Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 1980

The Netherlands was represented by Maggie MacNeal, with the song '"Amsterdam", at the 1980 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in The Hague on 19 April. 1980 was one of only two years in the twentieth century (along with 1961) when both performer and song were chosen internally by broadcaster NOS. MacNeal had previously finished third in the 1974 Eurovision as part of duo Mouth and MacNeal.

Eurovision Song Contest 1980
Country Netherlands
National selection
Selection processInternal Selection
Selected entrantMaggie MacNeal
Selected song"Amsterdam"
Finals performance
Final result5th, 93 points
Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1979 • 1980 • 1981►

At Eurovision
Maggie MacNeal during rehearsals

The 1980 contest was held in The Hague as the previous year's winners Israel had announced that they didn't have enough money to host twice in a row, and 1979 runners-up Spain declined to host the event (as also, reportedly, did the BBC, the European Broadcasting Union's traditional fall-back choice when a winning nation could or would not host the following year). NOS had finally agreed to host at the same venue (the Congresgebouw) in which the 1976 contest had been held.

On the night of the final MacNeal performed 15th in the running order, following Portugal and preceding France. "Amsterdam" made a very strong start in the voting and was in the lead for the first five rounds, before fading away to finish the evening in 5th place with 93 points from 14 countries (including maximum 12s from Austria, France, Luxembourg and Turkey). The Dutch jury awarded its 12 points to Germany.[1]

The Dutch entry was conducted at the contest by the musical director Rogier van Otterloo.

Points awarded to the Netherlands
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
Points awarded by the Netherlands
12 points Germany
10 points  Switzerland
8 points Greece
7 points United Kingdom
6 points Ireland
5 points Portugal
4 points France
3 points Austria
2 points Norway
1 point Italy

See also

References
  1. ESC History - Netherlands 1980
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