Broadcasters from nineteen countries took part this year, with Monaco and the previous year's winner Israel deciding not to participate, and Turkey returning. Morocco made its only appearance in the contest. It was the last Eurovision Song Contest not to be hosted in the previous edition's winning country for 43 years (the next time this would occur would be in 2023).
Nederlands Congresgebouw, host venue of the 1980 contest
One month after its win in the 1979 contest, the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) announced at an EBU conference held in Willemstad, Netherlands Antilles that it was considering staging the 1980 edition at an open-air venue, either in Caesarea or at a site on the Sea of Galilee. The broadcaster provisionally scheduled the event for 29 March or 10 May. However, on 13 August 1979, IBA formally renounced its right to host the upcoming edition, as the organisation of the 1979 contest in Jerusalem and investments in the roll-out of colour television had exhausted its financial resources.
The EBU determined that the contest would need to take place on 26 April 1980 and invited member broadcasters interested in staging the event to come forward before 3 September 1979. When the deadline passed, none of them had declared interest in hosting, despite several having examined the possibility of submitting a bid. Runner-up Spain's Televisión Española (TVE) showed no interest, despite the fact that the tourism board of the Costa del Sol had offered the Conference Centre[es] in Torremolinos as a possible venue. In the Netherlands, TROS was eager to stage the event under the auspices of the Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS), but NOS declined to back the bid, preferring to see another broadcaster volunteer.
With no other broadcaster willing to host, the EBU turned to the Netherlands, which remained the only viable option. NOS agreed to host, but on two conditions: the contest had to be moved a week earlier to 19 April due to availability of the Nederlands Congresgebouw, and the EBU had to increase its financial contribution. Once the participating EBU members agreed to these terms, the final decision was made on 23 October 1979 for NOS to host the event in The Hague.
Because the contest was rescheduled for 19 April, it fell on Yom HaZikaron, Israel's memorial day for fallen soldiers. After a prolonged but unsuccessful effort to persuade the EBU to change the date, IBA announced on 10 December 1979 that it would withdraw from the 1980 edition. After Israel announced its absence, Morocco entered the contest for its first, and to date only, participation. Monaco also withdrew from the contest, and would not return until 2004.
Due to the tight timeline leading up to 19 April 1980, NOS decided to organise the event using an experienced production team consisting of AVRO and KRO employees, who had previously worked on the 1976 edition. This infuriated TROS, which subsequently withdrew from organising the upcoming edition of the Nationaal Songfestival. Theo Ordeman[nl] and Fred Oster[nl], both from AVRO, were appointed as the show's director and executive producer. Musical accompaniment was provided by the Metropole Orkest, led by Rogier van Otterloo. The overall budget was ƒ1.5 million (€0.54 million), of which the host broadcaster contributed ƒ900,000 and the EBU contributed ƒ600,000.
Visual and stage design
As a cost-saving measure in light of the limited budget, NOS decided to recycle several elements of the 1976 production, such as the opening sequence and parts of the set. The stage was designed by Roland de Groot[nl], who had also been responsible for the stage design in 1970 and 1976. The main platform featured a five-step staircase and three curved horizontal panels as a backdrop for the performers. Overhead, a series of cable-suspended geometric elements shifted into different shapes, illuminated by coloured lighting, that changed with each song.
Presenter and song announcements
The contest was presented by Dutch actress Marlous Fluitsma, who spoke almost entirely in Dutch, switching to English and French only for the official protocols and the voting segment. As with the 1977 and 1978 contests, there were no pre-filmed videos between the songs. Instead, the entries were introduced by a guest presenter appointed by each participating broadcaster, in some cases the same person providing the commentary. Most songs were introduced in the language in which they were performed; however, Ireland's entry was introduced in Irish, despite the song being sung in English. The announcements were accompanied by two or three photographs of the artist at a location in the Netherlands.
Selection of postcard images shown during the song announcements. Top to bottom, left to right: Luxembourg, Italy, Spain, and Belgium
The contest was held on 19 April 1980 at 21:00 CEST and lasted two hours and sixteen minutes. The table below outlines the participating countries, the order in which they performed, and the results of the voting. The Dutch Rhythm Steel & Show Band[nl] and the Lee Jackson Dancers performed "San Fernando" as an interval act. The performance was intercut by brief interviews with some of the participants in the backstage green room, conducted by Hans van Willigenburg[nl].
Australian-born Johnny Logan, representing his parents' country Ireland, was crowned the winner with the song "What's Another Year", written by Shay Healy. This was Ireland's second victory in the competition, having previously won in 1970 with "All Kinds of Everything", coincidentally also held on Dutch soil. It was also the first time that a male solo artist had won the contest since Udo Jürgens won for Austria in 1966.
Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for its respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1980 contest are listed below.
The scoring system implemented in 1975 remained the same; each country had a jury who awarded 12, 10, and 8–1 point(s) for their top ten songs. However this year for the first time, spokespersons were required to declare their scores in ascending order (1, 2, 3, et cetera). This change made for the added excitement of waiting for each country to award their highest 12 points at the end of each voting round.
For the voting sequence, Marlous Fluitsma used a different telephone to speak to each of the nineteen jury spokespersons, although the phones were simply props and were not connected.
Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest via its networks. Non-participating EBU member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest as "passive participants". Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers. At least 300 journalists were onsite to cover the event.
The contest was also reportedly broadcast in Cyprus, Israel, Iceland, and Jordan; in Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union via Intervision; and in Cuba, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates, with an estimated audience of 450 million viewers. The contest was reportedly broadcast via radio in countries including Belgium, Finland, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.
Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
1234Roxburgh, Gordon (2016). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Three: The 1980s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp.39–55. ISBN978-1-84583-118-9.
↑Thorsson, Leif; Verhage, Martin (2006). Melodifestivalen genom tiderna: de svenska uttagningarna och internationella finalerna (in Swedish). Stockholm: Premium Publishing. pp.148–149. ISBN91-89136-29-2.
↑"Hören + sehen"[Listen + watch]. AZ (in German). Vienna, Austria. 19 April 1980. p.24. Archived from the original on 28 July 2026. Retrieved 28 July 2026.
↑"Brittivinoilua euroviisuista"[British mockery of the Eurovision Song Contest]. Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Helsinki, Finland. 22 April 1980. p.17. Archived from the original on 23 December 2022. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
↑"Hoje"[Today]. Diário de Lisboa (in Portuguese). Lisbon, Portugal. 19 April 1980. p.20. Archived from the original on 12 January 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2023– via Casa Comum.
↑"Rádio". Diário de Lisboa (in Portuguese). Lisbon, Portugal. 19 April 1980. p.26. Archived from the original on 12 January 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2023– via Casa Comum.
↑"Esta noche, Festival de la Canción de Eurovisión"[Tonight, Eurovision Song Contest](PDF). La Gaceta del Norte (in Spanish). Bilbao, Spain. 19 April 1980. p.39. Retrieved 2 January 2025– via Bizkaiko Foru Liburutegia.
↑"Televizyon"[Television]. Cumhuriyet (in Turkish). Istanbul, Turkey. 19 April 1980. p.6. Archived from the original on 12 January 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
↑"20.4.80 – רדיו"[Radio – 20.4.80]. Maariv (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv, Israel. 22 April 1980. p.39. Retrieved 11 January 2023– via National Library of Israel.
Morocco
Turkey
Ireland
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