Music

Bosnia and Herzegovina confirm they will not compete in Eurovision Song Contest 2020


Bosnia and Herzegovina last participated in 2016 (Picture: Michael Campanella/Getty Images)

Bosnia and Herzegovina will not return to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2020, marking their fourth consecutive absence from the competition.

The national broadcaster BHRT confirmed that they will not be sending an entry to compete in The Netherlands next May.

Bosnia and Herzegovina still owes the European Union outstanding debt, and BHRT told ESCToday that due to European Broadcasting Union (EBU) sanctions, they cannot compete until they clear their debut.

In addition to this, the national broadcaster faces financial difficulties, with BHRT suspending all programming temporarily in 2016 due to money woes.

Bosnia and Herzegovina last competed at Eurovision in 2016, when they entered Dalal & Deen and their song Ljubav je.

However, the song didn’t make it to the final, finishing just one place away from a spot in the final in the first semi-final.

Bosnia and Herzegovina qualified for the final in every other year they participated since 1993, though, with their highest place coming in 2006, when Hari Mata Hari was awarded third place with Lejla.

They have finished top 10 on five other occasions.

So far, 24 countries have confirmed their intentions to participate in Eurovision 2020 – including Ukraine, who withdrew in 2019 in a row with artist Maruv.

Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Moldova, North Macedonia and Poland have yet to announce whether they will enter.

Slovakia and Andorra have confirmed they will not be competing, while Bulgaria is not expected to return.

Eurovision 2020 is expected to be held in Rotterdam or Maastricht, after Amsterdam dropped out of the bidding race.

It will be held in The Netherlands following Duncan Laurence’s win with Arcade in Tel Aviv, Israel.



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