#ThrowbackThursday | Countries of the past - part one

Today we will be taking a look back in time on some of the countries that have participated in the past, but not will not be present in Rotterdam for this year's edition of the contest. Today we will have a look on four of the 9 countries that have had a singer on the Eurovision stage, and next week we will look at the other 5.

Morocco

So far Morocco is the only country that has participated in Eurovision only once. In 1980 singer Samira Bensaïd sang her song 'Bitaqat hub' in the Arabic language. She scored only seven points, which were all from Italy, and ended up in 18th place in The Hague. After the poor result, Morocco announced they would withdraw from the contest, and possibly never to return again.

In 2020, with an interview with AD.nl, Jon Ola Sand said that the EBU was in talks with Morocco about a the possibility of a Eurovision return: "We do have conversations with Morocco. Of course, they have already taken part and may be in favour again... I personally would be in favour of it as it would make the contest more varied."

Check out Morocco's one and only Eurovision song

Slovakia

Slovakia has made 7 appearances between 1994 and 2012, getting their worst result, last place, in the semi-final in 2012 with Max Jason Mai and the song 'Don't Close Your Eyes'. Their best result was achieved in 1996 when Marcel Palonder scored 19 points and got 18th place in Oslo, Norway. In June 2019 the broadcaster announced the country would not return to the contest in 2020 due to a lack of interest from the Slovakian public.

Andorra

Andorra participated in the Eurovision Song contest from 2004 till 2009 and they unfortunatley never reached the final. Their best result was in 2007 when the band Anonymous performed their song 'Salvem el Món' in Helsinki, finishing 12th with 80 points. The only Eurovision trophy Andorra has taken home was the 'Barbara Dex award' (the award for the worst dressed contestant) in 2008. In 2011 it was announced the broadcaster was planning to leave the EBU because of financial problems. But after some time, they decided to stay in the EBU,but with Eurovision participation highly unlikely.

In November 2019, Andorran website El Nacional reported that they were looking to make a comeback to Eurovision, and the Andorran government confirmed that the country is very interested: "RTVA will return to Eurovision but, before, a cost assessment must be made"

Hungary

Hungary participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 17 times in between 1993 and 2019. 1994 brought Hungary it's best result with a fourth place, and 2008 brought their worst result, when they came last in the semi-final. Between 2011 and 2018, Hungary qualified to the final every year, making them one of the most successful qualifying countries. In 2019 it was announced their long time national final 'A Dal' would not serve as their selection method for Eurovision 2020, but the show however would still be held in 2020. Later it was announced they would withdraw from the contest.

Check out our reaction video to Hungary withdrawing from Eurovision 2020