Portugal: The first seven qualifiers of Festival da Canção 2023
Seven out of 10 songs qualified for Portugal's Festival da Canção first semi-final. Next week, six more will be selected and the lineup for the final will then be complete
The first out of three nights of Portugal's Festival da Canção, their national selection for Eurovision, is a wrap with the selection of the first seven qualifiers.
10 songs were performed, and six made it through to the finals in a joint decision between the public at home, the televote, and the professional jury:
- Alex D'Alva (singer)
- Carlos Mendes (Portugal 1968 and 1972)
- Márcia (Festival da Canção 2017)
- Maro (Portugal 2022)
- Neev (Festival da Canção 2021)
- Pedro Ribeiro (radio host)
- Sara Correia (singer)
Initially there would only be six qualifiers. Five would've qualified from the joint decision, whereas the public would then vote on one extra qualifier alone.
Nonetheless, given a technical issue with one of the contestant's voting line (undisclosed), RTP opened a new slot for a finalist: six qualified from the joint decision and the voting lines opened for one more qualifier.
Tonight's show was hosted by José Carlos Malato and Tânia Ribas de Oliveira, and broadcast live from RTP's studios in Lisbon. Blanca Paloma (Spain 2023) was an invited guest.
Festival da Canção 2023 – Semi-final 1
First round of voting
| Voting | 50% jury 50% televoting |
Second round of voting
| Voting | 100% televoting |
Festival da Canção 2023
Portugal will select its Eurovision 2023 representative through its iconic national selection, Festival da Canção. The first two shows will serve as the semi-finals where six songs from each will qualify for the final, where a winner will be determined by a joint decision between the public at home and a professional jury.
- Semi-final 1: 25 February 2023 (hosted by Tânia Ribas de Oliveira and José Carlos Malato)
- Semi-final 2: 4 March 2033 (hosted by Sónia Araújo and Jorge Gabriel)
- Final: 11 March 2023 (hosted by Filomena Cautela and Vasco Palmeirim)
Every show will be broadcast live from RTP's studios in Lisbon.
Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest
Portugal has participated in the contest 53 times since 1964. It was a very bad start, as they managed to get zero points in their debut year.
Before Eurovision 2017, they had never won the contest, and had 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, when Salvador Sobral won with "Amar Pelos Dois."
Since the introduction of the Semi-finals in 2004, Portugal has only qualified for the Grand Final 7 out of 16 times.
