RTCG, the Montenegrin national broadcaster has confirmed to ESCToday that Montenegro will not participate at the forthcoming 2020 Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam.

The Montenegrin broadcaster had initially confirmed to ESCToday Montenegro’s preliminary participation at the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest, but now has decided to withdraw its ESC 2020 application.

RTCG told ESCToday that it tried its very best to compete in Rotterdam but things didn’t materialise in the end. The EBU granted the Montenegrin broadcaster an extension after the 10 October deadline in order to confirm its participation, but RTCG was unable to meet the requirements and has thus decided to withdraw from next year’s Eurovision edition.

We are sad to learn that Montenegro will not be present in Rotterdam, we hope to see them back in the competition in 2021.

This isn’t the first time the Montenegrin broadcaster has withdrawn from the competition, as it did so in 2010 and stayed out of the competition for 2 years, missing out on partaking at the Eurovision editions in Oslo and Dusseldorf.

Montenegro in Eurovision

Montenegro debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest as a solo country in 2007 with Stefan Faddy and is yet to win the competition. The country achieved its best results in the contest in 2015 with Knez‘s Balkan ballad Adio.

The former Yugoslav republic has only made it to the Eurovision Grand Final on two occasions, namely in 2014 and 2015. The Balkan country has competed in Europe’s favourite television show 11 times.

In 2019 Montenegro selected its Eurovision hopeful and entry for Tel Aviv via its traditional national final Montevizija. D Mol were crowned the winners of Montevizija 2019 and were awarded the golden ticket to Israel with their entry Heaven. Despite a great peformance the Montenegro failed to qualify to the Grand Final for the fourth consecutive year.