Ever since Duncan Laurence took home the Eurovision trophy in May, Dutch cities have been tumbling over each other as they announce that they will submit a bid to host Eurovision 2020. In recent weeks multiple cities — from Leeuwarden in the north to Maastricht in the South — have revealed their ambitions, while Amsterdam said it was keen to land the gig but wouldn’t stand in the way of other cities. But speculation is now drawing to a close. This evening Dutch media outlet EditieNL spoke to broadcaster NPO and have published an official update. Seven Dutch cities are now officially in the running, with only two more days left to enlist in the bidding war.

Speaking to NPO, part of the “Group of 3” that is responsible for Eurovision 2020 in the Netherlands,EditieNL says that the cities that have officially expressed an interest in hosting Eurovision 2020 thus far are…

  1. Maastricht
  2. Rotterdam
  3. Arnhem
  4. Utrecht
  5. Amsterdam
  6. Leeuwarden
  7. Den Bosch

However, this is not the final list. There are still two more days left for cities to express their interest, after which NPO will send a packet of information and criteria, around which cities can craft their formal bid.

The cities will have four weeks to prepare a final proposal. It must cover topics including location of the venue, logistics, accommodation and safety. A review process, including city visits, will then take place. So in sum it will be between seven and eight weeks before we know the host city of Eurovision 2020.

What about Den Haag?

EditieNL has confirmed that not all cities want their bid/interest to be made public at the moment, as they want some more time to prepare. The city of Den Haag is currently debating whether to submit an official bid. The biggest question mark for them is whether they have an appropriate venue.

The two options it is exploring is the ADO Den Haag Stadium, which will require a temporary roof. It’s home to the Alles Door Oefening Den Haag football club and has a capacity of 15,000 (pictured below). Another option is temporary location on Malieveld — a large grass field opposite Den Haag train station. A venue would need to be built from scratch.

View this post on Instagram

Een prachtige traditie! ? #YNWA #OnzeTrots

A post shared by ADO Den Haag (@adodenhaag) on

Other rumoured candidate cities

There are, of course, a few rumoured cities that are missing from this official list. They are…

  1. Enschede. Its former military base — now a private airport — has expressed its ambition of hosting. But there was a dispute in the local council about whether the city should focus on other matters. It’s possible they are still in the running, but the bid has not been made not public.
  2. Groningen: The city has officially withdrawn from the race. It was discussed by the local council, which decided that the city doesn’t have the funds.
  3. Zwolle is also out. Its preferred venue, the IJsselhallen convention centre, simply doesn’t meet the requirements. 
  4. The city of Tilburg wanted to enter the bidding process, but it lacks a proper venue. So they’ve now decided to team up with the other cities in the province of Noord Brabant to enlarge the chance of welcoming Eurovision 2020. This is the province where Duncan Laurence studied. They are working mostly with the city of Den Bosch, which is home to Brabanthallen — the third largest event complex in the Netherlands. It’s used for trade fairs, car markets, converts and sporting events.

You can watch the full video from RTL here. It discusses the latest bids and withdrawals, following an update from broadcaster NPO.

Where do YOU want to go next year? Let us know down below…

66 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Simone
Simone
4 years ago

I supported Amsterdam at first but if you want the last cookie you have to fight for it….

LVMaruv
LVMaruv
4 years ago

Maastricht Please !! It´s Historic and Beautiful – and also in the border of both: Germany and Belgium with plenty of hotels around – so lot´s of fans can attend (even arriving by car…), Not far from Liege airport, Maastricht/Aachen airport and Brussels International + the MECC is a great venue.

RonnnDJ
RonnnDJ
4 years ago
Reply to  LVMaruv

Nope. MECC is far below standards for hosting an event like Eurovison. It’s outdated, to small, and the ceiling is even lower then the Tel Aviv Expo. The acoustics are terible too which is proven by the fact that no famous artists have performed there over the past 30 years. The fact that Maastricht is located close to Germany and Belgium isn’t quite in favour of a positive Dutch business case. I mean: it’s likely to expect that a part of the revenue is going to vanish into Germany and Belgium. Maastricht/Aachen airport doesn’t have many connections to major cities… Read more »

Azaad Sadiq
Azaad Sadiq
4 years ago
Reply to  LVMaruv

Maastricht has a lost of historical significance…and that might be polarising. Given the EU’s, let’s say…interesting reception, amongst the competing members, holding the contest in the city most associated with the expansion of EU integration might prove a contentious point. I broadly support the EU (although as an Australian I don’t know how relevant my opinion on the EU is).

Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht don’t have that baggage to deal with.

Izzy T.
Izzy T.
4 years ago

Im all for either Amsterdam, Rotterdam or Utrecht. All the other cities are too far from all the touristic things people want to see and/or do when they visit The Netherlands for the first time. I think its best if they pick a central city with easy access and enough room for all the visitors, delegations, artists and press. So Randstad would be the best option. For example from Utrecht its only 30 min per train to Amsterdam, Rotterdam & The Hague. So you can visit alot of cities in a short amount of time. Leeuwarden, Maastricht, Arnhem and Den… Read more »

Azaad
Azaad
4 years ago
Reply to  Izzy T.

Those three do seem like the only really viable contenders, unless the others can do it at a really cheap price while still having a high quality show.

Kris
Kris
4 years ago

Didn’t Amsterdam say : I don’t wanna fight , we can make it right ?? Let’s put down , put down our weapons

Tiaan West
Tiaan West
4 years ago

I just watched the wiwibloggs video on the host cities and I have to say, Deban’s love for Amsterdam is a joy to watch. I agree with him on that if you wanna show case other parts of NL, there are better ways than through hosting. Postcards spring to mind. We have tons of interesting smaller municipalities across the country, each with a unique feature! Fort Bourtange is one example near the German border. And just imagine the Belgian delegation getting to do their post card in Baarle Nassau/ Baarle Hertog – the town divided between NL and BE where… Read more »

rrjym
rrjym
4 years ago

I’m a Dutchie and as much as I love Amsterdam, I think Rotterdam would be the perfect hosting city for Eurovision as it is modern, blooming and is known to invest in music & culture.

Justice
Justice
4 years ago

I want Enschede cos I like how it’s pronounced.

Meliris
Meliris
4 years ago
Reply to  Justice

the official or the local pronunciation? the local one is easier for foreigners

Justice
Justice
4 years ago
Reply to  Meliris

I wasn’t aware there were more than one ways to pronunce it. I heard Ilse poununce it, so that one.

Meliris
Meliris
4 years ago
Reply to  Justice

She’s from Almelo, not far from Enschede, so she might use the local one 😀

Albanian
Albanian
4 years ago

What does this have to do with this article?

Pancake
Pancake
4 years ago

It’s all going to Amsterdam or Rotterdam anyway, so…

Sebastian
Sebastian
4 years ago

I think Rotterdam would be a great host city. Isn’t it a super modern city because it was almost completely obliterated during world war 2?

Jim
Jim
4 years ago
Reply to  Sebastian

That’s right. Because of that, the old center was (almost) completely destroyed so Rotterdam had the change to become the modern city which it is now.

Zuljuberta
Zuljuberta
4 years ago

And why is Eindhoven not taking part in the bidding process

Peter
Peter
4 years ago
Reply to  Zuljuberta

For the same reason Tilburg and Zwolle withdrew, I assume. No venue large enough to host a behemoth like ESC

Zuljuberta
Zuljuberta
4 years ago
Reply to  Peter

Okay, thanks 🙂

Zuljuberta
Zuljuberta
4 years ago
Reply to  Zuljuberta

Oh, I see. Thank you for your answer 🙂

Juan
Juan
4 years ago

This is not even a race.
It’s going to be Rotterdam.

Mr Dergen
Mr Dergen
4 years ago

I have seen many comments now saying it should be possible to host in Johan Cruijff ArenA, no, it really isn’t:
1. It is being renovated for Euro 2020, which other preparations should be made for as well
2. It wouldn’t sell out
3. The acoustics are not great
4. Ajax can’t play anywhere else, the only other 50k stadium in the country is Feyenoord, which is their arch rival, both clubs (and most importantly fans) would never accept that.
It’s just impossible, please forget about it!

Adam Jones
Adam Jones
4 years ago

If I could choose, I’d pick Amsterdam. Always wanted to visit there.

Ben
Ben
4 years ago

Some of the cities must be aware that they wouln’t be able to host thousands of fans, journalists and hunderts of people from the delegations. Seems like the biding process itself is a usefull strategy to get attention for the cities and regions.

