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Portugal: Festival da Canção 2023
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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:

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

Esse Povo qualified from the first round of voting round due to a technical issue related to the televoting
Voting50% jury
50% televoting

Second round of voting

Voting100% 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.

Portugal 2014: Suzy - "Quero Ser Tua"

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."

Portugal 2014: Suzy - "Quero Ser Tua"

Since the introduction of the Semi-finals in 2004, Portugal has only qualified for the Grand Final 7 out of 16 times.

About the author: Pedro Santos (Portugal)

authorPedro comes from Lisbon, Portugal. He's 31 years old and graduated in journalism. He has attended Eurovision Song Contest three times live - 2018, 2019 and 2022 - and covered the show three times more (2021, 2023, 2024) but his first Eurovision memory takes him back to 2007 when Sarbel delivered his catchy "Yassou Maria" performance. Pedro's favorite Eurovision song is Albania's 2015 "I'm Alive" by Elhaida Dani which is also his favorite Eurovision edition.

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