed 16th in the running order, following the Netherlands and preceding the eventual winner Ireland. At the close of the voting "Liefde is een kaartspel" placed 16th of the 23 entries, having received 22 points. Oddly, 17 of its points came from two of the first three countries to vote: the maximum 12 from Spain and 5 from the United Kingdom. The result was not good enough to prevent Belgium from being relegated from the 1997 contest on the cumulative countback rule. The Belgian jury awarded its 12 points to the United Kingdom.^[2]

"Liefde is een kaartspel" later became embroiled in controversy when it was alleged that it had been plagiarised by Sweden's 2001 Eurovision entry "Listen To Your Heartbeat". This was initially denied by the writers of the Swedish song, but Belgian songwriters' association SABAM threatened legal action, and a cash settlement was agreed to forestall this.^[3]

Voting

Points awarded to Belgium

Points Awarded to Belgium
12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
Spain
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
United Kingdom			Croatia Netherlands	Estonia

Points Awarded by Belgium

12 points	United Kingdom
10 points	Sweden
8 points	Norway
7 points	France
6 points	Portugal
5 points	Turkey
4 points	Croatia
3 points	Ireland
2 points	Switzerland
1 point	Netherlands

External links

Belgian Preselection 1996

References

↑ ESC National Finals database 1996
↑ ESC History - Belgium 1996
↑ "Sweden's entry 2001 now officially plagiarism" ESCToday.com, 9 August 2003

Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest

Participation

1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 ~~1994~~ 1995 1996 ~~1997~~ 1998 1999 2000 ~~2001~~ 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Artists

1950s	Fud Leclerc Mony Marc Bobbejaan Schoepen Fud Leclerc Bob Benny

1960s	Fud Leclerc Bob Benny Fud Leclerc Jacques Raymond Robert Cogoi Lize Marke Tonia Louis Neefs Claude Lombard Louis Neefs

1970s	Jean Vallée Lily Castel & Jacques Raymond Serge & Christine Ghisoland Nicole & Hugo Jacques Hustin Ann Christy Pierre Rapsat Dream Express Jean Vallée Micha Marah

1980s	Telex Emly Starr Stella Pas de Deux Jacques Zegers Linda Lepomme Sandra Kim Liliane Saint-Pierre Reynaert Ingeborg

1990s	Philippe Lafontaine Clouseau Morgane Barbara Dex ~~1994~~ Frédéric Etherlinck Lisa del Bo ~~1997~~ Mélanie Cohl Vanessa Chinitor

2000s	Nathalie Sorce ~~2001~~ Sergio & The Ladies Urban Trad Xandee Nuno Resende Kate Ryan The KMG's Ishtar Patrick Ouchène

2010s	Tom Dice Witloof Bay Iris Roberto Bellarosa Axel Hirsoux Loïc Nottet Laura Tesoro

Songs

1950s	"Messieurs les noyés de la Seine" "Le plus beau jour de ma vie" "Straatdeuntje" "Ma petite chatte" "Hou toch van mij"

1960s	"Mon amour pour toi" "September, gouden roos" "Ton nom" "Waarom?" "Près de ma rivière" "Als het weer lente is" "Un peu de poivre, un peu de sel" "Ik heb zorgen" "Quand tu reviendras" "Jennifer Jennings"

1970s	"Viens l'oublier" "Goeiemorgen, morgen" "À la folie ou pas du tout" "Baby, Baby" "Fleur de liberté" "Gelukkig zijn" "Judy et Cie" "A Million in One, Two, Three" "L'amour ça fait chanter la vie" "Hey Nana"

1980s	"Euro-Vision" "Samson" "Si tu aimes ma musique" "Rendez-vous" "Avanti la vie" "Laat me nu gaan" "J'aime la vie" "Soldiers of Love" "Laissez briller le soleil" "Door de wind"

1990s	"Macédomienne" "Geef het op" "Nous, on veut des violons" "Iemand als jij" ~~1994~~ "La voix est libre" "Liefde is een kaartspel" ~~1997~~ "Dis oui" "Like The Wind"

2000s	"Envie de vivre" ~~2001~~ "Sister" "Sanomi" "1 Life" "Le grand soir" "Je t'adore" "Love Power" "O Julissi" "Copycat"

2010s	"Me and My Guitar" "With Love Baby" "Would You?" "Love Kills" "Mother" "Rhythm Inside" "What's the Pressure"

(Note: Entries scored out are when Belgium did not compete)

Eurovision Song Contest 1996

Countries

Final (by final results)	Ireland (winner) Norway Sweden Croatia Estonia Portugal Netherlands United Kingdom Cyprus Malta Austria Turkey Iceland Greece Poland Switzerland Belgium Slovakia France Spain Slovenia Bosnia and Herzegovina Finland

Semi-final only (in alphabetical order)	Denmark Germany Hungary Israel Macedonia Romania Russia