Croatia originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. The Croatian broadcaster Hrvatska radiotelevizija (HRT) used the national selection Dora 2020 to decide their representative.[1] However, due to 2020 coronavirus pandemic, the contest was cancelled.[2]
Prior to the 2020 Contest, Croatia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-five times since its first entry in 1993.[3] Croatia's highest placing in the contest, to this point, has been fourth place, which the nation achieved on two occasions: in 1996 with the song "Sveta ljubav" performed by Maja Blagdan and in 1999 "Marija Magdalena" performed by Doris Dragović. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Croatia had featured in seven finals. In 2019, Croatia failed to qualify to the final, placing 14th in the second semi-final with the song "The Dream" performed by Roko.[4]
Before Eurovision[]
Dora 2020[]
Dora 2020 was the twenty-first edition of the Croatian national selection Dora which selected Croatia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. The competition consisted of sixteen entries competing in one final on 29 February 2020 at the Marino Cvetković Sports Hall in Opatija, broadcast on HRT 1 as well as online via the broadcaster's streaming service HRTi and hosted by Duško Ćurlić, Mirko Fodor, Zlata Mück Sušec and Doris Pinčić Rogoznica.[5][6]
Competing entries[]
On 5 November 2019, HRT opened a submission period where artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster with the deadline on 15 December 2019. Songs submitted were required to be in either English, French, Italian or Croatian.[1] A seven-member expert committee consisting of Zlatko Turkalj Turki (HRT), Dinko Komadina (HRT), Željko Barba (HDS), Tomislav Mrduljaš (HDS), Ivana Vrdoljak Vanna (HGU), Branimir Jovanovac (HGU) and Tomislav Štengl (HRT) reviewed the received submissions and selected sixteen artists and songs for the competition.[7] HRT announced the competing entries on 23 December 2019 and among the competing artists, Goran Karan represented Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000.[8] Goran Karan later withdrew from the competition and was replaced by "Jušto" performed by Elis Lovrić.[9]
The final took place on 29 February 2020.[10] The running order was announced on 17 February 2020.[11] The winner, "Divlji vjetre" performed by Damir Kedžo, was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from five regional juries and a public televote. Ties were decided in favour of the entry ranked higher by the public televote.[12]
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 28 January 2020, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Croatia was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 12 May 2020, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[14] However, due to 2019-20 pandemic of Coronavirus, the contest was cancelled.
Croatia