The only Eurovision Song Contest in history to be cancelled
In short: Planned as the 65th edition of the massive musical spectacle, the 2020 contest was destined for Rotterdam. However, a global pandemic intervened, forcing the European Broadcasting Union to make a historic decision that changed the contest's trajectory forever.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was scheduled to take place at the Rotterdam Ahoy in the Netherlands, following Duncan Laurence's victory in 2019 with the song "Arcade". Preparations had been underway since May 19, 2019, with the Dutch broadcasters—NPO, NOS, and AVROTROS—working alongside the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to coordinate a massive event involving forty-one participating countries.
The contest was meant to feature two semi-finals on May 12 and 14, followed by a grand final on May 16, 2020. However, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic led to the official cancellation of the event on March 18, 2020. This marked the first and only time in the contest's history that an edition was called off entirely.
After the event was called off, the EBU and Dutch media outlets arranged a non-competitive substitute programme named "Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light" to present the chosen songs on 16 May, the scheduled final date. While the 2020 songs were deemed ineligible for the 2021 edition, the Netherlands successfully hosted the following year's contest in Rotterdam on May 18, 20, and 22, 2021.
The selection process for 2020 had been highly competitive. After a bidding process involving nine Dutch cities, Rotterdam was selected as the host on August 30, 2019. The event would have featured a diverse lineup of artists, including returning vocalists like Natalia Gordienko, Senhit, and Sanja Vučić, alongside new entries from nations such as Bulgaria and Ukraine.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Eurovision Song Contest 2020
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