On Tuesday 28 January at 16:10 CET, the Semi-Final Allocation Draw will take place to decide which country will perform in which of the 2 Semi-Finals. During the ceremony, the Host City Insignia will be handed over from the city of Tel Aviv to the Mayor of Rotterdam.

The event will take place at Rotterdam's City Hall.

The Semi-Final Allocation Draw and the Host City Insignia Exchange are key moments in the preparations leading up to the Eurovision Song Contest in May. We will broadcast them live on YouTube from 16:10 CET.

Host City Insignia Exchange

Taking part in the Host City Insignia Exchange will be Zippi Brand Frank, Deputy Mayor of Tel Aviv, representing last year’s Host City and Mayor of Rotterdam Ahmed Aboutaleb. Zippi Brand Frank will pass on the Eurovision Insignia to Ahmed Aboutaleb, marking the official transition from Tel Aviv to Rotterdam of Host City of the Eurovision Song Contest.

2020 Eurovision Song Contest presenters Chantal Janzen, Edsilia Rombley and Jan Smit will take care of hosting duties through the prestigious event.

Eurovision 2020 presenters Edsilia Rombley, Chantal Janzen and Jan Smit NPO/AVROTROS/NOS

How does the draw work?

The first part of the draw will determine which Semi-Final each of the 6 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 will determine in which Semi-Final and in which half of the respective Semi-Final the other 35 participating countries will perform. As in recent years, the exact running order will be determined by the producers of the show.

The first Semi-Final will take place on Tuesday 12 May and the second on Thursday 14 May. From each Semi-Final, 10 countries will proceed to the Grand Final on the 16 May, joining the 6 pre-qualified countries. In total, 26 countries will be represented in the Grand Final.

Rotterdam City Hall Peter Schmidt

Semi-Final Allocation Pots revealed!

The 41 Semi-Finalists have been allocated into 5 pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by the contest's official televoting partner Digame. Drawing from different pots helps to reduce the chance of so-called neighbourly voting and increases suspense in 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

Tune in Tuesday 28 January when we broadcast the Semi-Final Allocation Draw and Host City Insignia Exchange live from Rotterdam!