ESC ROTTERDAM 2020 (65ª) – Annullata

  • Dates – Grand Final: Saturday, 16 May 2020 – 21:00 CEST (planned – cancelled)
  • Host – Venue & Location: Rotterdam Ahoy (Ahoy Rotterdam), Rotterdam, The Netherlands 
  • Presenter (s): Edsilia Rombley, Chantal Janzen, Jan Smit, Nikkie de Jager (online host)
  • Musical Director: Orchestra: Gli artisti cantano su basi musicali.
  • Director: 
  • Executive Producer: Sietse Bakker (Event), Inge van de Weerd (TV)
  • Executive Supervisor: Jon Ola Sand
  • Multicamera Director: Marnix Kaart, Marc Pos, Daniel Jelinek
  • Host broadcaster: NPO Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep/ Televisie Radio Omroep Stichting (AVROTROS), Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS), Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (NPO) in Eurovisione
  • Opening Act: Flag parade introducing the 26 finalist countries.
  • Interval Act: Afrojack and Glennis Grace, “Non ho l’età” performed by Gigliola Cinquetti, “De troubadour” performed by Lenny Kuhr, “Ding-a-dong” performed by Getty Kaspers, “J’aime la vie” performed by Sandra Kim, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Kids” performed by Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan, “Fairytale” performed by Alexander Rybak, “Arcade” performed by Duncan Laurence.
  • Motto: “Open Up”
  • Participants – Number of entries: 41 (planned): Final 26 [🇫🇷 France (60ª), 🇮🇹 Italy (43ª), 🇩🇪 Germany (60ª)🇬🇧 United Kindom (59ª)🇪🇸 Spain (56ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (58ª), …]First Semi-Final 17 [🇸🇪 Sweden (57ª), 🇧🇾 Belarus (17ª), 🇦🇺 Australia (6ª), 🇲🇰 North Macedonia (20ª), 🇸🇮 Slovenia (25ª), 🇱🇹 Lithuania (21ª), 🇮🇪 Ireland (51ª), 🇷🇺 Russia (22ª), 🇧🇪 Belgium (59ª), 🇲🇹 Malta (32ª), 🇭🇷 Croatia (25ª), 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan (13ª), 🇨🇾 Cyprus (37ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (56ª), 🇮🇱 Israel (39ª), 🇷🇴 Romania (21ª), 🇺🇦 Ukraine (16ª)]; Second Semi-Final 18  [🇬🇷 Greece (39ª), 🇪🇪 Estonia (25ª), 🇦🇹 Austria (52ª), 🇲🇩 Moldova (16ª), 🇸🇲 San Marino (11ª), 🇨🇿 Czech Republic (9ª), 🇷🇸 Serbia (14ª), 🇵🇱 Poland (23ª), 🇮🇸 Iceland (32ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (59ª), 🇩🇰 Denmark (49ª), 🇦🇱 Albania (17ª), 🇫🇮 Finland (51ª), 🇦🇲 Armenia (14ª), 🇵🇹 Portugal (49ª), 🇬🇪 Georgia (13ª), 🇧🇬 Bulgaria (13ª), 🇱🇻 Latvia (20ª)]
  • Debuting countries:
  • Return: 🇧🇬 Bulgaria (13ª), 🇺🇦 Ukraine (16ª) 
  • Non-returning countries: 🇲🇪 Montenegro (11ª), 🇭🇺 Hungary (17ª)
  • Vote – Voting system: Each country awards two sets of 12, 10, 8–1 points to 10 songs: the first–from a professional jury, the second–from viewers.
  • Nil Points:
  • Winning song: 1f3c6 “-” –  () (°) (cancelled)

About/Overview. The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam is cancelled. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has taken the difficult decision to not continue with the live event as planned due to the uncertainty created by the spread of COVID-19 throughout Europe and the restrictions put in place by the governments of the participating broadcasters and the Dutch authorities. The text below – describing the content of the 3 live shows – remains as a tribute to the great work of Dutch Host Broadcasters NPO, AVROTROS and NOS.

Glennis Grace

Glennis Grace. Glennis Grace would have performed during the interval of the Grand Final with Afrojack. Glennis is no stranger to the Eurovision Song Contest; she participated in Kyiv in 2005 with the song “My Impossible Dream“. In 2012, Glennis formed the group Ladies of Soul, together with Dutch singers Trijntje Oosterhuis, Berget Lewis, Candy Dulfer and this year’s co-host Edsilia Rombley. As a group, they sold out the Amsterdam Ziggo Dome twice in 2014. In 2018, she participated in America’s Got Talent, where she sang Whitney Houston’s “Run To You” during the audition round. Glennis got a standing ovation from both the public as well as the judges and made it to the final.

Dutch DJ Afrojack

Afrojack in the Grand Final. DJ Afrojack was supposed to be part of an interval act during the Grand Final with an orchestra and choir; both created specifically for the Contest. Grammy award-winning DJ and producer, Nick van de Wall – professionally known as Afrojack – is one of the most notable and iconic names in electronic dance music (EDM) today. At only 26 years old, he has made a significant impact on the music industry and is a key player in the worldwide popularity of EDM. In 2019, he came 9th place in DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs.

Teach-In celebrating their 1975 win for the Netherlands at Schiphol Airport

A Winners’ Journey. During the scheduled Grand Final on 16 May, as voters at home would have made up their minds, 7 former winners would sing their Eurovision evergreens during an unforgettable medley. Bridging between the live audience in Ahoy and hotspots across Rotterdam, we would have opened up to former Eurovision winners and the Host City like never before. Gigliola Cinquetti (Italy 1964) would have sung her beautiful “Non ho l’età”, Lenny Kuhr (The Netherlands 1969) would have performed “De Troubadour” and Teach-In’s Getty Kaspers (The Netherlands 1975) would have sung “Ding-A-Dong”, the last Dutch Eurovision winner for 44 years, until she could pass on the baton to Duncan Laurence last year. Belgium’s Sandra Kim (1986) would have sung “J’aime La Vie”, Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan would once again perform “Rock ‘n’ Roll Kids” (Ireland 1994) and Alexander Rybak would have picked up his violin to perform “Fairytale” (Norway 2009). And of course, moments before passing on the trophy to the next Eurovision Song Contest winner, Duncan Laurence would have sung his “Arcade” once more.

Esdilia Rombley will drive around various Eurovision winners during this year’s live shows

Buckle up!. During each of the 3 live shows, Eurovision Song Contest presenter Edsilia Rombley (who represented the Netherlands in 1998 and 2007) would have been Eurovision’s favourite taxi driver, driving around the streets of Rotterdam together with 4 past Eurovision winners: Ruslana (Ukraine 2004), Anne-Marie David (Luxembourg 1973), Izhar Cohen (Israel 1978) and Niamh Kavanagh (Ireland 1993). They would have talked about winning the Eurovision trophy and what the Contest has meant for their careers afterwards.

Redo to breakdance into 2nd Semi-Final. Internationally renowned breakdancer and motivational speaker Redo (Redouan Aiit Chit) would have opened the 2nd Semi-Final with a spectacular performance. Redo was born with several physical malformations. He has a shorter right arm, which lacks an elbow joint, and has a total of 5 fingers – 2 on the right hand and 3 on the left. He is also missing his right hip, has a shorter right leg, and walks with the aid of a prosthetic. Despite these complications, Redo never allowed his situation to negatively affect his life. Gerben Bakker, Head of Show of the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest, said: “We would like to show Dutch talent in all its facets. Redo’s enormous talent and story fit perfectly with the inclusivity and diversity of this year’s contest and the theme Open Up!”. At age 14, Redo spotted a group of people b-boying (breakdancing) at his high school. It was love at first sight and he decided to take dance classes, despite his physical condition. Initially, he had a hard time learning the basics because he wasn’t able to manage all of the steps. However, through creativity, determination, and the encouragement of his friends, he was able to create a style of his own. While Redo is familiar with international competitions and performing in front of big crowds, he considers this opportunity to be “next level”. Redo proves to anyone who thought of disabilities as limitations that anything is possible. green) Countries that would have participated in 2020; (Yellow) Countries that had participated in the past but did not plan to participate in 2020.

Participants of the final
R/O Country PARTICIPANT(S) SONG – TRANSLATE – LANGUAGE Language(s)
N/A 🇫🇷 France Tom Leeb Mon alliée (The Best in Me)” (The Best in Me, Le meilleur de moi) French, English
🇩🇪 Germany Ben Dolic Violent Thing” (Schlimmes Ding) English
🇮🇹 Italy Diodato Fai rumore” ([You] Make noise)  Italian
🇪🇸 Spain Blas Cantó Universo” (Universe)  Spanish
🇬🇧 United Kingdom James Newman My Last Breath English
23 🇳🇱 The Netherlands Jeangu Macrooy Grow  English

Eurovision Song Contest 2020.svg

    • Dates – Grand Final: Tuesday, 12 May 2020 – 21:00 CEST (planned – cancelled)
    • Host – Venue & Location: Rotterdam Ahoy (Ahoy Rotterdam), Rotterdam, The Netherlands 
    • Presenter (s): Edsilia Rombley, Chantal Janzen, Jan Smit, Nikkie de Jager (online host)
    • Musical Director: Orchestra: Gli artisti cantano su basi musicali.
    • Director: 
    • Executive Producer: Sietse Bakker (Event), Inge van de Weerd (TV)
    • Executive Supervisor: Jon Ola Sand
    • Multicamera Director: Marnix Kaart, Marc Pos, Daniel Jelinek
    • Host broadcaster: NPO Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep/ Televisie Radio Omroep Stichting (AVROTROS), Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS), Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (NPO) in Eurovisione
    • Opening Act: Flag parade introducing the 26 finalist countries.
    • Interval Act: Afrojack and Glennis Grace, “Non ho l’età” performed by Gigliola Cinquetti, “De troubadour” performed by Lenny Kuhr, “Ding-a-dong” performed by Getty Kaspers, “J’aime la vie” performed by Sandra Kim, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Kids” performed by Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan, “Fairytale” performed by Alexander Rybak, “Arcade” performed by Duncan Laurence.
    • Motto: “Open Up”
    • Participants – Number of entries: 41 (planned): Final 26 [🇫🇷 France (60ª), 🇮🇹 Italy (43ª), 🇩🇪 Germany (60ª)🇬🇧 United Kindom (59ª)🇪🇸 Spain (56ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (58ª), …]First Semi-Final 17 [🇸🇪 Sweden (57ª), 🇧🇾 Belarus (17ª), 🇦🇺 Australia (6ª), 🇲🇰 North Macedonia (20ª), 🇸🇮 Slovenia (25ª), 🇱🇹 Lithuania (21ª), 🇮🇪 Ireland (51ª), 🇷🇺 Russia (22ª), 🇧🇪 Belgium (59ª), 🇲🇹 Malta (32ª), 🇭🇷 Croatia (25ª), 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan (13ª), 🇨🇾 Cyprus (37ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (56ª), 🇮🇱 Israel (39ª), 🇷🇴 Romania (21ª), 🇺🇦 Ukraine (16ª)]; Second Semi-Final 18  [🇬🇷 Greece (39ª), 🇪🇪 Estonia (25ª), 🇦🇹 Austria (52ª), 🇲🇩 Moldova (16ª), 🇸🇲 San Marino (11ª), 🇨🇿 Czech Republic (9ª), 🇷🇸 Serbia (14ª), 🇵🇱 Poland (23ª), 🇮🇸 Iceland (32ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (59ª), 🇩🇰 Denmark (49ª), 🇦🇱 Albania (17ª), 🇫🇮 Finland (51ª), 🇦🇲 Armenia (14ª), 🇵🇹 Portugal (49ª), 🇬🇪 Georgia (13ª), 🇧🇬 Bulgaria (13ª), 🇱🇻 Latvia (20ª)]
    • Debuting countries: Nessuno
    • Return: 🇧🇬 Bulgaria (13ª), 🇺🇦 Ukraine (16ª) 
    • Non-returning countries: 🇲🇪 Montenegro (11ª), 🇭🇺 Hungary (17ª)
    • Vote – Voting system: Each country awards two sets of 12, 10, 8–1 points to 10 songs: the first–from a professional jury, the second–from viewers.
    • Nil Points:
    • Winning song: 1f3c6 “” –  () (°) (cancelled)

About/Overview. The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam is cancelled. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has taken the difficult decision to not continue with the live event as planned due to the uncertainty created by the spread of COVID-19 throughout Europe and the restrictions put in place by the governments of the participating broadcasters and the Dutch authorities. The text below – describing the content of the 3 live shows – remains as a tribute to the great work of Dutch Host Broadcasters NPO, AVROTROS and NOS.