Jo.
Jo.
4 years ago

it’s Rotterdam anyway

Peter
Peter
4 years ago
Reply to  Jo.

Let’s see, shall we?

Beatrice Van Den Herik
Beatrice Van Den Herik
4 years ago

As a Rotterdam living girl, look what MTV emas looked like in 2016, Stunning!
We are ready to host you Europe love from Rhoon (Rotterdam)
comment image

Andreas Hägersten
Andreas Hägersten
4 years ago

The stage look like a mix of Eurovision 2014 and Melodifestivalen 2016

Loin dici
4 years ago

I think it’ll be cool to have a stage like that.

muyi
muyi
4 years ago

zou heel vet zijn ik woon zelf in slinge ?? dus makkelijk

Hamad El Camino
Hamad El Camino
4 years ago

i’m with Deban 100%
#AMSTERDAM2020
#NOROTTENIN2020

Hamad El Camino
Hamad El Camino
4 years ago

Why is everyone so Anti Amsterdam? It just is a better world stage and more internationally known city..
like London is way cooler than Birmingham.
Copenhagen is better than Aarhus.
Paris is better than Lyon.
Vienna is better than Innsbruck
Dublin is better than Cork
Stockholm is better than Malmo
Oslo is better than Bergen
Bring Eurovision to a world stage and a world wide known city!!!!!

Azaad
Azaad
4 years ago

But Rotterdam is well known, and doesn’t have the drawbacks many non capital cities have. Moreover, Malmo 2013 was quite a good edition

Maarten
Maarten
4 years ago

It just goes to show how unaware many of you are about the Netherlands and its geography. For most foreigners, the Netherlands equals Amsterdam. Most Dutch people would consider the Netherlands as a multi-city conglomerate. There simply isn’t one big city in the Netherlands that out-shadows all the others, in the same way as London, Paris or Copenhagen out-shadow secondary cities in their respective countries. Amsterdam proper is only slightly bigger than Rotterdam or The Hague. However, if suburbs are included, Rotterdam would have a larger population than Amsterdam. The entire West of the country is essentially one big urban… Read more »

Marc
Marc
4 years ago

There simply isn’t one big city in the Netherlands that out-shadows all the others, in the same way as London, Paris or Copenhagen out-shadow secondary cities in their respective countries. Amsterdam proper is only slightly bigger than Rotterdam or The Hague. However, if suburbs are included, Rotterdam would have a larger population than Amsterdam. The entire West of the country is essentially one big urban area. The rivalry between Amsterdam and Rotterdam is similar to Rome/Milan or Madrid/Barcelona, not to the cities you mention above.

Peter
Peter
4 years ago

I’m just back from twenty years London , mate. Amsterdam, in comparison, is a very, very long way off that power scale.

Darren
Darren
4 years ago

It will be Amsterdam or Rotterdam. The odds may be in Rotterdam’s favour but I myself want Amsterdam to host. Netherlands haven’t won in a long time, and who knows when they might again?
Go with Amsterdam for now and if they win again in the next few years, try Rotterdam

NickC
NickC
4 years ago

I vote for Maastricht. It is between Germany, France and Luxembourg, it will remind people the European dream.. It would be a timely choice, with a strong message!

dygh
dygh
4 years ago
Reply to  NickC

I think you should get your geography right

Peter
Peter
4 years ago
Reply to  dygh

On the contrary. Maastricht’s internationalism has been ingrained due to its natural geographical location. Which, in turn forged long-standing cultural ties with its German, Belgian and, indeed, French hinterlands . Maastricht’s internationalism truly lived-in. Amsterdam’s a by-product at best.

Peter
Peter
4 years ago
Reply to  NickC

Hear hear. Absolutely second that!

Fatima
Fatima
4 years ago

Almost as many candidates as there are tone the Prime Minister of Great Britain. But Netherlands have been poised to win the contest for five years now, so I suspect that the successful city has already been determined, one way or another.

Azaad
Azaad
4 years ago
Reply to  Fatima

I wish the race to be British PM right now was as open as the host city bidding process

Robert
Robert
4 years ago

He was born in Spijkenisse, raised from a very young age in Hellevoetsluis, a city near Rotterdam! Where I live.. 😀 And studied in Tilburg.. Hoping for Rotterdam.. Fingers crossed.. 🙂

Pam
Pam
4 years ago

What about Thialf (Heerenveen)?
they’ve got a pretty solid arena too.

