Pre-Qualification Round 7

Pre-Qualification Round 7 (abbreviated PQR 7), is a pre-event held for the seventh edition of The Song. Fifteen countries were participating and eight of them qualified to the semi finals of the edition.

Location
Brno is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 390,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic after the capital, Prague, and one of the 100 largest cities of the EU. The Brno metropolitan area has almost 700,000 inhabitants.

Brno is the former capital city of Moravia and the political and cultural hub of the South Moravian Region. It is the centre of the Czech judiciary, with the seats of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, the Supreme Administrative Court, and the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office, and a number of state authorities, including the Ombudsman, and the Office for the Protection of Competition. Brno is also an important centre of higher education, with 33 faculties belonging to 13 institutes of higher education and about 62,000 students.

Brno Exhibition Centre is among the largest exhibition centres in Europe. The complex opened in 1928 and established the tradition of large exhibitions and trade fairs held in Brno. Brno hosts motorbike and other races on the Masaryk Circuit, a tradition established in 1930, of which the Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix is one of the most prestigious races. Another cultural tradition is an international fireworks competition, Ignis Brunensis, which attracts tens of thousands of visitors to each display.

The most visited sights of the city include the Špilberk Castle and fortress and the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul on Petrov hill, two medieval buildings that dominate the cityscape and are often depicted as its traditional symbols. The other large preserved castle near the city is Veveří Castle by Brno Reservoir. Another architectural monument of Brno is the functionalist Villa Tugendhat, which was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 2001. One of the natural sights nearby is the Moravian Karst. The city is a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and was designated a "City of Music" in 2017.

Venue
Winning Group Arena, is an indoor arena in Brno, Czech Republic. The capacity of the arena is 7,700 people and it was built in 1982. It is currently home to the HC Kometa Brno ice hockey team.

Until 2011, the arena was named Hala Rondo. However, after Kajotbet started sponsoring the arena, it was renamed Kajot Arena. After the end of the contract, it was called Rondo Hall again until a new sponsorship with DRFG was signed in 2015, renaming the arena to DRFG Arena, before renamed once again to Winning Group Arena.

Format
The European Broadcaster Union (EBU) announced that the limit of entries for each edition would be 46 participants. As the confirmation of participation from eligible countries exceeded this amount, the EBU created a pre-qualification round that would take place each edition before the actual contest. Eight countries shall qualify into the semi-finals from the pre-qualification round, whilst the remaining are eliminated. This edition the participating countries of the pre-qualification round were Albania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Croatia, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Malta, Moldova, North Macedonia, Norway, Romania, Slovenia, Switzerland and Türkiye.

The voting system for this edition underwent a change, most notably with the removal of the participating countries voting as juries. All eligible voters will cast their vote as the televote, with the Top 8 qualifying for the main contest.