Glennis Grace

Glennis Grace. Glennis Grace would have performed during the interval of the Grand Final with Afrojack. Glennis is no stranger to the Eurovision Song Contest; she participated in Kyiv in 2005 with the song “My Impossible Dream“. In 2012, Glennis formed the group Ladies of Soul, together with Dutch singers Trijntje Oosterhuis, Berget Lewis, Candy Dulfer and this year’s co-host Edsilia Rombley. As a group, they sold out the Amsterdam Ziggo Dome twice in 2014. In 2018, she participated in America’s Got Talent, where she sang Whitney Houston’s “Run To You” during the audition round. Glennis got a standing ovation from both the public as well as the judges and made it to the final.

Dutch DJ Afrojack

Afrojack in the Grand Final. DJ Afrojack was supposed to be part of an interval act during the Grand Final with an orchestra and choir; both created specifically for the Contest. Grammy award-winning DJ and producer, Nick van de Wall – professionally known as Afrojack – is one of the most notable and iconic names in electronic dance music (EDM) today. At only 26 years old, he has made a significant impact on the music industry and is a key player in the worldwide popularity of EDM. In 2019, he came 9th place in DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs.

Teach-In celebrating their 1975 win for the Netherlands at Schiphol Airport

A Winners’ Journey. During the scheduled Grand Final on 16 May, as voters at home would have made up their minds, 7 former winners would sing their Eurovision evergreens during an unforgettable medley. Bridging between the live audience in Ahoy and hotspots across Rotterdam, we would have opened up to former Eurovision winners and the Host City like never before. Gigliola Cinquetti (Italy 1964) would have sung her beautiful “Non ho l’età”, Lenny Kuhr (The Netherlands 1969) would have performed “De Troubadour” and Teach-In’s Getty Kaspers (The Netherlands 1975) would have sung “Ding-A-Dong”, the last Dutch Eurovision winner for 44 years, until she could pass on the baton to Duncan Laurence last year. Belgium’s Sandra Kim (1986) would have sung “J’aime La Vie”, Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan would once again perform “Rock ‘n’ Roll Kids” (Ireland 1994) and Alexander Rybak would have picked up his violin to perform “Fairytale” (Norway 2009). And of course, moments before passing on the trophy to the next Eurovision Song Contest winner, Duncan Laurence would have sung his “Arcade” once more.

Esdilia Rombley will drive around various Eurovision winners during this year’s live shows

Buckle up!. During each of the 3 live shows, Eurovision Song Contest presenter Edsilia Rombley (who represented the Netherlands in 1998 and 2007) would have been Eurovision’s favourite taxi driver, driving around the streets of Rotterdam together with 4 past Eurovision winners: Ruslana (Ukraine 2004), Anne-Marie David (Luxembourg 1973), Izhar Cohen (Israel 1978) and Niamh Kavanagh (Ireland 1993). They would have talked about winning the Eurovision trophy and what the Contest has meant for their careers afterwards.

Redo to breakdance into 2nd Semi-Final. Internationally renowned breakdancer and motivational speaker Redo (Redouan Aiit Chit) would have opened the 2nd Semi-Final with a spectacular performance. Redo was born with several physical malformations. He has a shorter right arm, which lacks an elbow joint, and has a total of 5 fingers – 2 on the right hand and 3 on the left. He is also missing his right hip, has a shorter right leg, and walks with the aid of a prosthetic. Despite these complications, Redo never allowed his situation to negatively affect his life. Gerben Bakker, Head of Show of the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest, said: “We would like to show Dutch talent in all its facets. Redo’s enormous talent and story fit perfectly with the inclusivity and diversity of this year’s contest and the theme Open Up!”. At age 14, Redo spotted a group of people b-boying (breakdancing) at his high school. It was love at first sight and he decided to take dance classes, despite his physical condition. Initially, he had a hard time learning the basics because he wasn’t able to manage all of the steps. However, through creativity, determination, and the encouragement of his friends, he was able to create a style of his own. While Redo is familiar with international competitions and performing in front of big crowds, he considers this opportunity to be “next level”. Redo proves to anyone who thought of disabilities as limitations that anything is possible. green) Countries that would have participated in 2020; (Yellow) Countries that had participated in the past but did not plan to participate in 2020.

Participants of Semi-final 1
R/O Country PARTICIPANT(S) SONG – TRANSLATE – LANGUAGE Language(s)
01 🇸🇪 Sweden The Mamas Move English
02 🇧🇾 Belarus VAL (ВЭЛ Da vidna” (Да відна, Before dawn) Belarusian
03 🇦🇺 Australia Montaigne Don’t Break Me English
04 🇲🇰 North Macedonia Vasil (Vasil Garvanliev, Васил Гарванлиев) YOU English
05 🇸🇮 Slovenia Ana Soklič Voda” (Water) Slovene
06 🇱🇹 Lithuania The Roop / The ROOP On Fire English
07 🇮🇪 Ireland Lesley Roy Story of My Life English
08 🇷🇺 Russia Little Big UNO” (Один, ONE) English, Spanish
09 🇧🇪 Belgium Hooverphonic Release Me”  (Libère-moi) English
10 🇲🇹 Malta Destiny (Destiny Chukunyere) All of My Love English
11 🇭🇷 Croatia Damir Kedžo Divlji vjetre” (Wild Wind) Croatian
12 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan Efendi (Samira Efendi, Samirə Əfəndi) Cleopatra” (Kleopatra‎)  English[Contains the Japanese mantra “Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō”]
13 🇨🇾 Cyprus Sandro (Sandro Nicolas) Running English
14 🇳🇴 Norway Ulrikke (Ulrikke Brandstorp) Attention” (Oppmerksomhet)  English
15 🇮🇱 Israel Eden Alene (עדן אלנה;ኤደን አለነ) Feker libi” (ፍቅር ልቤ, My beloved) English, Amharic[c]
16 🇷🇴 Romania Roxen (ROXEN) Alcohol You” (Te sun (joc de cuvinte)) English
17 🇺🇦 Ukraine Go_A (Ґоу_Ей) Solovey” (Соловей, Nightingale) Ukrainian
    • Dates – Grand Final: Thursday, 14 May 2020 – 21:00 CEST (planned – cancelled)
    • Host – Venue & Location: Rotterdam Ahoy (Ahoy Rotterdam), Rotterdam, The Netherlands 
    • Presenter (s): Edsilia Rombley, Chantal Janzen, Jan Smit, Nikkie de Jager (online host)
    • Musical Director: Orchestra: Gli artisti cantano su basi musicali.
    • Director: 
    • Executive Producer: Sietse Bakker (Event), Inge van de Weerd (TV)
    • Executive Supervisor: Jon Ola Sand
    • Multicamera Director: Marnix Kaart, Marc Pos, Daniel Jelinek
    • Host broadcaster: NPO Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep/ Televisie Radio Omroep Stichting (AVROTROS), Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS), Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (NPO) in Eurovisione
    • Opening Act: Flag parade introducing the 26 finalist countries.
    • Interval Act: Afrojack and Glennis Grace, “Non ho l’età” performed by Gigliola Cinquetti, “De troubadour” performed by Lenny Kuhr, “Ding-a-dong” performed by Getty Kaspers, “J’aime la vie” performed by Sandra Kim, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Kids” performed by Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan, “Fairytale” performed by Alexander Rybak, “Arcade” performed by Duncan Laurence.
    • Motto: “Open Up”
    • Participants – Number of entries: 41 (planned): Final 26 [🇫🇷 France (60ª), 🇮🇹 Italy (43ª), 🇩🇪 Germany (60ª)🇬🇧 United Kindom (59ª)🇪🇸 Spain (56ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (58ª), …]First Semi-Final 17 [🇸🇪 Sweden (57ª), 🇧🇾 Belarus (17ª), 🇦🇺 Australia (6ª), 🇲🇰 North Macedonia (20ª), 🇸🇮 Slovenia (25ª), 🇱🇹 Lithuania (21ª), 🇮🇪 Ireland (51ª), 🇷🇺 Russia (22ª), 🇧🇪 Belgium (59ª), 🇲🇹 Malta (32ª), 🇭🇷 Croatia (25ª), 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan (13ª), 🇨🇾 Cyprus (37ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (56ª), 🇮🇱 Israel (39ª), 🇷🇴 Romania (21ª), 🇺🇦 Ukraine (16ª)]; Second Semi-Final 18  [🇬🇷 Greece (39ª), 🇪🇪 Estonia (25ª), 🇦🇹 Austria (52ª), 🇲🇩 Moldova (16ª), 🇸🇲 San Marino (11ª), 🇨🇿 Czech Republic (9ª), 🇷🇸 Serbia (14ª), 🇵🇱 Poland (23ª), 🇮🇸 Iceland (32ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (59ª), 🇩🇰 Denmark (49ª), 🇦🇱 Albania (17ª), 🇫🇮 Finland (51ª), 🇦🇲 Armenia (14ª), 🇵🇹 Portugal (49ª), 🇬🇪 Georgia (13ª), 🇧🇬 Bulgaria (13ª), 🇱🇻 Latvia (20ª)]
    • Debuting countries: Nessuno
    • Return: 🇧🇬 Bulgaria (13ª), 🇺🇦 Ukraine (16ª) 
    • Non-returning countries: 🇲🇪 Montenegro (11ª), 🇭🇺 Hungary (17ª)
    • Vote – Voting system: Each country awards two sets of 12, 10, 8–1 points to 10 songs: the first–from a professional jury, the second–from viewers.
    • Nil Points:
    • Winning song: 1f3c6 “” –  () (°) (cancelled)

About/Overview. The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam is cancelled. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has taken the difficult decision to not continue with the live event as planned due to the uncertainty created by the spread of COVID-19 throughout Europe and the restrictions put in place by the governments of the participating broadcasters and the Dutch authorities. The text below – describing the content of the 3 live shows – remains as a tribute to the great work of Dutch Host Broadcasters NPO, AVROTROS and NOS.

Glennis Grace

Glennis Grace. Glennis Grace would have performed during the interval of the Grand Final with Afrojack. Glennis is no stranger to the Eurovision Song Contest; she participated in Kyiv in 2005 with the song “My Impossible Dream“. In 2012, Glennis formed the group Ladies of Soul, together with Dutch singers Trijntje Oosterhuis, Berget Lewis, Candy Dulfer and this year’s co-host Edsilia Rombley. As a group, they sold out the Amsterdam Ziggo Dome twice in 2014. In 2018, she participated in America’s Got Talent, where she sang Whitney Houston’s “Run To You” during the audition round. Glennis got a standing ovation from both the public as well as the judges and made it to the final.

