Akylas representing Greece attends the Turquoise Carpet of the 70th Eurovision Song Contest Opening Ceremony (Image: Getty Images)
All eyes will fall on Vienna on Tuesday night when the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest gets going properly with the first semi final on Tuesday night. And one of the countries involved are Greece who are tipped to do rather well in Austria.
Austria are taking on hosting duties this year after their act JJ won in Basel last May with Wasted Love, ahead of Israel in second. Delegations and artists from 35 competing countries have descended on Vienna over the last week and after numerous rehearsals and a turquoise carpet ceremony to launch things on Sunday, the action begins with Eurovision 2026 semi final 1 on May 12.
Some 15 countries will take to the stage at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna for the first live televised show of the week, with acts to look out for including Finland, who remain the bookies favourite, crowd favourites Moldova, Boy George, who is representing San Marino, alongside Senhit and Felicia from the always consistent Sweden.
READ MORE: Eurovision semi final 1 running order as 15 countries compete
Ten of them will make it through to the Eurovision 2026 final later in the week and Akylas from Greece is, not only expected to be one of them, but is also on Greece’s tails in the odds to win. Here is the lowdown on the Ferto singer who definitely has a shot of victory in Austria.
Who is Greece’s Eurovision 2026 act Akylas?
Akylas, full name Akylas Mytilinaios, is a 27-year-old Greek singer songwriter, who is representing his home country with his track Ferto. As soon as fans heard the song earlier this year, many Eurovision devotees pinpointed it as an entry that would be a real crowd pleaser and after Monday’s jury semi, it looks like that’s very much the case.
One of the favourites to do well in the public vote in the first semi and, ultimately the grand final, Akylas’ popularity seems to be growing all the time, five years on from him getting his big break on the Greek version of The Voice and after attracting attention for his covers on social media.
To represent Greece at Eurovision, Akylas first had to compete in Sing for Greece and, after making it past the semi, won the national final in February.
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