Portugal: Here are the contestants for Festival da Canção 2018

26 songs will compete in the Portuguese selection for Eurovision 2018: Festival da Canção. The Portuguese broadcaster RTP earlier announced the 26 composers who will write the songs, and now each of the 26 composers have picked an artists (or picked themselves) to perform their song:

Semi-final 1

18 February 2018
Hosts: Jorge Gabriel, José Carlos Malato and Inês Lopes Gonçalves

1. Peu Madureira – "Só por ela" (Diogo Clemente)
2. Anabela – "Para te dar abrigo" (Fernando Tordo)
3. Joana Barra Vaz – "Anda estragar-me os planos" (Minta)
4. Janeiro – "TBA" (Janeiro)
5. Rui David – "Sem medo" (Jorge Palma)
6. José Cid & Gonçalo Tavares – "O som da guitarra é a alma de um povo" (José Cid)
7. JP Simões – "Alvoroço" (JP Simões)
8. Catarina Miranda – "Para sorrir não preciso de nada" (Júlio Resende)
9. Joana Espadinha – "Zero a zero" (Benjamim)
10. Beatriz Pessoa – "Eu te amo" (Mallu Magalhães)
11. Bruno Vasconcelos – "Austrália" (Nuno Rafael)
12. Maria Amaral – "A mesma canção" (Paulo Praça)
13. Rita Dias – "Com gosto amigo" (Rita Dias)

Semi-final 2

25 February 2018
Hosts: Sónia Araújo, Tânia Ribas de Oliveira and Inês Lopes Gonçalves

1. Susana Travassos – "A mensageira" (Aline Frazão)
2. Lili – "O vôo das cegonhas" (Armando Teixeira)
3. Sequin – "All Over Again" (Bruno Cardoso)
4. Tamin – "Sobre nós" (Capicua)
5. Diogo Piçarra – "Canção do fim" (Diogo Piçarra)
6. David Pessoa – "Amor veloz" (Francisco Rebelo)
7. Cláudia Pascoal – "O jardim" (Isaura)
8. Rita Marques – "Anda daí" (João Afonso)
9. Dora Fidalgo – "Arco-íris" (Miguel Ângelo)
10. Minnie & Rhayra – "Patati patata" (Paulo Flores)
11. Tito Paris – "Bandeira azul" (Tito Paris)
12. Daniela Onís – "Para lá do rio" (Daniela Onís)
13. Peter Serrado – "Sunset" (Peter Serrado)

Final

4 March 2018
Hosts: Filomena Cautela and Pedro Fernandes

• Top-7 from semi-final 1
• Top-7 from semi-final 2

Festival da Canção 2018

There will be 26 songs in Festival da Canção 2018, competing for the honor of representing Portugal at Eurovision Song Contest 2018 on home soil. 

The songs have be divided into two semi-finals with 13 songs each.

• Semi-final 1: 18 February 2018
• Semi-final 2: 25 February 2018
• Final: 4 March 2018

The semi-finals will take place at RTP's studios in Lisbon, while the final will be held at Pavilhão Multiusos in Guimarães.

There will be 14 songs in the final – seven songs from each of the two semi-finals. 

In the semi-finals the results will be decided by a jury panel appointed by RTP combined with public televoting:

Jury for the semi-finals:

• Júlio Isidro
• Tozé Brito
• Carlão
• Sara Tavares
• Luísa Sobral
• Ana Bacalhau
• António Avelar Pinho
• Mário Lopes

In the final the winner will be decided by regional juries combined with public televoting.

The winner of Festival da Canção 2018 will be the 50th artist to represent Portugal in Eurovision Song Contest. This time on home soil in Lisbon on 12 May

Portugal in Eurovision Song Contest

Portugal has participated 49 times since 1964. It was a very bad start, as they managed to get Zero Points in the debuting year. Before Eurovision 2017 they have never won the contest, and never made the top-5. In fact Portugal held the record for most appearances in the contest without a win! But that changed in 2017, where Salvador Sobral won with "Amar Pelos Dois".

Since the introduction of Semi-finals in 2004 Portugal only qualified for the Grand Final 4 out of 12 times.