Eurovision Song Festival 13

Semi-finals dates
 Semi-final 2 date
 Final date
 Venue
 Presenter(s)
 Conductor
 Director
 Executive supervisor
 Host broadcaster
 Interval act
 Number of entries
 Returning countries
Participation map
* Participating countries     Participants that failed to qualify to the final     Past participants that did not participate
 Voting system
 Null points
 Winning song

The Eurovision Song Festival 13 will be the 13th edition of the Eurovision Song Festival. It will take place in the Žalgiris Arena in Kaunas, Lithuania. This will be the first time the contest will take place in Lithuania. The contest is expected to consist of two semi-finals on 30 and 31 July and the final on 1 August 2020.

On the 28th of March, the EBO confirmed that a total of 46 countries will be present in the thirteenth edition of the Eurovision Song Festival.

## Location

### **Bidding phase**

On 28 March 2020, the EBO confirmed that four cities were in the race to host the thirteenth edition of the Eurovision Song Festival. The host city will be announced on the 28th of March 2020. The head of the contest, Adéla Bronislava, announced that the host city announcement will take place on 18:00 CET.

All cities were allowed to submit a venue for hosting the contest. The cities had to announce the venue and the capacity for the show. In the end, four cities were submitted to host the contest. The following cities are in the race to host the contest:
  †   Host venue
  ‡   Shortlisted

### **Venue**

Žalgiris Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New Town of Kaunas, Lithuania. The arena is located on an island of the Nemunas River. It is the largest indoor arena in the Baltics. The arena's maximum possible seating capacity for basketball games is 15,415, and 20,000 spectators for concerts (when the stage is in the middle, and 17,000 when stage is in the side of the arena). The Žalgiris Arena replaced the Kaunas Sports Hall as a major venue in the city.

The Žalgiris Arena is used to host basketball games as well as concerts. The arena's namesake basketball club BC Žalgiris, which currently competes in the domestic LKL and the EuroLeague, uses the facility for all of its European and LKL home fixtures. BC Žalgiris and Žalgiris Arena has had the highest average attendance in the Euroleague in 2011-12, 2012-13, 2017-18, and 2018-19.

The construction of the arena started in September 2008; the main contractor of the arena is Lithuanian construction company Vėtrūna, chief architect – Eugenijus Miliūnas. The total cost of the arena is estimated to be 168.8 M litas (50 million euros). The arena was opened on 18 August 2011 with a basketball match between Lithuania and Spain.

The Žalgiris Arena has held the playoffs and finals of the 37th European Basketball Championship (EuroBasket 2011), which took place in September 2011.

On 2015 December 5 Lithuanian group SEL sets new attendance record of arena - 20,517 spectators with 360 stage concert.

On 2016 January 6, EuroLeague clubs general managers voted Žalgiris Arena as the tournament's best arena.

The venue will host some matches of the 2020 FIFA Futsal World Cup.

The Žalgiris Arena is the largest in the Baltic states and covers 39,684 m2 (427,160 sq ft). It holds 20,000 spectators for concerts . It is situated in the eastern part of the Nemunas river island and its shape has nine corners. The arena's facade is made of high-end and highly transparent glass. A part of the facade has a unique metal wall, which is already naturally encrusted with rust.

It is equipped with some unique technical solutions, such as power windows and modern ice-making installation. Advanced audio equipment (amplifiers, digital mixing engines and stage boxes) by Yamaha is installed in the Žalgiris Arena. The arena has 48 VIP suites, 21 suites for the Žalgiris basketball club and media, 9 suites for a single rent, an exhibition hall, and a fitness center. There are 8 halls in the Arena where more than 150 various events take place annually.

## Format

On the 10th of October, the EBO confirmed that 2 Semi-Finals and the final were scheduled to take place in April. There is a jury and a televote. They both decide 50% of the score. There was also a big 6 pre-qualified to the final. Those countries were the host Lithuania, Russia, Finland, Norway, the United Kingdom and Sweden.

## Participating countries

Participating countries had until 1 February 2020 to submit their applications for participation in the contest and until 1 March 2020 to withdraw their application without a penalty. The EBO announced on 28 March that 46 countries would participate in the contest.

## Results

### **Semi-Final 1**

Twenty countries participated in the first semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the final.

### **Semi-Final 2**

Twenty countries participated in the second semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the final.

## Other countries

 Austria - ÖRF reported that Austria would withdraw after the bad results of the past eleven participations.

 Cyprus - CyBC, the host broadcaster of Cyprus, confirmed that the nation would return after the abbsence of one edition. A contract with a sponsor was already concluded, so participation is financially possible for at least two editions.

 Luxembourg - RTL confirmed that the broadcaster would follow this edition of the Eurovision Song Festival as close as always to study a potential debut.

 Tunisia - Several reports mentioned a Tunisian debut this edition. Both the EBO and the host broadcaster LRT denied those reports.