Zone Song Contest 16

Final
 Venue
 Entries
 Returning
**Participation map**
* Participating countries     Confirmed countries     Countries that participated in the past but not this edition
 System
 Winner

**Zone Song Contest 16**, often referred as **ZSC 16**, was the sixteenth edition of the Zone Song Contest. This edition began with a great scandal since Monaco, the winning country of the fifteenth edition, not only declined to host the festival but also withdrew from the competition, thus activating all the alarms and protocols regarding the organization of the contest, since this situation until now was totally unthinkable. Kazakhstan and Montenegro also announced their withdrawal as soon as the next edition was confirmed due to the poor results achieved in the previous edition. The Kazakhs in particular were disappointed because they expected greater success from their candidacy than at least qualifying for the Grand Final.

On October 29, **42** countries were confirmed thus confirming the withdrawal of Cyprus, a country that had participated until now in all editions without fail, and the return of Bosnia & Herzegovina. Just as Netherlands was announced to host the festival after the withdrawal of the winner of the previous edition, Netherlands was the second classified in the fifteenth edition. This sixteenth edition was unprecedented, a strange edition from the beginning but just when the candidacy was announced, Rotterdam was the chosen host city. And the logo called "*Expansion | Uitbreiding*" was shown as the official slogan of the edition. Meaning the expansion of the contest to many other countries and types of music.

## Location

**Netherlands** informally Holland, is a country located in northwestern Europe with overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Netherlands consists of twelve provinces; it borders Germany to the east, and Belgium to the south, with a North Sea coastline to the north and west. It also has a border with France on the split island of Saint Martin in the Caribbean. It shares maritime borders with the United Kingdom, Germany and Belgium. The official language is Dutch, with West Frisian as a secondary official language in the province of Friesland. Dutch, English and Papiamento are official in the Caribbean territories.

**Rotterdam** is known for its university, riverside setting, lively cultural life, maritime heritage and modern architecture. The near-complete destruction of the city centre in the World War II Rotterdam Blitz has resulted in a varied architectural landscape, including skyscrapers designed by architects such as Rem Koolhaas, Piet Blom and Ben van Berkel. he Rhine, Meuse and Scheldt give waterway access into the heart of Western Europe, including the highly industrialized Ruhr. The extensive distribution system including rail, roads, and waterways have earned Rotterdam the nicknames "Gateway to Europe" and "Gateway to the World". Is the second-largest city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam.

### Bidding phase

As of September 13, 2023, the Dutch HoD Floris Gijsbert officially presented the rules that French cities should meet in order to hold the contest. The basic requirements to select a host city were set out in a document presented by the ZBU to AVROTROS:

* A suitable venue that can accommodate around at least 9,000 spectators.
* An international press centre for 1,500 journalists with adequate facilities for all the delegates.
* A good distribution of hotel rooms, at different price categories, able to accommodate at least 2,000 delegates, accredited journalists and spectators.
* An efficient transport infrastructure, including a nearby international airport with readily available connections with the city, venue, and hotels.

Finally, the host city to host the show was:

**Key**
  †  Host venue   ‡  Shortlisted venues

## Format

### Alocation Draw

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place on December 30 2023 at 16:00 CET, at Rotterdam Ahoy Hall located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The organizing committee of the festival decided to do the third allocation draw there given the multiculturalism that reflects this city to be welcoming. The thirty-six semi-finalists had been allocated into six pots, based on their geographical place and cultural similarities. Drawing from different pots helps to reduce the chance of so-called "bloc voting" and increase suspense in the semi-finals. The draw also determined which semi-final would be broadcast and voted by each of the five automatic finalist countries: France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, and United Kingdom. It was also decided in which Semi-Final each member of the Big 6 should vote.

* Austria
* Belgium
* Ireland
* Portugal
* Switzerland
* Estonia
* Finland
* Iceland
* Norway
* Sweden
* Azerbaijan
* Belarus
* Georgia
* Türkiye
 Pot 4
 * Albania
* Bosnia & Herzegovina
* Croatia
* North Macedonia
* Serbia
* Slovenia
* Hungary
* Latvia
* Lithuania
* Poland
* Slovakia
* Greece
* Israel
* Malta
* Moldova
* Romania

## Results

### Semi-Final 1

TBA, TBA and TBA will also vote in this semi-final.

### Semi-Final 2

TBA, TBA and TBA will also vote in this semi-final.

## External Links

* Google Drive (#12-)
* Google Drive (#04-#11)
* Instagram
* Twitter
* Youtube