Rotterdam’s time as the Host City of the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 commences today with the Semi-Final Allocation Draw and Insignia Ceremony from 16:10 CET.
All eyes turn to Rotterdam City Hall today as the city officially becomes the host city of the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest. The first big event of the year takes place first with the Host City Insignia Exchange and then the Semi-Final Allocation Draw.
Chantal Janzen, Edsilia Rombley and Jan Smit this years hosts will oversee proceedings this afternoon in Rotterdam. The events live from the Netherlands will be streamed on YouTube live and can be viewed in the Netherlands on NPO 1 with commentary from Cornald Maas.
What is the Host City Insignia Exchange?
Since the 2007 contest in Helsinki, Finland it has become tradition for the Mayor of the previous host city to present this years host city with a symbolic set of insignia’s.
Each city that has hosted the contest since 2007 has added an insignia to a chain, charting the history of the contest across Europe. The passing of the insignia from the Mayor of Tel Aviv to the Mayor of Rotterdam will mark the official start of Rotterdam’s time as the host city of the Eurovision Song Contest 2020.
How does the Semi-Final Allocation Draw Work?
The draw comprises of two parts. The first part of the draw determines which Semi-Final each of the six pre-qualified countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and host country the Netherlands) will broadcast and be able to vote in.
The second part of the draw determined in which semi-final and in which half of the respective semi-final the other 35 participating countries will perform. As has been the case since 2013, the exact running order will be determined by the producers of the show closer to the contest.
Pots have been created within which the 35 countries are distributed. The pots are based on historical voting patterns with the aim to split these voting groups among the semi-finals.
Pot 1
- Albania
- Austria
- Croatia
- North Macedonia
- Serbia
- Slovenia
- Switzerland
Pot 2
- Australia
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- Iceland
- Norway
- Sweden
Pot 3
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- Belarus
- Georgia
- Moldova
- Russia
- Ukraine
Pot 4
- Bulgaria
- Cyprus
- Greece
- Malta
- Portugal
- Romania
- San Marino
Pot 5
- Belgium
- Czech Republic
- Ireland
- Israel
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Poland
The hosts will during the course of the draw, draw a country at random from each pot working their way across from one pot to the next. The draw will determine the Semi-Final in which the country will perform and the half in which they will be performing.
