Switzerland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 62 times since making its debut at the first contest in , missing only four contests, in 1995, 1999, 2001 and 2003. Switzerland hosted the first contest in 1956 in Lugano, and won it. Switzerland won the contest again in 1988, with the contest being held in Lausanne. Lys Assia won the first contest in 1956 with the song "Refrain". She returned to place second in . Switzerland would go on to finish second with Esther Ofarim () and Daniela Simmons () and third with Franca Di Rienzo () and Arlette Zola (), before winning the contest for the second time in with Celine Dion and the song "Ne partez pas sans moi". Annie Cotton gave the country its 15th top five result in , when she placed third. Since the introduction of the qualifying round in 1993, Switzerland has entered the top ten only four times. Since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Switzerland have failed to reach the final in 11 of 19 contests, including finishing in last place in the semi-final on 4 occasions. Switzerland returned to the top five for the first time in 26 years when Luca Hänni gave the country its 16th top five result by finishing fourth in , followed by their 17th top five finish, when Gjon's Tears placed third in . They have also finished in last place in the semi final 4 times since their introduction in 2004, with Piero & The Music Stars (2004), Michael von der Heide (2010), Mélanie René (2015) and Rykka (2016). Absences Switzerland had been absent from Eurovision four times since their participation began in the first contest. These absences, in 1995, 1999, 2001 and 2003 were caused by poor results in previous contests that led to relegation. National selections A mix of different selection processes have been used to determine Switzerland's entry in each year's contest. Since 2019, SRG SSR has used an internal selection process, although televised national finals were used in previous years, held under various names including Concours Eurovision from the 1950s to 2000s, and Die Grosse Entscheidungsshow between 2011 and 2018. In the 1980s, the Swiss national finals tended to have ten participating songs each year: three in French, three in German, three in Italian and one in Romansch. Participation overview Switzerland has four official languages, French, German, Italian, and