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
1997 contest
Eurovision Song Contest 1997
Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996