Eurovision Song Contest 1980

Infobox Eurovision
name = Eurovision Song Contest 1980


final = 19 April 1980
presenters = Marlous Fluitsma
conductor = Rogier van Otterloo
director =
host = flagicon|Netherlands NOS
venue = Congresgebouw, The Hague, Netherlands
winner = flag|Ireland
"What's Another Year"
vote = Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favourite songs
entries = 19
debut = flag|Morocco
return = flag|Turkey
withdraw = flag|Israel
flag|Monaco
null = None
interval = The Dutch Rhythm Steel and Show Band
opening =
con = Eurovision Song Contest
pre = ◄1979
nex = 1981►

The Eurovision Song Contest 1980 was the 25th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on April 19, 1980 in The Hague. The presenter was Marlous Fluitsma.

Israel, winner in 1979, declined to host the show for the second time in a row, as the IBA could not fund another international production, and the Israeli government turned down a request to extend the IBA budget. Moreover, the date that was eventually set for the 1980 contest by the European Broadcasting Union coincided with Israel's Day of Remembrance for their casualties of war, so Israel decided not to participate at all. After Spain, the 2nd place winner of 1979, and reportedly the UK, refused to host, the Netherlands finally agreed to put on the show providing they were allowed to scale back the production.

Morocco joined the Eurovision family for the first (and so far only) time

Monaco withdrew, and would not return until the 2004 contest.

Johnny Logan representing Ireland was the winner of this Eurovision with the song, What's Another Year. This was Ireland's second time winning the competition, having won it in 1970 with "All Kinds of Everything".

Germany were runners-up this year with the first of a determined attempt to win the contest. They would finish in second place again the following year, finally winning it in 1982. Germany would go on to finish second again in 1985 and 1987, making the 1980s their most successful decade. United Kingdom returned to form by coming third.

Individual Entries

Results

core sheet

Each country had a jury who awarded 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points for their top ten songs. However this year for the first time, countries were required to cast their votes in ascending order, 1,2,3 etc. 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.

The Netherlands gained a strong lead early on, getting the maximum 'douze points' from three of the first four voting countries. This was not to last, however, as Germany and eventually Ireland overtook them.

		Results
	Austria		0	1	0	3	4	5	1	4	5	6	4	6	3	3	4	10	4	1
	Turkey	3		0	0	12	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Greece	5	0		1	0	2	2	0	0	0	4	0	3	1	8	0	4	0	0
	Luxembourg	1	1	0		0	0	4	6	0	3	7	0	8	0	0	7	8	3	8
	Morocco	0	0	0	0		7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Italy	2	6	2	0	0		3	10	8	6	2	7	4	12	1	2	2	10	10
	Denmark	0	0	4	0	2	0		0	6	7	1	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Sweden	0	8	10	10	6	5	0		5	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	Switzerland	6	2	0	5	7	3	8	2		12	10	10	7	6	10	0	12	2	2
	Finland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		5	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
	Norway	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	0		6	0	0	2	3	0	0	0
	Germany	8	10	0	3	10	12	7	5	7	2	0		10	8	12	10	5	12	7
	United Kingdom	7	5	0	8	8	0	10	12	10	4	0	3		7	7	5	6	8	6
	Portugal	0	4	5	4	0	10	6	8	2	1	8	1	0		5	6	7	0	4
	Netherlands	12	12	6	12	0	0	0	3	3	10	0	8	2	4		12	1	5	3
	France	0	3	7	2	1	0	1	4	1	0	3	0	5	0	4		3	6	5
	Ireland	10	0	12	7	0	1	12	7	12	8	12	12	12	5	6	8		7	12
	Spain	4	7	8	6	5	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0		0
	Belgium	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	10	0	0	0	0
THE TABLE IS ORDERED BY APPEARANCE

Map