Junior Eurovision 2026 Predictions: Who Wins in Malta?
TL;DR: Junior Eurovision 2026 runs on Saturday 24 October at 21:00 CEST in Ta' Qali, Malta, with 16 countries. There is no bookmaker market for it, so the usual odds-led read doesn't exist. The best available signal is structural: the jury winner has won four contests in a row, and France has won four of the last six. The fan conversation leans towards Armenia, Spain and Poland.
Junior Eurovision 2026 at a glance
| Detail | Confirmed |
|---|---|
| Date | Saturday 24 October 2026 |
| Start | 21:00 CEST (clocks go back the next morning) |
| Venue | Malta Fairs & Conventions Centre, Ta' Qali |
| Host broadcaster | PBS (Malta) |
| Theme | "The Festa" — Maltese village feasts |
| Presenters | Gaia Cauchi, Destiny Chukunyere, Keane Cutajar |
| Countries | 16 |
| Interval acts | Lou Deleuze (JESC 2025) and Dara (Eurovision 2026) |
Malta stepped in after France, the 2025 winner, declined to host for financial reasons. It is Malta's third time hosting, after 2014 and 2016. Two of the three presenters are Malta's own Junior Eurovision winners: Gaia Cauchi (2013) and Destiny (2015), who later sang for Malta at Eurovision 2021.
The show streams live on the official Junior Eurovision YouTube channel and airs on all 16 participating broadcasters. Source: EBU announcement.
All 16 songs in running order
| # | Country | Artist | Song |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | Maria | “Stronger Together” |
| 2 | 🇨🇾 Cyprus | Harry Georgiou | “Who I Can Be” |
| 3 | 🇵🇹 Portugal | Salvador Rio | “Alma” |
| 4 | 🇲🇪 Montenegro | Mija Vujović | “Muzika nas spaja” |
| 5 | 🇸🇲 San Marino | Violamarie | “Ruota panoramica” |
| 6 | 🇫🇷 France | Alec | “Comment tu vas?” |
| 7 | 🇵🇱 Poland | Wiktor Sas | “Gravity” |
| 8 | 🇦🇲 Armenia | Naré | “Boo!” |
| 9 | 🇲🇹 Malta | Beppe | “Blue Bird” |
| 10 | 🇮🇹 Italy | Matteo Trullu | “Che cos'è l'amore?” |
| 11 | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | Erika Kolesnichenko | “Not a Lullaby” |
| 12 | 🇲🇰 North Macedonia | Ana Stojanoska | “Idnata jas” |
| 13 | 🇮🇪 Ireland | Caleb Kirwan & Naomi Gribben | “Níos láidre” |
| 14 | 🇦🇱 Albania | Eslin Kurti | “Kërce me mua” |
| 15 | 🇬🇪 Georgia | Davit Lomidze | “Sun on the Rooftops” |
| 16 | 🇪🇸 Spain | Lucas Paulano | “Cuore bello (te quiero, te quiero)” |
The order was produced by the show's producers and published on 28 September. Spain closes the show, which is the slot every delegation wants. The Netherlands opens it.
Why there are no real odds this time
We track bookmaker prices. For Junior Eurovision there are none to track: the performers are between 9 and 14, and licensed bookmakers stay away from events involving minors. That is the right call, and we won't pretend otherwise.
A single prediction market does list the contest. Its total volume is about $12,000, its displayed probabilities add up to roughly 160%, and different copies of the same page show different leaders. Armenia, Spain, France and Poland sit near the top in most snapshots. Treat that as fan sentiment with a price tag, not a forecast.
So this preview leans on the two things that have actually predicted Junior Eurovision results: who wins the jury, and who has a track record.
The pattern that matters: the jury winner keeps winning
The 50/50 split looks balanced. The results haven't been.
| Year | Winner | Jury winner | Online vote winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 🇵🇱 Poland | Kazakhstan | Poland |
| 2020 | 🇫🇷 France | France | France |
| 2021 | 🇦🇲 Armenia | France | Armenia |
| 2022 | 🇫🇷 France | France | United Kingdom |
| 2023 | 🇫🇷 France | France | France |
| 2024 | 🇬🇪 Georgia | Georgia | Portugal |
| 2025 | 🇫🇷 France | France | Ukraine |
The jury winner has taken the trophy in five of the last seven contests, including the last four in a row. The online vote has picked the overall winner in only three. The reason is concentration: national juries tend to agree with each other, while the online vote spreads three picks per voter across many songs.
The practical read: the Friday jury show on 23 October is the most important performance of the week, even though nobody watches it.
