Stefan Raab fails: Germany only in 15th place at the ESC 2025!

Stefan Raab fails: Germany only in 15th place at the ESC 2025!

On May 18, 2025, the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) took place in Basel, which was staged by Stefan Raab with high expectations. Raab, who is considered one of the most dazzling characters in the history of the ESC, wanted to win for Germany with the electrosong "Baller" by Abor & Tynna. But the reality looked different: Germany only reached the 15th place and collected 151 points. This placement stands in blatant contrast to Raab's former successes, in particular the victory of Lena in 2010, which he had shaped, such as Eurovision.de reported.

In the preliminary report, Raab had made it clear that he did not want to take a second place. Five central reasons have now been discussed that could explain the disappointing result: Raab could not win the competition with pure willpower, the song "Baller" was modern, but obviously did not hit the taste of the masses, and the title could not stand out in the large number of similar electropopous songs. In addition, the staging was perceived as too dark and excluding, and the high expectations of Raab and ABOR could have worked unappealing. Despite the setback, Raab, RTL and ARD plan to continue cooperation in order to continue to promote German ESC.

The song "Baller" in detail

"Baller" is presented by the sibling duo Abor & Tynna, the siblings of the Akins and Attila Bornemisza from Vienna. Her artistic origin and her debut album "Bittersüß", which was published in February 2023, create a solid basis for your appearance. The song deals with the processing of the end of a relationship and provided with a catchy melody and voice distortions in the chorus, should it bring modern sounds into the competition. Despite the positive response from fans at home and abroad, however, the big breakthrough failed to do so, such as esc-kompact.de noted.

In the televoting, "Baller" received 34.9% of the votes and did not get beyond the 15th place. The NDR had relied on a cooperation with Stefan Raab, who had declared the search for the ESC contribution to the top priority. A celebrity jury under Raab's management decided on the contributions for the competition, which further increased the high expectations of its influence.

Stefan Raab's ESC history

Stefan Raab, often referred to as Germany's ESC king, has a variety of successes in connection with the competition. He was instrumental in several German contributions and celebrated his first ESC success in Birmingham in 1998 with Guildo Horn's participation in Birmingham. He sent many talents like Max Mutzke and Lena into the race and reached new heights for the German ESC with his ideas and formats. His last big presence at the ESC was in 2011, after which he withdrew from business to finally return with three live shows in 2018, such as Eurovision.de explained.

The events for the ESC 2025 are further evidence that Raab's special methods do not always fruit nowadays. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen how the cooperation will develop between all participants and whether Germany can return to the top of the competition in the future.