Dutch DJ Afrojack

Afrojack in the Grand Final. DJ Afrojack was supposed to be part of an interval act during the Grand Final with an orchestra and choir; both created specifically for the Contest. Grammy award-winning DJ and producer, Nick van de Wall – professionally known as Afrojack – is one of the most notable and iconic names in electronic dance music (EDM) today. At only 26 years old, he has made a significant impact on the music industry and is a key player in the worldwide popularity of EDM. In 2019, he came 9th place in DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs.

Teach-In celebrating their 1975 win for the Netherlands at Schiphol Airport

A Winners’ Journey. During the scheduled Grand Final on 16 May, as voters at home would have made up their minds, 7 former winners would sing their Eurovision evergreens during an unforgettable medley. Bridging between the live audience in Ahoy and hotspots across Rotterdam, we would have opened up to former Eurovision winners and the Host City like never before. Gigliola Cinquetti (Italy 1964) would have sung her beautiful “Non ho l’età”, Lenny Kuhr (The Netherlands 1969) would have performed “De Troubadour” and Teach-In’s Getty Kaspers (The Netherlands 1975) would have sung “Ding-A-Dong”, the last Dutch Eurovision winner for 44 years, until she could pass on the baton to Duncan Laurence last year. Belgium’s Sandra Kim (1986) would have sung “J’aime La Vie”, Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan would once again perform “Rock ‘n’ Roll Kids” (Ireland 1994) and Alexander Rybak would have picked up his violin to perform “Fairytale” (Norway 2009). And of course, moments before passing on the trophy to the next Eurovision Song Contest winner, Duncan Laurence would have sung his “Arcade” once more.

Esdilia Rombley will drive around various Eurovision winners during this year’s live shows

Buckle up!. During each of the 3 live shows, Eurovision Song Contest presenter Edsilia Rombley (who represented the Netherlands in 1998 and 2007) would have been Eurovision’s favourite taxi driver, driving around the streets of Rotterdam together with 4 past Eurovision winners: Ruslana (Ukraine 2004), Anne-Marie David (Luxembourg 1973), Izhar Cohen (Israel 1978) and Niamh Kavanagh (Ireland 1993). They would have talked about winning the Eurovision trophy and what the Contest has meant for their careers afterwards.

Redo to breakdance into 2nd Semi-Final. Internationally renowned breakdancer and motivational speaker Redo (Redouan Aiit Chit) would have opened the 2nd Semi-Final with a spectacular performance. Redo was born with several physical malformations. He has a shorter right arm, which lacks an elbow joint, and has a total of 5 fingers – 2 on the right hand and 3 on the left. He is also missing his right hip, has a shorter right leg, and walks with the aid of a prosthetic. Despite these complications, Redo never allowed his situation to negatively affect his life. Gerben Bakker, Head of Show of the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest, said: “We would like to show Dutch talent in all its facets. Redo’s enormous talent and story fit perfectly with the inclusivity and diversity of this year’s contest and the theme Open Up!”. At age 14, Redo spotted a group of people b-boying (breakdancing) at his high school. It was love at first sight and he decided to take dance classes, despite his physical condition. Initially, he had a hard time learning the basics because he wasn’t able to manage all of the steps. However, through creativity, determination, and the encouragement of his friends, he was able to create a style of his own. While Redo is familiar with international competitions and performing in front of big crowds, he considers this opportunity to be “next level”. Redo proves to anyone who thought of disabilities as limitations that anything is possible. green) Countries that would have participated in 2020; (Yellow) Countries that had participated in the past but did not plan to participate in 2020.

Participants of Semi-final 2
R/O Country PARTICIPANT(S) SONG – TRANSLATE – LANGUAGE Language(s)
01 🇬🇷 Greece Stefania (Ελληνίδα; Stefania Liberakakis, Στεφανία Λυμπερακάκη) Supergirl” (SUPERG!RL) English
02 🇪🇪 Estonia Uku Suviste What Love Is English
03 🇦🇹 Austria Vincent Bueno Alive” (Lebendig) English
04 🇲🇩 Moldova Natalia Gordienko (Наталія Гордієнко) Prison” (Închisoare) English
05 🇸🇲 San Marino Senhit (Senit) Freaky! English
06 🇨🇿 Czech Republic Benny Cristo Kemama English
07 🇷🇸 Serbia Hurricane (Харикејн) Hasta la vista Serbian[ d]
08 🇵🇱 Poland Alicja (Alicja Szemplińska) Empires English
09 🇮🇸 Iceland Daði og Gagnamagnið (Daði & Gagnamagnið) Think About Things” (Gagnamagnið, The datavolume) English
10 🇨🇭 Switzerland Gjon’s Tears Répondez-moi” (Answer me) French
11 🇩🇰 Denmark Ben & Tan (Benjamin Rosenbohm og Tanne Balcells) YES English
12 🇦🇱 Albania Arilena Ara Fall from the Sky” (Shaj) English
13 🇫🇮 Finland Aksel (Aksel Kankaanranta) Looking Back” (Katsoa takaisin) English
14 🇦🇲 Armenia Athena Manoukian (Αθηνά Μανουκιάν; Աթենա Մանուկյան) Chains on You” (Շղթաներ քեզ վրա) English
15 🇵🇹 Portugal Elisa (Elisa Silva) Medo de sentir” (Afraid of feeling / Fear of feeling) Portuguese
16 🇬🇪 Georgia Tornike Kipiani (თორნიკე ყიფიანი) Take Me as I Am” (მიმიღე ისეთი როგორიც ვარ) English[e]
17 🇧🇬 Bulgaria Victoria (VICTORIA; Victoria Georgieva, Виктория Георгиева) Tears Getting Sober” (Сълзите стават трезви) English
18 🇱🇻 Latvia Samanta Tīna Still Breathing” (Vēl elpoju) English

Missed participation

The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was planned to be the 65th edition of the contest, however the contest was cancelled in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A statement released by the EBU following the cancellation confirmed that the entries chosen to compete in the 2020 contest would not be eligible to compete in 2021. As these songs were not performed live in the competition, they are not counted in the running total of entries performed.

Participation map

 

Transmitirá a 2º semifinal noutro horário. Countries that had planned to participate in 2020 Transmitirá a Final em direto. Did not qualify from the semi final Transmitirá a 1º semifinal em direto. Countries that had participated in the past but did not plan to participate in 2020

ESC 2020 Scoreboard Grand Final Ι Detailed voting results Ι Jurors:

Cancelled

ESC 2020 Scoreboard First Semi-Final Ι Detailed voting results Ι Jurors:

Cancelled

ESC 2020 Scoreboard Second Semi-Final Ι Detailed voting results Ι Jurors:

Cancelled

Press release from EBU. It is with deep regret that we have to announce the cancellation of the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam.

Over the past few weeks, we have explored many alternative options to allow the Eurovision Song Contest to go ahead.

However, the uncertainty created by the spread of COVID-19 throughout Europe – and the restrictions put in place by the governments of the participating broadcasters and the Dutch authorities – means the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has taken the difficult decision to not continue with the live event as planned. The health of artists, staff, fans and visitors, as well as the situation in the Netherlands, Europe and the world, is at the heart of this decision.

We are very proud that the Eurovision Song Contest has united audiences every year, without interruption, for the past 64 years and we, like the millions of you around the world, are extremely saddened that it can not take place in May.

Jon Ola Sand, Executive Supervisor: “We are very proud of the Eurovision Song Contest, that for 64 years has united people all around Europe. And we are deeply disappointed about this situation. The EBU, together with the Host Broadcaster NPO, NOS, AVROTROS and the City of Rotterdam will continue to talk to see if it’s possible to stage the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam in 2021. I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in the process of staging a great Eurovision Song Contest this year. Unfortunately, that was not possible due to factors beyond our control. We regret this situation very much, but I can promise you: the Eurovision Song Contest will come back stronger than ever.”

NPO chairwoman Shula Rijxman: “This decision by the EBU was inevitable, given the circumstances currently affecting all of Europe as a result of the coronavirus and all the measures that governments must now take. This is a big disappointment for the Dutch audience, the fantastic team behind the scenes, the presenters and the artists. In recent months, a large group of people have worked hard on the Song Contest. We thank them for their great commitment and regret that the results of the efforts will not be visible in the short term. We would particularly like to mention the municipality of Rotterdam, which has proven itself as the ideal partner in this project in the past year. This edition was an excellent opportunity to understand each other differently in a period of uncertainty in Europe, but above all an opportunity to really bring Europe together. Music is universally binding and – I am sure – it will stay that way. Even after this corona crisis.”

Sietse Bakker, Executive Producer Event, understands that many people are disappointed that the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 will not take place: “For the artists from 41 participating countries, our opening and interval acts that put their hearts and souls into their performance. For the fans who have always supported us and have kept confidence until the last moment. And not least, for the fantastic team, which has worked very hard in recent months to make this 65th edition a great success. We understand and share that disappointment. Some perspective is appropriate because, at the same time, we also realize that this decision and its consequences don’t compare to the challenges faced by people affected, directly or indirectly, by the coronavirus and the difficult but necessary measures.”

We ask some patience as we work through the ramifications of this unprecedented decision and patiently await further news in the coming days and weeks. During that time, we would like to pay tribute to all the Host Broadcaster team in the Netherlands and our 41 public service broadcasters who have worked so hard planning this year’s event.

We are all heartbroken that the Eurovision Song Contest will not be able to be staged in May but feel confident that the whole Eurovision family, across the world, will continue to provide love and support for each other at this difficult time.

Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was originally planned to take place in just two months, with Semi-finals held on 12 and 14 May, and the final on 16 May 2020.

Eurovision Song Contest 2020.svg

The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was planned to be the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It would have taken place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country’s victory at the 2019 contest with the song “Arcade” by Duncan Laurence. The contest was cancelled on 18 March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, making the first time in the contest’s 64-year history that an edition was not held. 

The contest was scheduled to be held at Rotterdam Ahoy and would consist of two semi-finals on 12 and 14 May, and a final on 16 May 2020.[2] Forty-one countries would have participated in the contest; Bulgaria and Ukraine would have returned after their absence from the 2019 contest, while Hungary and Montenegro had confirmed their non-participation after taking part in the previous edition. All 41 competing artists and songs were confirmed by the relevant broadcasters by early March 2020.

Following the cancellation, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) began discussions of potential carryovers for the 2021 contest, such as the host city and participating artists, with various parties. In place of the cancelled contest, the EBU and its Dutch members NPO, NOS and AVROTROS organised a replacement show, Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light, to showcase the selected entries on 16 May, the day of the planned final. Rotterdam remained host of the 2021 contest on 18, 20 and 22 May 2021; however, the songs selected for the 2020 contest were not eligible for the competition.

Rotterdam Ahoy – the planned host venue of the 2020 contest.

Location. The 2020 contest was to be held at Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, following the country’s victory at the 2019 edition with the song “Arcade”, performed by Duncan Laurence. It would have been the fifth time that the Netherlands had hosted the contest, having previously done so in 1958, 1970, 1976 and 1980. Rotterdam Ahoy had previously hosted the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007.

Preparations. Preparations for the 2020 contest began on 19 May 2019, immediately after the Netherlands won the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel. Jon Ola Sand, the executive supervisor of the contest on behalf of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), handed AVROTROS, the Dutch participating broadcaster, a stack of documents and a USB drive with tools to begin the work needed to host the next contest.[7] AVROTROS was co-organising the event with sister broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) and their parent public broadcasting organisation, Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (NPO).

Bidding phase: Already prior to the 2019 contest, when bookmakers expected Duncan Laurence to win, several Dutch cities, including Amsterdam, The Hague and Maastricht, announced their intent to host the contest should the Netherlands win. A spokesperson for NPO also stated that the broadcaster had a rough plan for how they would select the host city in the event of a Dutch victory. When Laurence won the contest, mayors of various municipalities immediately began lobbying Mark Rutte, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, through text messages. Public figures, including Laurence, Esther Hart, Getty Kaspers and André Rieu, voiced their support for their respective favourite host cities.

