Liefde Is Een Kaartspel

Infobox ESC entry
song = "Liefde Is Een Kaartspel"


caption =
year = 1996
country = Belgium
artist = Lisa del Bo
as =
with =
language = Dutch
languages =
composer =
lyricist =
conductor =
place = 16th
points = 22
place_semi =
points_semi =
lyrics =
clip =
prev = "La Voix Est Libre"
prev_link = La Voix Est Libre
next = "Dis Oui"
next_link = Dis Oui

"Liefde Is Een Kaartspel" (English translation: "Love Is A Card Game") was the Belgian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996, performed in Dutch by Lisa del Bo.

The song was performed sixteenth on the night (following the Netherlands' Maxine & Franklin Brown with "De Eerste Keer" and preceding Ireland's Eimear Quinn with "The Voice"). At the close of voting, it had received 22 points, placing 16th in a field of 23.

The song features Del Bo likening love to a card game. She describes a relationship which appears not to have been based on honesty, which explains the metaphor. The song was recorded in Dutch, French, English and German. An unofficial four-language medley was mixed up by a fan and is sometimes distributed via peer to peer networks.

Due to the Contest's rapid expansion, entry in the 1997 Contest was limited to those countries with the best average scores over the past five years - a group of which Belgium was not a member. As a "passive country" (one which broadcast but did not enter the Contest), Belgium was however able to enter the 1998 Contest. Thus, the song was succeeded as Belgian representative at the 1998 Contest by Mélanie Cohl singing "Dis Oui".

The song became part of a controversy after it was claimed that the 2001 Swedish Eurovision entry "Listen To Your Heartbeat" was plagiarised from it. At first this was denied by the Swedish songwriters (one of whom was ), but after the Belgian songwriters pressed for legal action, a cash settlement was agreed. [http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/1744]