The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was to be the 65th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands following the country's win at the previous edition with the song "Arcade" performed by Duncan Laurence.
This was the country's fifth victory and the first time they would have played host of the main Contest since the 1980 Contest, which was held in The Hague and would have been the second time the city of Rotterdam had played host, having held the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007 at the same venue and more recently the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Amsterdam.
Forty-one countries confirmed their participation, including Bulgaria and Ukraine which announced their return after being absent from the 2019 Contest in Tel Aviv.
However, on 18 March 2020, it was announced that the event had been canceled for the first time ever as a result of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in Europe and in its place the Dutch broadcasters AVROTROS and NPO organised a replacement show called Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light, to showcase the selected entries that would have competed if the Contest had gone ahead.
Location
Within several hours of Duncan Laurence's win Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced that several mayors had already begun host city and venue bids on behalf of their municipalities.
Key
The host city is highlighted in blue and in bold with the other city that was in contention highlighted in pink:
| City | Venue | Capacity | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arnhem | GelreDome | 34,000 | Joint bid with Nijmegen and the Veluwe region. |
| 's-Hertogenbosch | Brabant halls | 11,000 | The cities of North Brabant intend to submit a joint bid. |
| Maastricht | MECC Maastricht | 11,000 - 12,000 | Bid supported by the province of Limburg |
| Rotterdam | Ahoy Rotterdam | 11,000 - 12,000 | Candidacy was supported by the province of South Holland and the cities of Dordrecht and The Hague. Hosted the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007. |
| Utrecht | Jaarbeurs | 11,000 |
Venue
On 30 August 2019, it was announced that the Rotterdam Ahoy was the chosen venue to host the 2020 Contest. The venue is a convention center with a capacity of 11,000 to 12,000 and was previously the host venue for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007.
Format
Semi-final allocation
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 | Pot 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Theme
In November 2019, the theme was revealed as 'Open Up'.
Logo
In late November 2019, the logo was revealed that shows the participating nations in a De Stijl and Mondrian style with the YouTube video also showing when they debuted in the Contest.
Stage
On 2 December 2019, an image of the stage design was revealed with organizers opting for a flatter, more minimalist and modern look typical of the Dutch landscape. It was also confirmed that the Green Room would be making a return to the arena
Participants
Returning artists
| Artist | Note |
|---|---|
| Vincent Bueno | Provided backing vocals for Nathan Trent, who represented Austria at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kiev. |
| Vasil | Provided backing vocals for Tamara Todevska, who represented North Macedonia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv. |
| Stefania | Represented her home country at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Kiev as part of the group Kisses with the song "Kisses and Dancin'", finishing in 8th place. |
| Destiny Chukunyere | Represented her home country at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Sofia with the song "Not My Soul", giving it its second win. Provided backing vocals for the country's representative Michela Pace at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv. |
| Natalia Gordienko | Represented her home country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens alongside singer Arsenium and hip hop musician Connect-R with the song "Loca", finishing in 20th place with 22 points in the final. |
| Sanja Vučić | Represented her home country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 as the lead singer of the group Sanja Vučić ZAA with the song "Goodbye (Shelter)", successfully qualifying for the final, finishing in 18th place with 115 points. |
| Ksenija Knežević | Provided backing vocals for her father Knez, who represented his home country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Vienna. |
| Senhit | Represented San Marino at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf with the song "Stand By", failing to qualify from the first semi-final. |
| The Mamas | Appeared as backing vocalists for John Lundvik, who represented Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv with the song "Too Late for Love", finishing in 5th place. |
Semi-final 1
Seventeen countries were due to participate in the first semi-final. Those countries plus 
Germany, 
Italy and 
The Netherlands would have voted in this semi-final.
The running order was determined by the producers as if the contest were held and presented in the alternative programme Europe Shine a Light, held as a replacement of semi-finals.