The hosting broadcasters launched the bidding process on 29 May 2019. In the first phase of this process, cities were to formally apply to bid. Nine cities—Amsterdam, Arnhem, Breda, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, The Hague, Leeuwarden, Maastricht, Rotterdam, and Utrecht—did so and received a list of criteria they and their venues needed to meet on 12 June 2019. Initially, Zwolle had also considered launching a bid to host the event but the city ultimately decided against doing so because it deemed its venue, the IJsselhallen, to have unsuitable proportions. Enschede could have been a potential host city as Enschede Airport Twente considered bidding to host the event in its eleventh hangar, however, it later learned that Enschede’s municipality executive board had decided against financially supporting such a bid.

From this point on, these nine cities had until 10 July 2019 to compile their bid books to demonstrate their capabilities to host the contest. Further cities were still able to join in on the bidding race by applying prior to the deadline. During this period, four cities withdrew. Amsterdam could not host the contest because it was preoccupied with hosting other events during the contest’s time frame. Breda dropped out due to financial concerns. Leeuwarden ceased bidding due to the insufficient height of the ceiling of its WTC Expo. The Hague dropped its bid because both of its potential venues were unsuitable for the event. The local Cars Jeans Stadion football stadium would have been large enough but lacked a roof, and installing such a roof would have made the bid financially unviable. Its other option would have been spanning a tent over the Malieveld field, but after reviewing the hosting conditions, this option fell out of favour. Following its withdrawal, The Hague turned to support Rotterdam’s bid instead.

The five remaining cities—Arnhem, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Maastricht, Rotterdam, and Utrecht—delivered their finished bid books to a ceremonial event held in Hilversum on 10 July 2019. The hosting broadcasters reviewed the bids presented and on 16 July 2019 announced that it eliminated those for Arnhem, ‘s-Hertogenbosch and Utrecht, shortlisting only Maastricht and Rotterdam. Utrecht was specifically eliminated because its proposal to span a tent over its Jaarbeurs offered limited possibilities for testing on location and had a questionable suitability for events like the Eurovision Song Contest, while ‘s-Hertogenbosch was dropped due to an insufficient ceiling height in its Brabanthallen and too few hotel rooms blocked for potential visitors of the contest.

To review and discuss the location, venue and surrounding events for the remaining bids, NPO visited Maastricht on 17 July 2019 and Rotterdam on the following day. By late July, additional visits to the two shortlisted cities were deemed necessary to review production logistics. The EBU did not pay visits to either city. Maastricht and Rotterdam were to hand in revised versions of their bid books by 9 August 2019 to add details involving the cities’ social programmes, side-events and programme licensing. A “concept agreement” was put before the organisers in both Maastricht and Rotterdam in August 2019. While Rotterdam signed this agreement, the city council of Maastricht discussed and rejected it. Within the same council session, it was also clarified that the MECC would not receive additional renovations. On 30 August, Rotterdam was announced as the host city during a special broadcast on NPO 1 and NPO 2.

Locations of the candidate cities: the chosen host city is marked in blue. The shortlisted cities are marked in green, while the eliminated cities are marked in red. Key†  Host venue  ‡  Shortlisted venues

City Venue Notes
Wapen van de gemeente Arnhem ArnhemUtrecht GelreDome Joint bid with the city of Nijmegen and the Veluwe region.
Wapen van de gemeente Maastricht Maastricht (Mestreech) Maastricht MECC Maastricht ‡ Candidacy was supported by the province of Limburg and surrounding cities.
Wapen van Rotterdam Rotterdam Rotterdam Rotterdam Ahoy † Candidacy was supported by the province of South Holland and the cities of Dordrecht and The Hague. The venue previously hosted the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007.
Wapen van 's-Hertogenbosch ‘s-Hertogenbosch (DEN BOSCH)Utrecht Brabanthallen Candidacy was supported by the province of North Brabant and the cities of Breda, Eindhoven, Tilburg and Helmond.
Wapen van de gemeente Utrecht UtrechtUtrecht Jaarbeurs [-

Other sites. The Eurovision Village would have been erected to serve as the official Eurovision Song Contest fan and sponsors’ area during the events week. There, it would have been possible to watch performances by local artists, as well as the live shows broadcast from the main venue. The Binnenrotte was the planned location for the Village. The Binnenrotte is one of the largest open spaces in the centre of Rotterdam. It is located in the heart of the city, next to some of Rotterdam’s most famous architectural marvels, such as the Markthal.

The EuroClub would have been the venue for the official after-parties and private performances by contest participants. Unlike the Eurovision Village, access to the EuroClub would be restricted to accredited fans, delegates, and press. It would have been located at the Maassilo. Maassilo is located on Rotterdam’s waterfront at Maashaven Zuidzijde, a 10-minute drive from Rotterdam Ahoy.

The “Golden Carpet” and Opening Ceremony events, where the contestants and their delegations present themselves in front of the accredited press and fans, would have taken place at the Rotterdam Cruise Terminal on 10 May 2020.

Production. The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 would have been a co-production between three related Dutch television organisations — Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (NPO), Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) and AVROTROS — of which each assumed a different role. Sietse Bakker and Inge van de Weerd would have served as executive producers, while Emilie Sickinghe and Jessica Stam would have served as deputy executive producers. In August 2019, Marnix Kaart and Marc Pos were announced as the directors of the three live shows, as well as Gerben Bakker as head of show. Cornald Maas would have been creative advisor. Jon Ola Sand, executive supervisor of the contest, would keep his role as he had done since 2011, though he planned to step down following the 2020 contest.

Visual design. The contest’s slogan, “Open Up”, was unveiled on 24 October 2019. The official logo and branding was unveiled on 28 November 2019. Designed by Clever°Franke, it is “an abstract representation of the flag colours of the 41 countries participating in 2020 by first appearance to the contest”.

Chantal Janzen, Jan Smit and Edsilia Rombley, planned to be the presenters of the 2020 contest

Presenters. The contest would have been hosted by three presenters: actress and television host Chantal Janzen, singer and commentator for the contest Jan Smit, and singer Edsilia Rombley, who represented the Netherlands in the 1998 and 2007 contests. Beauty vlogger Nikkie de Jager (NikkieTutorials) would have been the presenter of the contest’s online content, including a behind-the-scenes YouTube series to be recorded with the participating artists. She would have also reported from the “Golden Carpet” during the opening ceremony and was scheduled to make an appearance in all three live shows. Roos Moggré and Andrew Makkinga would have moderated the contest’s press conferences.

Stage design. The stage design for the 2020 contest was revealed on 2 December 2019. The design was inspired by the slogan “Open Up” and the typical Dutch flat landscape. The Eurovision stage was designed by German stage designer Florian Wieder, who also designed the stages for the contests in 2011–12, 2015, and 2017–19. Unlike the previous contest, the green room was placed inside the main performance venue.

Opening and interval acts. The second semi-final would have opened with a performance by breakdancer Redo. The final would have been opened with the traditional flag parade, introducing all twenty-six finalists, accompanied by music produced by 15-year-old DJ Pieter Gabriel. A symphony orchestra of sixty-five young musicians from across the Netherlands, specifically formed for this occasion, was scheduled to perform in the final, together with DJ Afrojack and singer Glennis Grace, the latter of whom represented the Netherlands in the 2005 contest. This interval act would have also featured forty dancers and a twenty-five-piece gospel choir.

Furthermore, the final was scheduled to include performances from eight former Eurovision winners: Gigliola Cinquetti would have performed “Non ho l’età“, Lenny Kuhr would have performed “De troubadour“, Getty Kaspers (of Teach-In) would have performed “Ding-a-dong”, Sandra Kim would have performed “J’aime la vie“, Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan would have performed “Rock ‘n’ Roll Kids”, Alexander Rybak would have performed “Fairytale”, and Duncan Laurence would have performed “Arcade” once again.

Format. 

Voting system. The Spanish Head of Delegation revealed on 22 October 2019 that the EBU was consulting with delegations on potential changes to the voting system. The Greek Head of Delegation revealed on 30 October 2019 that the majority of delegations (80%) voted in favour of maintaining the current voting system.

Semi-final allocation draw. The draw to determine the participating countries’ semi-finals took place on 28 January 2020 at 16:10 CET, at the Rotterdam City Hall. The thirty-five semi-finalists were divided over five pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by the contest’s official televoting partner Digame. The purpose of drawing from different pots was to reduce the chance of “bloc voting” and to increase suspense in the semi-finals. The draw also determined which semi-final each of the six automatic qualifiers – host country the Netherlands and “Big Five” countries France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom – would broadcast and vote in. The ceremony was hosted by contest presenters Chantal Janzen, Jan Smit and Edsilia Rombley, and included the passing of the host city insignia from Zippi Brand Frank, deputy mayor of Tel Aviv (host city of the previous contest) to Ahmed Aboutaleb, mayor of Rotterdam.

Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4 Pot 5
  • 🇦🇱 Albania
  • 🇦🇹 Austria
  • 🇭🇷 Croatia
  • 🇲🇰 North Macedonia
  • 🇷🇸 Serbia
  • 🇸🇮 Slovenia
  • 🇨🇭 Switzerland
  • 🇦🇺 Australia
  • 🇩🇰 Denmark
  • 🇪🇪 Estonia
  • 🇫🇮 Finland
  • 🇮🇸 Iceland
  • 🇳🇴 Norway
  • 🇸🇪 Sweden
  • 🇦🇲 Armenia
  • 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan
  • 🇧🇾 Belarus
  • 🇬🇪 Georgia
  • 🇲🇩 Moldova
  • 🇷🇺 Russia
  • 🇺🇦 Ukraine
  • 🇧🇬 Bulgaria
  • 🇨🇾 Cyprus
  • 🇬🇷 Greece
  • 🇲🇹 Malta
  • 🇵🇹 Portugal
  • 🇷🇴 Romania
  • 🇸🇲 San Marino
  • 🇧🇪 Belgium
  • 🇨🇿 Czech Republic
  • 🇮🇪 Ireland
  • 🇮🇱 Israel
  • 🇱🇻 Latvia
  • 🇱🇹 Lithuania
  • 🇵🇱 Poland

Postcards. The concept of the 2020 postcards was based on the “Open Up” theme of the contest. Each artist would have visited a different part of the Netherlands and connected with locals by participating in a Dutch activity, tradition or hobby.

  • Red: Countries that would have participated in the first semi-final.
  • Pink: Countries that were pre-qualified for the final and would have voted in the first semi-final.
  • Blu: Countries that would have participated in the second semi-final
  • Light Blu: Countries that were pre-qualified for the final and would have voted in the second semi-final

Countries set to participateThe EBU announced on 13 November 2019 that forty-one countries would participate in the contest, with Bulgaria and Ukraine returning after their absence from the 2019 contest, with Hungary and Montenegro withdrawing mostly due to financial reasons. Following the cancellation of the contest, artists who would have participated in this edition may be chosen to participate in the following year, but they have to enter with new songs in accordance to the Eurovision rules.

