Free European Song Contest 2020
The Free European Song Contest 2020 was the first edition of the Free European Song Contest,[1] organised by the German television network ProSieben and the production company Brainpool TV. It served as an alternative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, which was planned to be held in Rotterdam, Netherlands, but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
| Free European Song Contest 2020 | |
|---|---|
| Dates | |
| Grand final | 16 May 2020 |
| Host | |
| Venue | Cologne, Germany |
| Presenter(s) | |
| Executive producer | Stefan Raab |
| Host broadcaster | ProSieben |
| Participants | |
| Number of entries | 16 |
| Vote | |
| Voting system | Each country awards 1–8, 10 and 12 points to their ten favourite songs. The points from Germany, Austria and Switzerland are derived from televoting. The points from the other countries are decided by their respective spokespersons. |
| Winning song |  Spain"Like I Love You" |
The show was broadcast on 16 May 2020 at 20:15 CEST on the television channel ProSieben.[2] It was presented by Steven Gätjen and Conchita Wurst.[2] The show was also broadcast on Puls 24 with commentary by Tamara Mascara, Dori Bauer and Patrick Fux.[3] ProSieben Austria and ProSieben Schweiz also took the live feed.
Format
Presenters
The programme was hosted by two presenters: the German television host Steven Gätjen and the Austrian singer Conchita Wurst, who won the Eurovision Song Contest 2014.[2]
Participants
| Draw | Country[4] | Artist[5] | Song | Language(s) | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 |  Netherlands |
Ilse DeLange | "Changes" | English | 2 | 88 |
| 02 |  Turkey |
Eko Fresh feat. Umut Timur | "Günaydin" | German, Turkish | 6 | 71 |
| 03 |  Ireland |
Sion Hill | "Speak Up" | English | 10 | 53 |
| 04 |  Croatia |
Vanessa Mai | "Highlight (Ti si moja snaga)" | German, Croatian, Spanish | 9 | 55 |
| 05 |  Bulgaria |
Oonagh | "Du bist genug" | German, Bulgarian | 8 | 62 |
| 06 |  Austria |
Josh. | "Wo bist du" | German | 15 | 22 |
| 07 |  Poland |
Glasperlenspiel | "Immer da" | German, Polish | 11 | 46 |
| 08 |  United Kingdom |
Kelvin Jones | "Friends" | English | 12 | 45 |
| 09 |  Kazakhstan |
Mike Singer | "Paranoid" | German, Russian | 14 | 23 |
| 10 |  Denmark |
Kate Hall | "Reset" | English, Danish | 16 | 20 |
| 11 | Spain |
Nico Santos | "Like I Love You" | English, Spanish | 1 | 104 |
| 12 |  Italy |
Sarah Lombardi | "Te amo mi amor" | German, Spanish | 13 | 37 |
| 13 |  Switzerland |
Stefanie Heinzmann | "All We Need Is Love" | English, Walser German | 7 | 66 |
| 14 |  The Moon |
Der Astronaut | "Back to the Moon" | English | 3 | 85 |
| 15 |  Israel |
Gil Ofarim | "Alles auf Hoffnung" | German, Hebrew | 5 | 75 |
| 16 |  Germany |
Helge Schneider | "Forever at Home" | German, English | 4 | 76 |
Score sheet
| Results | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Netherlands | 88 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 12 | |||||||||
| Turkey | 71 | 3 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 10 | |||||||||
| Ireland | 53 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 8 | 2 | ||||||||||
| Croatia | 55 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 4 | |||||||||
| Bulgaria | 62 | 4 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 12 | 8 | 12 | 3 | |||||||||||
| Austria | 22 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Poland | 46 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 2 | 6 | ||||||||||
| United Kingdom | 45 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | |||||||||||||
| Kazakhstan | 23 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Denmark | 20 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | |||||||||||||
| Spain | 104 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 | ||||||
| Italy | 37 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 5 | |||||||||
| Switzerland | 66 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 7 | ||||||||
| The Moon | 85 | 5 | 12 | 12 | 2 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 12 | 12 | ||||||||||
| Israel | 75 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 6 | ||||||||
| Germany | 76 | 3 | 12 | 12 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 10 | 12 | ||||||||
Spokespersons
The spokespersons announced the scores of their respective country's national jury[6]
- Austria – Tamara Mascara
- Bulgaria – Friends of Oonagh
- Croatia – Marino Mandekić (father of Vanessa Mai)
- Denmark – Valeria (mother of Kate Hall)
- Germany – Heidi Klum and Tom Kaulitz
- Israel – Lion Rosenberg
- Ireland – Angelo Kelly
- Italy – Michelle Hunziker
- Kazakhstan – Paul (father of Mike Singer)
- The Moon – Michael Herbig as Mr. Spuck
- Netherlands – Duncan Laurence
- Poland – Lukas Podolski
- Spain – Clarissa Wellenbrink (sister of Nico Santos)
- Switzerland – Beatrice Egli
- Turkey – Hakan Çalhanoğlu
- United Kingdom – Melanie C
See also
References
- Spiteri, Steven (17 May 2020). "Germany: Free European Song Contest to return in 2021". Eurovisionworld. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
- "Conchita Wurst und Steven Gätjen moderieren bei Stefan Raabs ESC-Ersatz-Show". Der Spiegel (in German). Retrieved 2020-04-16.
- "PULS 24 präsentiert den "Free European Song Contest"". www.puls24.at. 13 May 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
- Granger, Anthony (5 May 2020). "15 Countries to Compete in the Free European Song Contest". Eurovoix World. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
- Streckmann, Carolin (15 May 2020). "Stefan Raabs Alternativ-Contest: 14 der 15 Teilnehmer von Raabs ESC-Ersatz veröffentlicht". RP Online (in German). Retrieved 15 May 2020.
- Granger, Anthony (2020-05-13). "Two Former Eurovision Participants Among The Free European Song Contest Artists". Eurovoix World. Retrieved 2020-05-13.