| Draw | Country | Performer(s) | Song | Language | Translation | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 |  Sweden
|
The Mamas | "Move" | English | - | ||
| 02 |  Belarus
|
VAL | "Da vidna" | Belarusian | Until dawn | ||
| 03 |  Australia
|
Montaigne | "Don't Break Me" | English | - | ||
| 04 |  North Macedonia
|
Vasil | "You" | English | - | ||
| 05 |  Slovenia
|
Ana Soklič | "Voda" | Slovene | Water | ||
| 06 |  Lithuania
|
The Roop | "On Fire" | English | - | ||
| 07 |  Ireland
|
Lesley Roy | "Story of My Life" | English | - | ||
| 08 |  Russia
|
Little Big | "Uno" | English, Spanish | One | ||
| 09 |  Belgium
|
Hooverphonic | "Release Me" | English | - | ||
| 10 |  Malta
|
Destiny Chukunyere | "All of My Love" | English | - | ||
| 11 |  Croatia
|
Damir Kedžo | "Divlji vjetre" | Croatian | Wild Wind | ||
| 12 |  Azerbaijan
|
Efendi | "Cleopatra" | English | - | ||
| 13 |  Cyprus
|
Sandro | "Running" | English | - | ||
| 14 |  Norway
|
Ulrikke | "Attention" | English | - | ||
| 15 |  Israel
|
Eden Alene | "Feker libi" | English, Amharic, Hebrew, Arabic | My Love | ||
| 16 |  Romania
|
Roxen | ”Alcohol You” | English | - | ||
| 17 |  Ukraine
|
Go_A | "Solovey" | Ukrainian | Nightingale |
Semi-final 2
Eighteen countries were due to participate in the second semi-final. Those countries plus 
France, 
Spain and the 
United Kingdom would have voted in this semi-final.
The running order was determined by the producers as if the contest were held and presented in the alternative programme Europe Shine a Light, held as a replacement of semi-finals.
| Draw | Country | Performer(s) | Song | Language | Translation | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 |  Greece
|
Stefania | "Superg!rl" | English | - | ||
| 02 |  Estonia
|
Uku Suviste | "What Love Is" | English | - | ||
| 03 |  Austria
|
Vincent Bueno | "Alive" | English | - | ||
| 04 |  Moldova
|
Natalia Gordienko | "Prison" | English | - | ||
| 05 |  San Marino
|
Senhit | "Freaky!" | English | - | ||
| 06 |  Czech Republic
|
Benny Cristo | "Kemama" | English | - | ||
| 07 |  Serbia
|
Hurricane | "Hasta la vista" | Serbian | - | ||
| 08 |  Poland
|
Alicja | "Empires" | English | - | ||
| 09 |  Iceland
|
Daði & Gagnamagnið | "Think About Things" | English | - | ||
| 10 |  Switzerland
|
Gjon's Tears | "Répondez-moi" | French | Answer Me | ||
| 11 |  Denmark
|
Ben & 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 | Afraid of Feeling | ||
| 16 |  Georgia
|
Tornike Kipiani | "Take Me as I Am" | English, French, German, Italian, Spanish | - | ||
| 17 |  Bulgaria
|
Victoria | "Tears Getting Sober" | English | - | ||
| 18 |  Latvia
|
Samanta Tīna | "Still Breathing" | English | - |
Final
| Draw | Country | Performer(s) | Song | Language | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | The Netherlands
|
Jeangu Macrooy | "Grow" | English | - |
| N/A | France
|
Tom Leeb | "Mon alliée (The Best in Me)" | French, English | - |
| Germany
|
Ben Dolić | "Violent Thing" | English | - | |
| Italy
|
Diodato | "Fai rumore" | Italian | Make noise | |
| Spain
|
Blas Cantó | "Universo" | Spanish | Universe | |
| United Kingdom
|
James Newman | "My Last Breath" | English | - |
Incidents
In 2020, the pandemic of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in China and its spread to other countries around the world raised concerns and the potential impact over staging the Contest.
In March, Danish authorities urged the cancellation of events with more than 1,000 spectators to limit the spread of the disease, which resulted in the Danish national final taking place without a live audience.
Representatives from Sweden, Finland, Israel, Switzerland, Italy and Greece pulled out of the Heads of Delegation meeting on 9 March and the same week it was revealed that an EBU employee had contracted the virus.
Israeli representative Eden Alene announced that she would not travel to the Netherlands to film her postcard and as a result it was announced that another way to film it would be found. Lithuania's representative The Roop also cancelled plans to travel to the Netherlands to film their postcard as well as plans to attend the pre-Contest parties in London and Amsterdam. The Bulgarian representative Victoria also cancelled her participation in pre-Contest parties in London and Amsterdam.
On 13 March Eurovision-Spain, organizers of the pre-party planned for April 10–11th in Madrid, announced that it would be postponed due to threats of the virus until further notice. On the same day, the organizers of Israel Calling, a pre-party planned in Tel Aviv, announced that it would be cancelled. On 16 March, the organizers of Eurovision in Concert, a pre-party planned in Amsterdam, announced that it would be cancelled. On the same day, the organizers of the pre-party London Eurovision Party announced that it would be postponed due to threats of the virus until further notice.
On 18 March 2020, it was officially confirmed that the Contest would no longer take place, marking the first time in the annual event's history that this has happened.