With Eurovision 2025 just around the corner, the Netherlands has decided to also set their sights forward by planning to open submissions on May 19th, two days after the Eurovision 2025 final.
Internal Selection
The format will be the same as it was this year, with open registration. However, the registration has been pushed to be earlier and set for the 19th of May, with the original date being the 1st of August. AVROTOS stated that there will be no national selection and that they have decided to go internal. 2024 and 2025 were also internal, with the selection of Joost in 2024 and Claude in 2025.
This year’s selection received 331 entries, with the selection committee including Cornald Maas, Jacqueline Govaert, Sander Lantinga, Hila Noorzai, Carolien Borgers, and Jaap Reesema. From 1956 until 2012, the artist was chosen through a national selection process with the show Nationaal Songfestival. From 2013 onwards, they decided to go internal. The internal selection includes a single audition between 5 – 6 shortlisted acts.
Netherlands Eurovision Journey
The Netherlands are one of the founding countries of the ESC, having performed the very first song ever on the Eurovision stage back in 1956. While the result of “De Vogels van Holland” is unknown, the Netherlands have garnered 5 wins, with their most recent in 2019. However the Netherlands are also known to have had the longest ever non qualification streak in the semi-final era – they missed out on the final a whopping 8 times between 2005 and 2012.
Joost Klein represented the Netherlands in 2024 with the song “Europapa”. While he was ultimately disqualified, he would have made it to the final, placing second in his semifinal with 182 points.
Who do you think should submit an entry to represent The Netherlands in 2026? As always, let us know what you think by commenting below. Also, be sure to follow “That Eurovision Site” on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Tumblr, Threads and Bluesky as we gear up for Eurovision 2025!
News Source: Songfestivalweblog
Photo Credit: Tim Buiting
Rory Gannon 
Euan T