All the national selections for Eurovision Song Contest 2020: 

• National Selections in 2020:

COUNTRY EVENT WINNER
🇦🇱 Albania Festivali i Këngës #58 Arilena Ara – “Fall from the Sky” / Shaj”
🇦🇲 Armenia Depi Evratesil 2020 Athena Manoukian – “Chains on You”
🇦🇺 Australia Australia Decides 2020 Montaigne – “Don’t Break Me”
🇧🇾 Belarus (Belarusian Selection 2020) VАL – “Da vidna” (Да відна)
🇭🇷 Croatia Dora 2020 Damir Kedžo – “Divlji vjetre
🇨🇿 Czech Republic ESCZ 2020 Benny Cristo – “Kemama”
🇩🇰 Denmark Melodi Grand Prix 2020 Ben & Tan – “Yes”
🇪🇪 Estonia Eesti Laul 2020 Uku Suviste – “What Love Is”
🇫🇮 Finland Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2020 Aksel Kankaanranta – “Looking Back”
🇬🇪 Georgia Georgian Idol artist selection Tornike Kipiani – “Take Me as I Am”
🇮🇸 Iceland Söngvakeppnin 2020 Daði & Gagnamagnið – “Think About Things” / “Gagnamagnið”
🇮🇱 Israel Israeli Selection 2020 Eden Alene – “Feker Libi” (ፍቅር ልቤ)
🇮🇹 Italy Sanremo 2020 Diodato – “Fai rumore
🇱🇻 Latvia Supernova 2020 Samanta Tīna – “Still Breathing”
🇱🇹 Lithuania Pabandom iš naujo 2020 The Roop – “On Fire”
🇲🇩 Moldova Finala Națională 2020 Natalia Gordienko – “Prison”
🇳🇴Norway Melodi Grand Prix 2020 Ulrikke Brandstorp – “Attention”
🇵🇱 Poland Szansa na Sukces 2020 artist selection Alicja Szemplińska – “Empires”
🇵🇹 Portugal Festival da Canção 2020 Elisa – “Medo de sentir
🇷🇴 Romania Selecția Națională 2020 song selection Roxen – “Alcohol You”
🇸🇲 San Marino (San Marinese Selection 2020) song selection Senhit – “Freaky!”
🇷🇸 Serbia Beovizija 2020 Hurricane – “Hasta la vista
🇸🇮 Slovenia EMA 2020 Ana Soklič – “Voda
🇸🇪 Melodifestivalen 2020 The Mamas – “Move”
🇺🇦 Ukraine Vidbir 2020 Go_A – “Solovey” (Соловей)

Internal Selections in 2020:

🇦🇹 Austria Vincent Bueno – “Alive”
🇦🇿 Azerbaijan Efendi – “Cleopatra”
🇧🇪 Belgium Hooverphonic – “Release Me”
🇧🇬 Bulgaria Victoria – “Tears Getting Sober”
🇨🇾 Cyprus Sandro – “Running”
🇫🇷 France Tom Leeb – “Mon alliée (The Best in Me)” / “The Best in Me”
🇩🇪 Germany Ben Dolic – “Violent Thing”
🇬🇷 Greece Stefania – “Superg!rl”
🇮🇪 Ireland Lesley Roy – “Story of My Life”
🇲🇹 Malta Destiny – “All of My Love”
🇳🇱 The Netherlands Jeangu Macrooy – “Grow”
🇲🇰 North Macedonia Vasil – “You”
🇷🇺 Russia Little Big – “Uno
🇪🇸 Spain Blas Cantó – “Universo
🇨🇭 Switzerland Gjon’s Tears – “Répondez-moi
🇬🇧 United Kindom James Newman – “My Last Breath”
3.7.Connections:

Artists which would have returned. Three artists which had previously competed as lead vocalists for the same countries had been selected to compete again. Natalia Gordienko had previously represented Moldova in 2006 with Arsenium and Connect-R; Senhit had represented San Marino in 2011; and Sanja Vučić, a member of Hurricane, had previously represented Serbia in 2016 in a solo performance.

A number of other acts had previously performed as backing vocalists in other years, but had been selected as the lead artist for the 2020 contest. Ksenija Knežević, a member of Serbia’s group Hurricane, had previously served as backing vocalist in 2015 for Montenegro’s entrant Knez; Destiny provided backing vocals for Malta’s Michela in 2019; Vincent Bueno backed Austria’s Nathan Trent in 2017; and Vasil and the Mamas were present at the 2019 contest, providing backing vocals for North Macedonia’s Tamara Todevska and Sweden’s John Lundvik respectively. In addition, two of the lead vocalists had previously competed in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest; Destiny won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015 for Malta and Greece’s Stefania had competed in the 2016 Junior contest for the Netherlands as member of the group Kisses.

Semi-final 1The first semi-final would have taken place on 12 May 2020 at 21:00 (CEST). Seventeen countries would have participated in the first semi-final. These countries, plus Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, would have voted in this semi-final.

Participants of Semi-final 1[a]
R/O Country Artist Song Language
1  Sweden The Mamas “Move” English
2  Belarus VAL Da vidna” (Да відна) Belarusian
3  Australia Montaigne “Don’t Break Me” English
4  North Macedonia Vasil “You” English
5  Slovenia Ana Soklič Voda Slovene
6  Lithuania The Roop “On Fire” English
7  Ireland Lesley Roy “Story of My Life” English
8  Russia Little Big Uno English, Spanish
9  Belgium Hooverphonic “Release Me” English
10  Malta Destiny “All of My Love” English
11  Croatia Damir Kedžo Divlji vjetre Croatian
12  Azerbaijan Efendi “Cleopatra” English[b]
13  Cyprus Sandro “Running” English
14  Norway Ulrikke “Attention” English
15  Israel Eden Alene Feker Libi” (ፍቅር ልቤ) English, Amharic[c]
16  Romania Roxen “Alcohol You” English
17  Ukraine Go_A Solovey” (Соловей) Ukrainian

Semi-final 2: The second semi-final would have taken place on 14 May 2020 at 21:00 (CEST). Eighteen countries would have participated in the second semi-final. These countries, plus France, Spain and the United Kingdom, would have voted in this semi-final.

Participants of Semi-final 2[a]
R/O Country Artist Song Language
1  Greece Stefania “Supergirl” English
2  Estonia Uku Suviste “What Love Is” English
3  Austria Vincent Bueno “Alive” English
4  Moldova Natalia Gordienko “Prison” English
5  San Marino Senhit “Freaky!” English
6  Czech Republic Benny Cristo “Kemama” English
7  Serbia Hurricane Hasta la vista Serbian[d]
8  Poland Alicja “Empires” English
9  Iceland Daði og Gagnamagnið “Think About Things” English
10  Switzerland Gjon’s Tears Répondez-moi French
11  Denmark Ben and Tan “Yes” English
12  Albania Arilena Ara “Fall from the Sky” English
13  Finland Aksel “Looking Back” English
14  Armenia Athena Manoukian “Chains on You” English
15  Portugal Elisa Medo de sentir Portuguese
16  Georgia Tornike Kipiani “Take Me as I Am” English[e]
17  Bulgaria Victoria “Tears Getting Sober” English
18  Latvia Samanta Tīna Still Breathing English

Final: The final would have taken place on 16 May 2020 at 21:00 (CEST). Twenty-six countries would have participated in the final, composed of the host country, the “Big Five”, and the ten best-ranked entries of each of the two semi-finals. All forty-one participating countries would have voted in the final.

Participants of the final
R/O Country Artist Song Language
 France Tom Leeb “Mon alliée (The Best in Me)” French, English
 Germany Ben Dolic “Violent Thing” English
 Italy Diodato Fai rumore Italian
 Spain Blas Cantó Universo Spanish
 United Kingdom James Newman “My Last Breath” English
23  Netherlands Jeangu Macrooy Grow English

Other countriesEligibility for potential participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active EBU membership that will be able to broadcast the contest via the Eurovision network. The EBU issued an invitation of participation in the contest to all active members. In contrast to previous years, associate member Australia did not need an invitation for the 2020 contest, as it had previously been granted permission to participate at least until 2023.

  •  Andorra – In March 2019, Andorran broadcaster Ràdio i Televisió d’Andorra (RTVA) stated that they would be open to co-operating with Catalan broadcaster Televisió de Catalunya (TVC) to participate in future contests. The two broadcasters had previously co-operated when Andorra debuted in 2004. In May 2019, RTVA confirmed that they would not participate in the 2020 contest. In November 2019, the ruling party of Andorra (Democrats for Andorra) stated that RTVA would eventually return to the contest, with a cost assessment being a prerequisite. Andorra last participated in 2009, after which the broadcaster has not participated due to financial issues.
  •  Bosnia and Herzegovina – In December 2018, Lejla Babović, an executive with Radio and Television of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BHRT), stated that returning to the contest was BHRT’s primary goal, but also that their financial situation made it difficult to return to the contest in 2020. In July 2019, BHRT confirmed that they could not return due to sanctions imposed by the EBU as a result of the broadcaster’s outstanding debt with the organisation. Bosnia and Herzegovina last took part in 2016.
  •  Hungary – In October 2019, Hungarian broadcaster MTVA stated, that A Dal, which had been used as the national selection process since 2012, would not be used to select Hungary’s entry to the 2020 contest, and instead of focusing on Eurovision, the creators of A Dal wanted to focus more on supporting the Hungarian pop scene. Hungary’s absence was confirmed with the release of the full list of participants by the EBU. The non-participation came during a rise of anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment among the leadership of Hungary and MTVA; while no official reason for the non-participation was given by the broadcaster, an inside source speaking with the website Index.hu stated that the contest was considered “too gay” for MTVA to participate. This was later denied by MTVA.
  •  Luxembourg – Because Luxembourg had not participated in the competition since 1993, there were increasing calls on them to return to the contest by 2019. In May 2019, Anne-Marie David, who won the 1973 contest for Luxembourg, called on the nation to return, while a petition from fans demanding a Luxembourgish return to the contest was sent to the Luxembourgish broadcaster RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg (RTL) and the Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg. In previous years, RTL had stated they would not return to the contest due to financial concerns and the belief that smaller nations could not succeed in modern Eurovision events. In June 2019, the Chamber of Deputies opened a petition of its own, which accepted signatures through 1 August 2019. In July 2019, the broadcaster stated that they would not participate in the 2020 contest because the contest would be a financial strain on the broadcaster and because they focused on news content instead of music and entertainment.
  •  Monaco – Monégasque broadcaster TMC confirmed in August 2019 that it would not take part in the 2020 contest. Monaco last participated in 2006.
  •  Montenegro – Montenegrin broadcaster RTCG confirmed its preliminary participation in September 2019. However, the broadcaster informed website ESCToday in November that its participation in the 2020 contest would not be possible. RTCG’s director general, Božidar Šundić, challenged this statement, stating that a decision on the participation had yet to be made by RTCG’s council. Montenegro did not appear on the final list of participants, and RTCG later stated that they had decided not to participate due to “modest results” and financial issues. The money that would have otherwise been used for the contest participation fee was instead allocated to purchasing new cars to be used by RTCG staff. Montenegro’s non-participation was confirmed with the release of the full list of participants by the EBU.
  •  Slovakia – In June 2019, Slovak broadcaster Radio and Television of Slovakia (RTVS) announced that it would not participate in the 2020 contest due to a lack of interest from the Slovak public. Slovakia last took part in 2012.
  •  Turkey – In September 2019, the EBU stated that Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) had not signed up to compete in the 2020 contest. Turkey last took part in 2012.

Associate EBU members.

  •  Kazakhstan – In November 2018, Jon Ola Sand, the executive supervisor of the contest, stated that Kazakhstan’s participation in the contest needed to be discussed by the contest’s reference group. Kazakhstan, through its EBU associate member Khabar Agency, had previously been invited to participate in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest by that contest’s reference group, though that would not affect their participation in the main contest. The EBU stated in September 2019 that they had no intention to invite Kazakhstan to the 2020 contest.

Non-EBU members.

