- Title: Dutch port city Rotterdam to host 2020 Eurovision song contest
- Date: 30th August 2019
- Summary: TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (FILE - MAY 19, 2019) (REUTERS) WINNER OF 2019 EUROVISION, DUNCAN LAURENCE, FROM THE NETHERLANDS, WALKING TOWARDS PODIUM HOLDING TROPHY WITH HIS TEAM FOR NEWS CONFERENCE VARIOUS OF FANS WAVING NETHERLANDS FLAGS, JUMPING AND CHEERING AFTER THE COUNTRY WAS ANNOUNCED 2019 EUROVISION WINNER
- Embargoed: 13th September 2019 13:18
- Keywords: announcement Eurovision Song Contest 2020 Popular Music ESC Netherlands Dutch city Rotterdam Duncan Laurence host city
- Location: ROTTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS / TEL AVIV, ISRAEL AND UNKNOWN LOCATIONS
- City: ROTTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS / TEL AVIV, ISRAEL AND UNKNOWN LOCATIONS
- Country: Netherlands
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Music
- Reuters ID: LVA004AUEU4HZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The Dutch port city of Rotterdam will host the 65th Eurovision Song Contest next year, organisers said on Friday (August 30), after it triumphed over its only other rival, the southern town of Maastricht.
Dutch singer-songwriter Duncan Laurence won this year's contest in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, beating 25 other contestants with his piano ballad "Arcade". It was the first time the Netherlands had won the contest since 1975.
As the winning nation, the Netherlands automatically became the host of the next round of the world's biggest live music event, which reached more than 180 million viewers worldwide in 2019.
It will be the fifth time that the Netherlands, which has a population of 17 million, has hosted the contest.
The semi-finals will be held on May 12 and 14, 2020 and the final will take place on May 16, 2020 in Rotterdam's Ahoy Arena.
Europe's biggest seaport and the second biggest city in the Netherlands, Rotterdam had been the favourite to win in a poll on the Eurovision website, which gave it 57% out of roughly 26,000 votes, compared to 43% for Maastricht.
Several other Dutch cities, including the capital Amsterdam, had already dropped out in a months-long bidding race to host the competition.
By Friday, 34 countries had expressed interest in participating in the competition organised by the European Broadcasting Union.
(Production Bart Biesemans, Hortense de Roffignac) - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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