The official announcement has been made by the European Broadcasting Union – a total of 41 countries will participate at the 2020 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest.
No nations will be making their debut, however both Hungary and Montenegro have withdrawn from the contest. Fortunately, we will be seeing both Bulgaria and Ukraine return the contest after a year break.
35 nations will compete over two semi-finals, with 10 acts from each semi-final to progress to the final. The qualifiers will be joined by the Big 5, which are France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom as well as the host nation, The Netherlands.
The Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, Jon Ola Sand has commented, saying, ‘We can’t wait to “open up” to participants from 41 countries in Rotterdam next year. We are thrilled that so many public broadcasters will be presenting their nation’s best musical talent as we celebrate the 65th Eurovision Song Contest. The team from NPO, NOS and AVROTROS have 3 fantastic state-of-the-art shows planned and the excitement around the event in the Netherlands is incredible.’
Here is the list of competitors:
- Albania (RTSH)
- Armenia (AMPTV)
- Australia (SBS)
- Austria (ORF)
- Azerbaijan (ICTIMAI)
- Belarus (BTRC)
- Belgium (VRT)
- Bulgaria (BNT)
- Croatia (HRT)
- Cyprus (CYBC)
- Czech Republic (CT)
- Denmark (DR)
- Estonia (ERR)
- Finland (YLE)
- France (FT)
- Germany (ARD/NDR)
- Georgia (GPB)
- Greece (ERT)
- Iceland (RUV)
- Ireland (RTE)
- Israel (IPBC/KAN)
- Italy (RAI)
- Latvia (LTV)
- Lithuania (LRT)
- Malta (PBS)
- Moldova (TRM)
- The Netherlands (AVROTROS)
- North Macedonia (MKRTV)
- Norway (NRK)
- Poland (TVP)
- Portugal (RTP)
- Romania (TVR)
- Russia (Channel One)
- San Marino (RTV)
- Serbia (RTS)
- Slovenia (RTVSLO)
- Spain (TVE)
- Sweden (SVT)
- Switzerland (SRG SSR)
- Ukraine (UA:PBC)
- United Kingdom (BBC)
The semi-final allocation draw will take place on Tuesday 28th of January in Rotterdam. The tickets for the 2020 contest are expected to go on sale soon, so stay tuned for more news!