  •  Kosovo – In June 2018, Mentor Shala, the then-general director of Kosovan broadcaster Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK), stated that the broadcaster was still pushing for full EBU membership and that it hoped to debut at the 2020 contest. In June 2019, at the EBU’s 82nd General Assembly, members of the EBU voted against the abolishing of an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) membership as a requirement to join the EBU, thus RTK cannot join the EBU in time for the 2020 contest.
  •  Liechtenstein – In August 2019, Liechtensteiner broadcaster 1 FL TV announced that they had ruled out debuting in the 2020 contest. The broadcaster had attempted to become an EBU member in the past but halted its plans when its director, Peter Kölbel, unexpectedly died. It would also need the backing of the Liechtenstein government to be able to carry the cost of becoming an EBU member and paying the participation fee for the contest.

Planned broadcasts. Before the contest’s cancellation, countries had started confirming their broadcasting plans and who would provide commentary either on-location or remotely at the broadcaster during the contest. The role of the commentators was to add insight to the participating entries and the provision of voting information.

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
Country Show(s) Broadcaster(s) Commentator(s)
 Australia All shows SBS Not announced
 Austria All shows ORF 1 Not announced
 Belarus All shows Belarus-1, Belarus 24 Evgeny Perlin
 Finland Final Yle TV1 Not announced
 France Final France 2 Not announced
 Germany Semi-finals One Peter Urban and Michael Schulte
Final One, Das Erste, Deutsche Welle
 Greece All shows ERT Maria Kozakou and Giorgos Kapoutzidis
 Israel All shows Kan 11 Geula Even-Sa’ar and Asaf Liberman [he]
 Italy Semi-finals Rai 4 Not announced
Final Rai 1
Rai Radio 2
 Norway All shows NRK1 Marte Stokstad [no]
 Romania All shows TVR 1, TVRi Not announced
 Switzerland All shows SRF info Sven Epiney
SF2 SRF zwei
Final SRF 1
 United Kingdom Semi-finals BBC Four Scott Mills and Rylan Clark-Neal
Final BBC One Graham Norton
BBC Radio 2 Ken Bruce
Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries
Country Show(s) Broadcaster(s) Commentator(s)
 Canada Not announced Omni Television Not announced
 United States All shows Netflix Not announced [f]

Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and cancellation.In January–February 2020, the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (known as COVID-19) from Wuhan, China, to other countries around the world raised concerns and the potential impact over staging the Eurovision Song Contest. On 6 March, the Dutch broadcaster NPO stated: “Eurovision organisers would follow the advice of health authorities in deciding what form the event, due to be held on 12–16 May, would take.” In March, authorities in Denmark urged the cancellation of events with more than 1,000 spectators to limit the spread of the virus. This resulted in the Danish national final being held with no live audience. Representatives from Sweden, Finland, Israel, Switzerland, Italy and Greece attended the Heads of Delegation meeting on 9 March remotely. The contest’s executive supervisor Jon Ola Sand also attended the meeting remotely, due to travel restrictions being placed on EBU staff until 13 March after an employee contracted the virus.

Several pre-parties – promotional events which are held across Europe in the lead up to the contest weeks – were also impacted due to the emerging pandemic. These included the PrePartyES, planned for 10–11 April in Madrid and was eventually modified to an online-only format, where artists performed at home in a YouTube concert; and three pre-parties that were cancelled: Israel Calling, a pre-party planned in Tel Aviv; Eurovision in Concert, a pre-party planned in Amsterdam; and the London Eurovision Party. The pandemic also affected pre-contest activities of several competing artists. Eden Alene, the Israeli representative, revealed that she would not travel to the Netherlands to film her postcard as a precautionary measure; the broadcaster noted they would try to find another way to film her postcard. The Lithuanian representatives The Roop also cancelled both the travel plans to film their postcard and their participation in the London and Amsterdam pre-parties. The Bulgarian representative Victoria also cancelled her participation in the London and Amsterdam pre-parties.

Ultimately, the contest itself was cancelled as a result of the pandemic and the uncertainty surrounding it, which was announced on 18 March 2020. On the same day, the EBU explained the reasons for which the alternative options that had been considered – postponement of the show, show without audience and remote show – were discarded. Postponement was impossible because at that time it was unknown when the pandemic would end and also because the winning country would not have enough time to organise the event the following year. The idea of staging a show without a live audience was also impracticable because, regardless of audience participation, the presence of production crews, delegations and relevant personnel was needed, which would constitute a breach of social distancing guidelines. Finally, a remote show was also off the table because it would have undermined the tradition and the spirit of the event, in which all contestants have an equal opportunity by performing on the same stage. By then, the Dutch government had decided to prohibit all gatherings with more than 100 attendees until further notice. The contest’s Reference Group explored the option of letting the artists selected for 2020 compete in the following year instead. A decision was made on 20 March 2020 that, in accordance with the contest’s rules, which disqualify songs released publicly before 1 September of the preceding calendar year, none of the 2020 songs would be eligible to compete in the 2021 contest.

The Ahoy Arena itself, with most events and gatherings in the Netherlands prohibited until at least 1 September 2020, served as a temporary care facility to cover the nationwide shortage of hospital beds. Construction of the stage would have started on 6 April.

Alternative programming. 

Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light. The EBU and the host broadcasters worked on a replacement show, Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light, after the contest’s cancellation. From Hilversum’s Studio 21, the show was broadcast live on 16 May 2020, the date the contest’s final was planned to take place, with Chantal Janzen, Jan Smit and Edsilia Rombley serving as hosts. Forty-five countries broadcast the show, including all of the countries that would have participated.

Eurovision Song Celebration 2020. The EBU announced on 30 April 2020 that Eurovision Song Celebration 2020 would be released as a replacement for the semi-finals on the contest’s official YouTube channel. The shows, presented by Janouk Kelderman and premiered on 12 and 14 May, honoured all 41 participants and their songs in a non-competitive format.

The first episode showcased the participants of the first semi-final, as well as those of host country the Netherlands and two of the “Big Five”, Germany and Italy, who would also have voted in this semi-final. The second episode featured the participants of the second semi-final, as well as those of France, Spain and the United Kingdom, who would also have voted in this semi-final.

The running order was determined by the producers of the show as if the contest were actually held, while fans were asked to contribute to the show by sending videoclips of their favourite entries.

Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light
Eurovision Europe Shine a Light titlecard.png
Dates
Final 16 May 2020
Host
Venue Studio 21, Hilversum, Netherlands
Presenter(s)
  • Chantal Janzen
  • Edsilia Rombley
  • Jan Smit
  • Nikkie de Jager (online host)
Directed by Marnix Kaart
Executive supervisor Jon Ola Sand
Executive producer Sietse Bakker
Host broadcaster
  • AVROTROS
  • Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS)
  • Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (NPO)

Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light was a live television programme, organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and produced by the Dutch broadcasters NPO, NOS and AVROTROS. It replaced the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, which was planned to be held in Rotterdam, Netherlands, but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The show was broadcast live from Hilversum, Netherlands on 16 May 2020 and lasted for approximately two hours. It was hosted by Chantal Janzen, Edsilia Rombley and Jan Smit, who had been chosen to present the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 before its cancellation. 

The EBU reported that the show had an audience of 73 million viewers, based on data provided by 38 of the 45 countries that broadcast the programme. In April 2021, the show was nominated for a Rockie Award in the category Comedy & Variety.

Background. As the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 could not take place due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in Europe, the EBU decided to organise Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light as an alternative programme to fill the space that was initially planned for the competition. The programme’s name was inspired by the song “Love Shine a Light” by Katrina and the Waves, which won the Eurovision Song Contest 1997.

This was the fourth time that the EBU organised a special show in the Eurovision format, after the shows for the 25th, 50th and 60th anniversaries. Like the 25th and 60th anniversary shows, this was a non-competitive show.

Format. During the programme, all 41 songs that had been chosen to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 were honoured in a non-competitive format. Participants from the past were invited to make an appearance. Johnny Logan, the hosts and Eurovision fans who uploaded clips for the occasion sang Logan’s “What’s Another Year”, which won the Eurovision Song Contest 1980 in The Hague. Closing the show, all artists (except Hooverphonic, representing Belgium) performed “Love Shine a Light” from their respective home countries. The show ended with the announcement that Rotterdam would remain as the host city for the Eurovision Song Contest 2021.

Location. On 1 April 2020, Hilversum was confirmed as the host city for the event, with Studio 21 in the Hilversum Media Park as the venue of the show.[3] It was the second time Hilversum hosted a Eurovision event, having previously hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 1958.

Presenters. The show was hosted by three presenters: actress and television host Chantal Janzen, singer and Dutch television commentator for the contest Jan Smit, and singer Edsilia Rombley, who represented the Netherlands in the 1998 and 2007 contests. They would have been the three hosts of the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. Beauty vlogger Nikkie de Jager, also known as NikkieTutorials, presented the show’s online content. All four went on to host the full contest in 2021.

Contents. 

Performances. The show featured performances from the following Eurovision artists:

Order Country Artist Song Language(s) Location
01  Ireland Johnny Logan “What’s Another Year” English Dublin
 Netherlands Chantal Janzen, Edsilia Rombley and Jan Smit Studio 21, Hilversum
Various countries Eurovision Song Contest fans Various locations
02  Sweden Måns Zelmerlöw “Heroes” English London
03  Israel Gali Atari (of Milk and Honey) “Hallelujah” Hebrew, English, Dutch Jerusalem
 Netherlands Finalists of Junior Songfestival 2018 and 2019[a] Unknown
04  Italy Diodato “Nel blu, dipinto di blu” Italian Milan
05  Serbia Marija Šerifović “Molitva” Serbian Belgrade
06  Netherlands Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra “Love Shine a Light” None (instrumental) Various locations (Europe Shine a Landmark)
07  Germany Michael Schulte “Ein bißchen Frieden” German Peace Palace, The Hague
 Netherlands Ilse DeLange (of The Common Linnets)
08  Israel Netta “Cuckoo” English Tel Aviv
09  Netherlands Duncan Laurence “Someone Else” English Studio 21, Hilversum
10 All participating countries[b] Artists of Eurovision 2020 “Love Shine a Light” English Various locations
 United Kingdom Katrina Leskanich (of Katrina and the Waves)

Song Celebration. The show also showcased the artists and songs that would have competed at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, by showing short excerpts of the songs’ music videos or stage performances, along with video messages from the artists themselves. These were as follows:

Order Country Artist Song Language(s)
First segment
01  Israel Eden Alene “Feker libi” (ፍቅር ልቤ) English, Amharic[c]
02  Norway Ulrikke “Attention” English
03  Russia Little Big “Uno” English, Spanish
04  Georgia Tornike Kipiani “Take Me as I Am” English[d]
05  France Tom Leeb “Mon alliée (The Best in Me)” French, English
06  Azerbaijan Efendi “Cleopatra” English[e]
07  Portugal Elisa “Medo de sentir” Portuguese
08  Lithuania The Roop “On Fire” English
09  Sweden The Mamas “Move” English
Second segment
10  Latvia Samanta Tīna “Still Breathing” English
11  Belgium Hooverphonic “Release Me” English
12  United Kingdom James Newman “My Last Breath” English
13  Belarus VAL “Da vidna” (Да відна) Belarusian
14  Finland Aksel “Looking Back” English
15  North Macedonia Vasil “You” English
16  Switzerland Gjon’s Tears “Répondez-moi” French
17  Serbia Hurricane “Hasta la vista” Serbian[f]
Third segment
18  Spain Blas Cantó “Universo” Spanish
19  Albania Arilena Ara “Fall from the Sky” English
20  Ireland Lesley Roy “Story of My Life” English
21  Slovenia Ana Soklič “Voda” Slovene
22  Austria Vincent Bueno “Alive” English
23  Bulgaria Victoria “Tears Getting Sober” English
24  San Marino Senhit “Freaky!” English
25  Iceland Daði og Gagnamagnið “Think About Things” English
Fourth segment
26  Greece Stefania “Supergirl” English
27  Czech Republic Benny Cristo “Kemama” English
28  Poland Alicja “Empires” English
29  Moldova Natalia Gordienko “Prison” English
30  Cyprus Sandro “Running” English
31  Romania Roxen “Alcohol You” English
32  Croatia Damir Kedžo “Divlji vjetre” Croatian
33  Germany Ben Dolic “Violent Thing” English
Fifth segment
34  Malta Destiny “All of My Love” English
35  Estonia Uku Suviste “What Love Is” English
36  Australia Montaigne “Don’t Break Me” English
37  Ukraine Go_A “Solovey” (Соловей) Ukrainian
38  Denmark Ben & Tan “Yes” English
39  Italy Diodato “Fai rumore” Italian
40  Armenia Athena Manoukian “Chains on You” English
41  Netherlands Jeangu Macrooy “Grow” English

Appearances.