Serhatari
Serhatari
4 years ago

I’d love if it was held at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam. It seats 70,000 people, it would be the biggest crowd ever!

RandomEuroFan
RandomEuroFan
4 years ago
Reply to  Serhatari

Acoustics would be horrible though

German ESC Fan
German ESC Fan
4 years ago
Reply to  RandomEuroFan

They weren’t in Düsseldorf 2011….

Azaad
Azaad
4 years ago
Reply to  RandomEuroFan

They’d adapt the acoustics as part of renovating the arena to be more appropriate for concerts.

Ana
Ana
4 years ago
Reply to  Serhatari

And where exactly the soccer team will play during this whole time? Who will compensate them? It will not happen

Cara
Cara
4 years ago
Reply to  Ana

Comprehensions can be made!
Like 2001 in Copenhagen or Düsseldorf in 2011!

Peter
Peter
4 years ago
Reply to  Cara

Cara, I think you mean ‘comparisons’, rather?

Jo.
Jo.
4 years ago
Reply to  Serhatari

tickets that woudn’t never be sold, 70k for 6 shows…good luck with that. All you can get is an empty arena.

dygh
dygh
4 years ago
Reply to  Jo.

More tickets = lower prices

Liam Lindsay
Liam Lindsay
4 years ago

Rotterdam is the most likely host as it meets all major requirements for the hosting of ESC 2020. Rotterdam has a fully functioning airport, a stadium capacity of over 15,000 which fulfils the requirements of capacity and then some and finally has at least 25-30 hotels within a 20 min radius of the Ahoy. Furthermore from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, yoy can get to Rotterdam in under a hour by car, bus or train. The obvious choice to host ESC 2020 is Rotterdam, people need to realise that Amsterdam is at full capacity for 2020 due to a all year tourist… Read more »

Aidar
Aidar
4 years ago
Reply to  Liam Lindsay

Ahoy can’t host in at the moment, A Renovation is in full swing. But it might be done before May 2020. But as it is right now it’s set be complete in Late 2020

stommie
stommie
4 years ago
Reply to  Aidar

What are they doing now at Ahoy has nothing to do with the arena or the existing expo halls. The arena was renovated years ago.

Cara
Cara
4 years ago
Reply to  stommie

comment image

Well this is how AHOY area will look like until late 2020. He do has a point, no one wants ESC 2020 to be held in a working area with banging noise and excavators….

comment image

Liam Alan Lindsay
Liam Alan Lindsay
4 years ago
Reply to  Cara

I do respect your comments however I do agree with @Stommie, the renovations to the Ahoy are at this point located to a small portion of the grounds and has nothing to do with the halls or the arena in question, and just because there is construction going on around it doesn’t mean that is a no go for hosting and we have had worse host cites/arena venues, B&W Hallerne, Copenhagen 2014 that was a former dockyard that they renovated for the sole purposes of the contest and failed drastically and was a pain to get to. Rotterdam still is… Read more »

Peter
Peter
4 years ago
Reply to  Liam Lindsay

Again, Amsterdam is overrated. Seriously. And disproportionately advantaged, culturally, at the same time. That imbalance needs urgent redress. That’s what the Amsterdam mayor herself admits, actually. The provinces no longer to be regarded as uncouth hicks supposed to look at its gold-paved magnificence in fitting awe. That’s a station long past. So whatever city is awarded ESC, it should not be any in or part of the Randstad, for a change.

Robbert
Robbert
4 years ago

Duncan was not born in Brabant. He was born near Rotterdam! He studied in Tilburg, Brabant.

Morris Leiden
Morris Leiden
4 years ago

I would love to see Eurovision in the City where I was born: Leeuwarden! It would be such an opportunity to show Europe the culture of Friesland!

magic esc
magic esc
4 years ago

Give me Trijntje Oosterhuis backyard, or give me death.

Roelof Meesters
Roelof Meesters
4 years ago

7 cities! It really shows the Dutch ambition, let’s hope we will see the same ambition during the show. My pick is still Ziggo Dome (AMS) or Ahoy (ROT) but I’m sure the show will be great no matter where we host it (but please just put it in Amsterdam or Rotterdam)

Cara
Cara
4 years ago

Yes Go Ziggo!!
Most Modern Facility in Netherlands at the moment