The 2020 Eurovision host city, Rotterdam, is planning to hold the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest Host Insignia Handover Ceremony and Semi-final Allocation Draw at Rotterdams’ Stadhuis aka City Hall.
ast week Dutch national broadcaster unveiled the name of the 2020 Eurovision Host City, now more details on the host city’s plan of action have emerged. The Municipality of Rotterdam has unveiled further details on the 2020 Eurovision Side Events.
The City of Rotterdam is aiming to hold the Eurovision 2020 Host Insignia Handover Ceremony and the Semi-final Allocation Draw at the Rotterdam City Hall next January, as well as the Heads of Delegation Dinner in March.
About Rotterdam City Hall
Rotterdam City Hall is aptly located at Rotterdam’s iconic Coolsingel Street. The building was built between 1914 and 1920 in the ‘Beaux-Arts’ style. This impressive dwelling, together with the adjacent post office, survived the bombardment on 14 May 1940, and occupies a special place in the heart of Rotterdammers.
Rotterdam’s City Hall has great experience in organising receptions at the highest level. There plentiful facilities to make the events mentioned above an unforgettable success. Hospitality and protocol are top priorities and visitors, from dignitaries to participants of a guided tour, are welcomed in a friendly and professional manner on a daily basis.
Receptions are regularly hosted that are similar to the Insignia Exchange and the Semi-Final Allocation Draw, such as NN Marathon Rotterdam, Tour de France Grand Départ, Euro2000, ABN AMRO Tournament draw, the party leaders’ debate during the municipal elections (2014, 2018) and the Europe debate .
Host Insignia Handover Ceremony
The 2019 Eurovision host city, Tel Aviv, is expected to officially hand the baton to the 2020 Eurovision host city, Rotterdam, next January in a special ceremony scheduled to be held at Rotterdam’s City Hall.
A special delegation from the 2019 Eurovision host city Tel Aviv will travel to Rotterdam for the occasion. Mr. Ron Huldai (the Mayor of Tel Aviv) will officially hand the special Eurovison Insignia Key to Mr. Ahmed Aboutaleb (the Mayor of Rotterdam), thus marking the official handover from last year’s host city to the next.
Semi-final Allocation Draw
Following the Official Host Insignia Handover Ceremony, NPO will hold the 2020 Eurovision Semi-final Allocation Draw in order to distribute and divide the semi-finalist countries in one of the two semi-finals. Another draw will be held in order to determine in which of the two semi-finals the BIG 5 countries (France, UK, Italy, Spain and Germany) and host nation The Netherlands are to vote in.
A grand ceremony will be organized for the occasion where Rotterdam will officially take over from Tel Aviv as the Eurovision host city. The ceremony will be carried out in the presence of Mr. Jon Ola Sand (EBU’s Executive Supervisor for the Eurovision Song Contest).
The 2020 Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to be held on 12, 14 and 16 May at the Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam.
Source: Municipality of Rotterdam, NPO, ESCToday