The contenders
🇫🇷 France — the default until proven otherwise
Four wins in the last six contests: 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2025. France won the jury in five of the last six years. Alec's “Comment tu vas?” gets less fan chatter than Armenia or Spain, but France's delegation has a record the others don't, and that record is built almost entirely on jury votes. A France priced as third or fourth favourite in fan markets is the clearest mismatch in this field.
🇦🇲 Armenia — the fan favourite
Naré, 13, brings “Boo!” with four dancers. Her songwriting team also wrote Armenia's entries at Junior Eurovision 2022 and 2025 and its Eurovision 2026 entry. Armenia has two wins (2010, 2021) and finished in the top four in 2022, 2023 and 2025. It tends to do well in the online vote, which helps, but has not won the jury since 2021.
🇪🇸 Spain — the closing slot
Lucas Paulano won “La Voz Kids” in 2025 and co-wrote “Cuore bello” with Blas Cantó. The staging is built around a large ring of lights, and the song closes the show. Spain was second in 2023 and fifth in 2025. It is the strongest candidate to break France's jury run.
🇵🇱 Poland — the vote-getter
Poland won back to back in 2018 and 2019 and was second in 2021. Wiktor Sas's “Gravity” is one of three songs fan polls keep returning to. Poland's wins came with the online vote doing the heavy lifting.
🇺🇦 Ukraine and 🇬🇪 Georgia — the 2025 podium
Ukraine was second last year and won the online vote. Georgia, with four wins, was third. Neither is in the centre of the conversation this year, which is exactly where Georgia was before winning in 2024.
Outside chances
Netherlands drew attention on rehearsal day one with gold pyrotechnics and an on-screen choir. Cyprus has had good rehearsal reports. Malta's Beppe performs at home, but only two hosts have ever won Junior Eurovision on home soil: Poland in 2019 and France in 2023.
How the voting works
Juries (50%). Each of the 16 countries has a five-member jury: three adults and two children. Each jury awards 12, 10 and 8–1 points.
Online vote (50%). Open to viewers worldwide, including in countries that aren't competing. Each voter picks three songs and can vote for their own country.
Window 1: from 23:59 CEST on Friday 23 October (after the jury show recap) until 20:59 CEST on Saturday 24 October.
Window 2: about 15 minutes during the live show, after the last song.
The online votes are pooled into one international result and shared out proportionally, rather than country by country.
Source: Eurovoix, voting rules.
Our read
If you want one name: France, on track record and jury pattern rather than buzz. If you want the likeliest challenger: Spain, with the closing slot and a song built for both halves of the vote. Armenia is the most likely online-vote winner, which on recent evidence is not the same as winning.
This is a children's contest, so the useful thing to do with a prediction is to write it down and check it on Saturday night. We'll update this page with the full result.
What Junior Eurovision tells us about Eurovision 2027
Not much on the scoreboard, but a few signals carry over:
Broadcaster commitment. Sixteen countries is the smallest field since 2021. Azerbaijan and Croatia leaving tracks the same budget pressure that keeps Czechia out of Eurovision 2027.
Malta's production. PBS is also a Eurovision broadcaster with a mixed recent record. A well-run show strengthens its hand for hosting bids, not its Eurovision odds.
Dara on stage in Malta. The Eurovision 2026 winner performs as an interval act, five months after Bulgaria's 148/1 comeback.
Related reading
Frequently Asked Questions
When is Junior Eurovision 2026?
On Saturday 24 October 2026 at 21:00 CEST, from the Malta Fairs & Conventions Centre in Ta' Qali. It is the first Junior Eurovision held in October rather than late November or December.
How many countries are in Junior Eurovision 2026?
16. Azerbaijan and Croatia withdrew after 2025, and no country debuts or returns — the first time that has happened since 2008.
Are there betting odds for Junior Eurovision?
No licensed bookmaker we track prices Junior Eurovision. The performers are children, and betting on events involving minors is restricted in many countries. The only public price is a small prediction market with around $12,000 in total volume — too thin to read as a forecast.
How does Junior Eurovision voting work?
The result is 50% jury, 50% online vote. Each of the 16 national juries (three adults, two children) gives 1–8, 10 and 12 points. The online vote is open worldwide in two windows: from 23:59 CEST on Friday 23 October until just before the show, and for about 15 minutes after the last song.
Who won Junior Eurovision 2025?
France, with Lou Deleuze, in Tbilisi. It was France's fourth win in six contests, and the 71-point margin over Ukraine was the widest in the contest's history.
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