After a bidding process lasting many months and amid near-endless speculation, it was announced today that the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest will be held at the Ahoy arena and conference centre in Rotterdam on 12, 14 and 16 May.

The Netherlands’ second-largest city with a population of over 600,000 and a key part of the vast Randstad economic region, Rotterdam had been in a tightly-fought battle with the other city remaining in the bidding process, Maastricht. The latter was seen as an unlikely candidate on account of its relative lack of hotel rooms and other facilities, but the fact that it made it to the final two was enough to make some people suspect the bid was destined for success – a contest in perhaps the most “European-branded” of all cities at a time of upheaval for the old continent. However, logistics and common sense appear to have prevailed in the end, and Rotterdam 2020 it is.

Of course, many eagle-eyed fans had spotted the official ESC website apparently leaking Rotterdam as the winning bid on Wednesday night, including this image:

Someone behind the scenes moved quickly to create a dummy page for Maastricht too, in an attempt to cover their tracks – but you can’t get anything past Eurovision fans, you know…

Ticketing information, the identity of the hosts and all the rest of the details on ESC 2020 will follow later in the year.