  •  Poland – Viki Gabor
  •  Norway – Alexander Rybak
  •  Netherlands – Lenny Kuhr
  •  Belgium – Sandra Kim
  •  Luxembourg – Anne-Marie David
  •  Ireland – Niamh Kavanagh
  •  Netherlands – Getty Kaspers
  •  Azerbaijan – Ell and Nikki
  •  Russia – Sergey Lazarev
  •  Ireland – Dana
  •  Greece – Helena Paparizou
  •  Sweden – Carola
  •  Austria – Conchita Wurst
  •  Sweden – Björn Ulvaeus
  •  United Kingdom – Graham Norton

Landmarks. Various landmarks in countries that were set to compete were illuminated as part of a segment titled Europe Shine a Landmark. The following landmarks were featured in the programme:

Order Country Landmark City
01  Ukraine Kyiv TV Center  Kyiv
02  Greece Acropolis Athens
03  Bulgaria Ivan Vazov National Theatre Sofia
04  Ireland Rock of Cashel Cashel
05  Denmark The Little Mermaid Copenhagen
06  Portugal Belém Tower Lisbon
07  North Macedonia Archaeological Museum of North Macedonia Skopje
08  Azerbaijan Baku Crystal Hall (venue of the 2012 contest) Baku
09  Australia Sydney Opera House Sydney
10  Lithuania Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre Vilnius
11  Iceland Harpa Reykjavík
12  Italy Piazza del Campidoglio Rome
13  Belgium Atomium Brussels
14  Norway Oslo Opera House Oslo
15  Albania Skanderbeg Monument Tirana
16  Malta Esplora Interactive Science Centre Kalkara
17  Serbia Stari dvor Belgrade
18  Latvia National Library of Latvia Riga
19  United Kingdom London Eye London
20  Cyprus Presidential Palace Nicosia
21  Spain Teatro Real (venue of the 1969 contest) Madrid
22  Croatia Croatian National Theatre Zagreb
23  Austria Wiener Riesenrad Vienna
24  San Marino Statua della Libertà and Palazzo Pubblico San Marino
25  France Eiffel Tower Paris
26  Russia Spasskaya Tower and Saint Basil’s Cathedral Moscow
27  Sweden Globen (venue of the 2000 and 2016 contests) Stockholm
28  Poland Royal Castle in Warsaw Warsaw
29  Slovenia Ljubljana Castle Ljubljana
30  Israel Tower of David Jerusalem
31  Switzerland Matterhorn Zermatt
32  Romania Piața Unirii Bucharest
33  Armenia Yerevan TV Tower Yerevan
34  Germany Elbphilharmonie Hamburg
35  Belarus National Library of Belarus Minsk
36  Estonia Tallinn Song Festival Grounds Tallinn
37  Georgia Bridge of Peace Tbilisi
38  Netherlands Erasmusbrug Rotterdam

Czech Republic, Finland and Moldova were the only countries that did not have a landmark featured.

Broadcasters and commentators. The show took place on 16 May 2020 at 21:00 CEST. The following countries broadcast the live show:

Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s)
 Albania RTSH RTSH 1, RTSH Muzikë Andri Xhahu
 Armenia AMPTV (1TV) David Tserunyan and Emma Hakobyan
 Australia[g] SBS SBS Joel Creasey and Myf Warhurst
 Austria ORF ORF 1 Andi Knoll
 Azerbaijan İctimai Television (İTV) Murad Arif
 Belarus BTRC Belarus 1, Belarus 24 Evgeny Perlin
 Belgium RTBF La Une Jean-Louis Lahaye and Maureen Louys
VRT Eén Peter Van de Veire
 Bulgaria BNT BNT 1, BNT 4 Elena Rosberg and Petko Kralev
 Croatia HRT HRT 1 Duško Čurlić
 Cyprus CyBC RIK 1, RIK Sat Andreas Iakovidis
 Czech Republic ČT ČT art Jan Maxián
 Denmark DR DR1 Ole Tøpholm
 Estonia[h] ERR ETV Marko Reikop
ETV+ Yuliya Kalenda and Aleksandr Khobotov
 Finland Yle Yle TV2
  • Finnish: Mikko Silvennoinen and Krista Siegfrids
  • Swedish: Eva Frantz and Johan Lindroos
 France France Télévisions France 2 Stéphane Bern
 Georgia GPB 1TV Demetre Ergemlidze
 Germany[i] ARD/NDR Das Erste Michael Schulte and Peter Urban
 Greece ERT ERT1 Maria Kozakou
 Iceland RÚV RÚV 1 Felix Bergsson
 Ireland RTÉ RTÉ One Marty Whelan
 Israel IPBC (Kan) Kan 11 No commentary
 Italy[j] RAI Rai 1 (adapted and delayed) Flavio Insinna and Federico Russo
Rai 4, Rai Radio 2 (live) Gino Castaldo and Ema Stokholma
 Latvia LTV LTV1 Toms Grēviņš
 Lithuania LRT LRT televizija Ramūnas Zilnys
 Malta PBS TVM No commentary
 Moldova TRM Moldova 1 Daniela Crudu
 Netherlands AVROTROS NPO 1 Cornald Maas
 North Macedonia MRT MRT 1 Aleksandra Jovanovska
 Norway NRK NRK1 No commentary
 Poland[k] TVP TVP1, TVP Polonia Artur Orzech
 Portugal RTP RTP1, RTP Internacional Nuno Galopim
 Romania TVR TVR1, TVRi Bogdan Stănescu
 Russia Channel One (C1R) Yuriy Aksyuta and Yana Churikova
 San Marino[l] SMRTV San Marino RTV Flavio Insinna and Federico Russo
 Serbia RTS RTS1, RTS Svet Duška Vučinić
RTVSLO TV Slovenija 1 Andrej Hofer
 Spain[m] RTVE La 1, TVE Internacional Tony Aguilar, Eva Mora and Víctor Escudero
 Sweden SVT SVT1 No commentary
 Switzerland SRG SSR SRF 1 Sven Epiney
RTS 1 Yoann Provenzano and Jean-Marc Richard
RSI La 2 Clarissa Tami and Sebalter
 Ukraine STB Timur Miroshnychenko
UA:First
UA:Radio Promin Oleksandra Franko and Les Myrnyi
 United Kingdom BBC BBC One Graham Norton
Non-participating countries
 Bosnia and Herzegovina BHRT BHT 1 Maja Miralem
 Kazakhstan Khabar Agency Khabar TV Nursultan Qurman and Mahabbat Esen
 Kosovo RTK RTK 1 Unknown
 Montenegro RTCG RTCG 1, Radio 98

Viewing figures.

Estimated viewership by country (in millions)
Country Viewership
 Australia 0.09
 Austria 0.23
 Belgium 0.54 (VRT)
 Cyprus 0.04
 Denmark 0.57
 Estonia 0.13
 Finland 0.16
 France 1.17
 Germany 1.64
 Greece 0.25
 Iceland 0.06
 Italy 2.75
 Latvia 0.30
 Netherlands 2.37
 Poland 0.72
 Portugal 0.48
 Russia 2.1
 Spain 1.26
 Sweden 0.86
 Switzerland 0.15 (SRF)
 United Kingdom 2.40

Notes.

  1. [66]^ Mannes Bakker, 6Times, Remix, Max & Anne, Moves, Kiya van Rossum, Matheu Hinzen and Anna Grigorian.
  2. [66]^ Except Belgium.
  3. [66]^ Contains phrases in Hebrew and Arabic.
  4. [66]^ Contains phrases in Italian, Spanish, German and French.
  5. [66]^ Contains the Japanese mantra “Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō”.
  6. [66]^ Contains one repeated phrase in Spanish and two words in English.
  7. [66]^ The show was broadcast on a deferred basis, on 17 May 2020 at 20:30 AEST.
  8. [66]^ In Estonia, the programme was broadcast under the name Eurovisioon 2020. Särav muusika! (“Eurovision 2020. Brilliant music!”).
  9. [66]^ In Germany, the programme was broadcast with a one-hour delay, starting at 22:00 CEST, due to an overlap with the broadcast of Eurovision 2020 – das deutsche Finale.
  10. [66]^ In Italy, the programme was broadcast under the name Europe Shine a Light – Accendiamo la musica (“Let’s turn the music on”).
  11. [66]^ In Poland, the programme was broadcast under the name Światło dla Europy (“A light for Europe”).
  12. [66]^ In San Marino, the broadcaster simulcast Rai 1’s coverage of the programme.
  13. [66]^ In Spain, the programme was broadcast under the name Europa enciende una luz (“Europe shine a light”).

Eurovision Home Concerts. The contest’s official YouTube channel broadcast Eurovision Home Concerts every Friday from 3 April 2020, featuring planned and past artists performing their Eurovision hits, as well as one of their favourite other entries from their homes. For their cover, the act gave a shortlist of 2-4 entries for fans to choose in a poll on Twitter or Instagram, and covered the song (or songs if there was a tie) that won the poll.

EurovisionAgain. Upon hearing about the contest’s cancellation, journalist Rob Holley launched an initiative to watch a past contest on YouTube every week, eventually giving it the title EurovisionAgain. The initiative quickly became popular, so the EBU itself decided to partake. Every Saturday at 21:00 CEST, the Eurovision YouTube channel would re-broadcast a final of a previous contest, revealed by the EurovisionAgain team 15 minutes before the start. Contests prior to 2004 are available for a limited time. The initiative was generally received as a welcome distraction for fans. On Twitter, #EurovisionAgain regularly became a trending topic and received positive reactions from past participants. As part of the initiative, Holley collected over £24,700 for charity.

From 18 July 2020, a second run of EurovisionAgain began with a replay of the 1999 contest, and aired every third Saturday of the month leading up to the 2021 selection season. The season ended with a special edition where the 26 most popular songs that did not qualify for the final, one from each country, as chosen via the official Eurovision social media handles, were streamed and put to a fan-vote. Iceland’s 2016 entry, “Hear Them Calling” by Greta Salóme, won the fan-vote.

EurovisionAgain
Created by Rob Holley
Presented by Various presenters
Country of origin List of countries
Original languages English and French
No. of seasons 2
No. of episodes 28 (list of episodes)
Production
Production locations Various host cities
Running time Variable
Production company European Broadcasting Union
Release
Original network YouTube
Original release 21 March 2020 – 20 November 2021

EurovisionAgain, usually stylized as #EurovisionAgain, was an initiative that ran from 21 March 2020 to 20 November 2021 to re-broadcast previous finals of the Eurovision Song Contest on YouTube. Originally conceived by journalist Rob Holley, it eventually became a collaborative effort between Eurovision fans, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and its member broadcasters.

