The Free European Song Contest is an international song competition, organised by the German television network

ProSieben ProSieben (, ''sieben'' is German for "seven"; often stylized as Pro7) is a German free-to-air television network owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media. It was launched on 1 January 1989. It is Germany's second-largest privately owned television company ...

and the production company

Brainpool TV Brainpool TV GmbH is a German television production company located in Cologne. It was a subsidiary of VIVA Medien AG between 2001 and 2006, until a management buyout in January 2007, now owned by Banijay. The film '' Stromberg – The Movie'' ...

, with participants representing primarily European countries. The contest is similar in format to the long-running

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

: each participating country submits an original song to be performed on live television, then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the winner. The overall winner of the contest is the entry that has received the most points after the scores from every country have been collected and totalled.

History

As the

Eurovision Song Contest 2020 The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was planned to be the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It would have taken place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's victory at the with the song "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The con ...

could not take place due to the outbreak of the

coronavirus disease 2019 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

(COVID-19) in Europe, German TV station

and German entertainer

Stefan Raab Stefan Konrad Raab (born 20 October 1966) is a German television producer, businessman, musician, and former entertainer and television host. From 1999 to 2015, he hosted the late-night comedy talk show ''TV total'' and has also created a numbe ...

decided to organise ''Free European Song Contest'' as an alternative. After the success of the first edition,

has decided to plan the event also for 2021. The first contest was held in the city of

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, on 16 May 2020. Sixteen countries participated: each participating country submitted an entry. The contest was won by

Nico Santos Nico Santos may refer to: *Nico Santos (actor) (born 1979), American actor *Nico Santos (singer) (born 1993), German-Spanish singer, songwriter, producer *Niccolo "Nico" Santos, a character in the Philippine romantic fantasy drama television series ...

, representing

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, with the song "Like I Love You".

Participation

The following countries have all participated in the Eurovision Song Contest, or are eligible to compete by the standards of the Free European Song Contest, but have not had either public or private broadcasters indicate interest in participating (as of yet):

Competition history

Medal table

The table below shows the top-three placings from each contest, along with the years that a country won the contest.

Presenters

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Official website, https://www.prosieben.de/tv/free-european-song-contest
Production website
at

2020s German television series 2020 German television series debuts German-language television shows ProSieben original programming Song contests German music television series Pop music festivals 2020 establishments in Europe