DRAW

Eurovision 2020: Semi-final allocation draw pots revealed

Get ready for Tuesday's Semi-final allocation draw: The drawing pots have just been revealed

On Tuesday 28 January at 17:00 CET the Semi-final allocation draw takes place live from Rotterdam's City Hall. The allocation draw determines which countries are in which Semi-final at Eurovision Song Contest 2020.

The 35 Semi-finalists have been allocated into 5 pots, based on historical voting patterns. Drawing from different pots helps to reduce the chance of so-called neighbourly voting:

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

Eurovision 2020 Hosts: Edsilia Rombley, Chantal Janzen and Jan Smit — Eurovision 2020 hosts: Edsilia Rombley, Chantal Janzen and Jan Smit (Photo: NPO/AVROTROS/NOS)

The allocation draw is hosted by the Eurovision 2020 hosts: Chantal Janzen, Edsilia Rombley and Jan Smit.

Facts about the allocation draw

41 countries participate in Eurovision Song Contest 2020
6 of the countries are pre-qualified for the Grand Final (Big-5 and Netherlands)
The 35 countries are distributed into 5 allocation draw pots based on the voting pattern between them to avoid too much neighbour voting
After a country is drawn, a second draw determines whether that country will participate in the first or second part of the semi-final
The six countries pre-qualified for the Grand Final (Big-5 and Netherlands) are also drawn to decide in which semi-final these countries will vote
The final running order will be decided later by the Dutch producer and broadcaster, and approved by EBU