History. Upon hearing about the cancellation of the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, journalist Rob Holley launched an initiative to watch a past contest on YouTube every week as a replacement, eventually giving it the title EurovisionAgain. The initiative quickly became popular, so the EBU itself decided to partake. Every Saturday (which was shifted to the third Saturday of every month starting from 18 July 2020) at 21:00 CEST, the Eurovision YouTube channel would re-broadcast a final of a previous contest, revealed by the EurovisionAgain team 15 minutes before the start. Contests prior to 2004 were available for a limited time.

The initiative was generally received as a welcome distraction for Eurovision fans during the COVID-19 lockdowns. On Twitter, #EurovisionAgain regularly became a trending topic and received positive reactions from past participants. As part of the initiative, Holley collected over £24,700 for UK-based LGBTQ+ charities. The 2020 season ended with a special edition, where the 26 most popular songs that did not qualify for the final, one from each country, as chosen via the official Eurovision social media handles, were streamed and put to a fan-vote. Iceland’s 2016 entry, “Hear Them Calling” by Greta Salóme, won the fan-vote.

On 19 June 2021, the second year of broadcasts commenced with a replay of the 1969 contest, the oldest edition to be featured as part of the initiative, and concluded on 20 November with a replay of the 2004 contest. Unlike the contents shown in 2020, the pre-2004 broadcasts were made available for a full month rather than one week. This season also included a special broadcast of the high-definition test tapes from the 2006 contest.

In August 2021, the EBU stated that it was planning to broadcast “as many finals as we can over the next few years” through the initiative. Despite this, there were no further updates on whether the initiative would return after 2021, and in August 2022, the EurovisionAgain Twitter account changed its biography line to “#EurovisionAgain – ran sync viewings of classic Eurovision Song Contests during the 2020/21 lockdowns”, implying that the initiative had been concluded.

Availability. The initiative was well received by fans as it had made it possible for viewers to experience older Eurovision finals, and also allowed fans access to higher quality copies of older finals than what was previously available. Due to copyright agreements, the EBU only has ownership of contests aired since 2004, with individual host broadcasters owning the rights to those before that. A large majority of the existing finals, especially those in the former half of the contest’s history, had previously only been available as video tape recordings, often with generational loss, especially those from the 1950s and 60s.

Format. Each replayed final is broadcast as a premiere on the Eurovision Song Contest’s official YouTube channel, with fans encouraged to vote for their favorites during the interval. Once the broadcast ends, the final remains on YouTube for one month,[a] and the fan vote results are announced via Twitter. The selection of each broadcast is kept secret until 15 minutes before the start of the broadcast, with various hints and clues being posted on the EurovisionAgain Twitter account in the days and hours prior. For most of the final replays, a previous winner, participant, presenter or producer of the chosen year pre-records an introduction to be uploaded along with the reveal of which year is being broadcast. For the 2021 season, the broadcasts also included fan-made modern re-imaginings of the 20th-century contests’ scoreboards, using 3D animation in the graphical style of the original scoreboards.

Rebroadcast contests. Twenty-six of the previous contest finals were broadcast as part of EurovisionAgain, with two additional special broadcasts.

Season Date Year re-broadcast Host city Fan-vote winner Original result
2020 season
(weekly)
21 March 2020 2013 Sweden Malmö No voting
28 March 2020 2006 Greece Athens  “Invincible” 5th out of 24
4 April 2020 2009 Russia Moscow  “Fairytale” Winner (out of 25)
11 April 2020 2015 Austria Vienna  “Heroes” Winner (out of 27)
18 April 2020 1997 Republic of Ireland Dublin  “Love Shine a Light” Winner (out of 25)
26 April 2020 2007 Finland Helsinki  “Dancing Lasha Tumbai” Runner-up (out of 24)
2 May 2020 2016 Sweden Stockholm  “Sound of Silence” Runner-up (out of 26)
9 May 2020 1998 United Kingdom Birmingham  “Diva” Winner (out of 25)
17 May 2020[b] 1974 United Kingdom Brighton  “Waterloo” Winner (out of 18)
23 May 2020 2003 Latvia Riga  “Everyway That I Can” Winner (out of 26)
30 May 2020 1991 Italy Rome  “Fångad av en stormvind” Winner (out of 22)
6 June 2020 2018 Portugal Lisbon  “Fuego” Runner-up (out of 26)
13 June 2020 1988 Republic of Ireland Dublin  “Ne partez pas sans moi” Winner (out of 21)
20 June 2020 2008 Serbia Belgrade  “Shady Lady” Runner-up (out of 25)
27 June 2020 2014 Denmark Copenhagen  “Rise Like a Phoenix” Winner (out of 26)
2020 season
(monthly)
18 July 2020 1999 Israel Jerusalem  “Take Me to Your Heaven” Winner (out of 23)
15 August 2020 1985 Sweden Gothenburg  “La det swinge” Winner (out of 19)
19 September 2020 2005 Ukraine Kyiv  “My Number One” Winner (out of 24)
17 October 2020 1976 Netherlands The Hague  “Save Your Kisses for Me” Winner (out of 18)
21 November 2020 1990 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Zagreb  “Hajde da ludujemo” 7th out of 22
19 December 2020 Semi-final special Various  “Hear Them Calling” 14th (Semi-final 1, 2016)
2021 season 19 June 2021 1969  Madrid  “Vivo cantando” Winner (tied; out of 16)
17 July 2021 1980 Netherlands The Hague  “What’s Another Year” Winner (out of 19)
31 July 2021 2006 (HD re-broadcast) Greece Athens No voting
21 August 2021 1992 Sweden Malmö  “Rapsodia” 4th out of 23
18 September 2021 1968 United Kingdom London  “La, la, la” Winner (out of 17)
16 October 2021 2012 Azerbaijan Baku  “Euphoria” Winner (out of 26)
20 November 2021 2004 Turkey Istanbul  “Wild Dances Winner (out of 24)

Notes.

  1. [a]^ For the 2020 season, the finals were made available for one week. Replays of contest finals held from 2004 onwards are permanently available as the EBU holds the copyright for those contests.
  2. [b]^ Moved from the intended date of 16 May 2020 due to overlap with the broadcast of Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light.

National alternative programming. Besides the Europe-wide replacement show, broadcasters were left to make plans to fill the rest of the gaps themselves. Most broadcasters provided their television audience with Eurovision-related replacement programming. Examples include holding an alternative contest by offering people the chance to listen to the 2020 entries and vote for their favourites, with some countries holding a ranking of (their own) songs throughout Eurovision history, and re-broadcasts of pre-existing Eurovision specials and previous contests which are significant for their country, such as the contest they last won.

Big Night In was organised and broadcast by the Australian broadcaster Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) and aired on 16 May 2020. Australians voted online for their favourite 2020 song (minus Montaigne’s “Don’t Break Me”), and over three hours, the songs was counted down from 40 to 1, with the top twenty songs being playing in full. Iceland’s Daði og Gagnamagnið were crowned winners with “Think About Things”.

Der kleine Song Contest (The Little Song Contest) was organised and broadcast by the Austrian broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF). The competition consisted of three semi-finals between 14 and 18 April 2020 and a final on 18 April 2020, and was hosted by Andi Knoll. All shows were broadcast on the television channel ORF 1, as well as on the streaming platform ORF-TVthek.

Der kleine Song Contest
Der kleine Song Contest.jpeg
Dates
Semi-final 1 14 April 2020
Semi-final 2 16 April 2020
Semi-final 3 18 April 2020
Final 18 April 2020
Host
Venue Austria
Presenter(s) Andi Knoll
Directed by Robert Reifer
Host broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF)
Participants
Number of entries 41
Vote
Voting system In the semi-finals, each juror awards 0–8, 10 or 12 points to each entry. The entry that receives most points in each semi-final proceeds to the final. The winner is determined by 100% televote of the Austrian public.
Winning song

 Iceland – “Think About Things”

Der kleine Song Contest (The Little Song Contest) was a one-off music competition in the Eurovision format, organised and broadcast by the Austrian broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF). It served as an alternative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, which was planned to be held in Rotterdam, Netherlands, but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The competition consisted of three semi-finals between 14 and 18 April 2020 and a final on 18 April 2020, and was hosted by Andi Knoll. All shows were broadcast on the television channel ORF 1, as well as on the streaming platform ORF-TVthek.

Format. In each semi-final, the music videos (or national final performances) of 13 or 14 entries that would have taken part in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 were shown. Each member of the jury awarded 0–8, 10 or 12 points to each entry.[a] The entry that received most points in each semi-final proceeded to the final on 18 April 2020. Out of the three finalists, the winner was determined by 100% televote of the Austrian public. 

Presenter. The programme was hosted by Andi Knoll, who has been the Austrian commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest since 1999.

Jury. The jury consisted of 10 singers who represented Austria in past editions of the Eurovision Song Contest:

  • Hans “Waterloo” Kreuzmayr (1976, with Robinson)
  • Simone Stelzer (1990)
  • Petra Frey (1994)
  • Manuel Ortega (2002)
  • Alf Poier (2003)
  • Eric Papilaya (2007)
  • Nadine Beiler (2011)
  • Conchita Wurst (2014)
  • Zoë Straub (2016)
  • Cesár Sampson (2018)

Participants.

Semi-final 1. The first semi-final took place on 14 April 2020 at 20:15 CEST and featured the following competing entries:

Draw Country Artist Song Language(s) Place Points
01  Netherlands Jeangu Macrooy “Grow” English 3 71
02  Israel Eden Alene “Feker libi” (ፍቅር ልቤ) English, Amharic, Hebrew, Arabic 8 60
03  United Kingdom James Newman “My Last Breath” English 4 66
04  Armenia Athena Manoukian “Chains on You” English 12 42
05  Georgia Tornike Kipiani “Take Me as I Am” English[b] 11 49
06  Bulgaria Victoria “Tears Getting Sober” English 2 71
07  Spain Blas Cantó “Universo” Spanish 9 55
08  Belarus VAL “Da vidna” (Да відна) Belarusian 14 17
09  Poland Alicja “Empires” English 6 61
10  Romania Roxen “Alcohol You” English 7 61
11  Iceland Daði og Gagnamagnið “Think About Things” English 1 75
12  San Marino Senhit “Freaky!” English 13 35
13  Belgium Hooverphonic “Release Me” English 5 63
14  Cyprus Sandro Running English 10 50

Semi-final 2. The second semi-final took place on 16 April 2020 at 20:15 CEST and featured the following competing entries:

Draw Country Artist Song Language(s) Place Points
01  Russia Little Big “Uno” English, Spanish 4 67
02  France Tom Leeb “Mon alliée (The Best in Me)” French, English 3 69
03  Azerbaijan Efendi “Cleopatra” English[c] 9 50
04  Switzerland Gjon’s Tears “Répondez-moi” French 5 64
05  Latvia Samanta Tīna “Still Breathing” English 12 36
06  Lithuania The Roop “On Fire” English 6 57
07  Croatia Damir Kedžo “Divlji vjetre” Croatian 11 45
08  Portugal Elisa “Medo de sentir” Portuguese 13 30
09  Sweden The Mamas “Move” English 2 86
10  Slovenia Ana Soklič “Voda” Slovene 10 50
11  Ireland Lesley Roy “Story of My Life” English 8 55
12  Moldova Natalia Gordienko “Prison” English 14 28
13  Finland Aksel “Looking Back” English 7 56
14  Malta Destiny “All of My Love” English 1 97

Semi-final 3. The third semi-final took place on 18 April 2020 at 20:15 CEST and featured the following competing entries:

Draw Country Artist Song Language(s) Place Points
01  Greece Stefania “Supergirl” English 8 51
02  Australia Montaigne “Don’t Break Me” English 12 35
03  Germany Ben Dolic “Violent Thing” English 3 66
04