Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest

Portugal has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 51 times since its debut at the 1964 contest. Since then it has missed five contests (1970, 2000, 2002, 2013 and 2016). The contest is broadcast in Portugal by Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP). Portugal won the contest for the first time in 2017 and hosted the 2018 contest in Lisbon.

Portugal
Member station	RTP
National selection events	National final Festival da Canção 1964–1969 1971–1999 2001 2003–2004 2006–2012 2014–2015 2017–2020 Internal selection 2005
Participation summary
Appearances	51 (42 finals)
First appearance	1964
Best result	1st: 2017
Nul points	1964, 1997
External links
RTP page
Portugal's page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020

Portugal finished last on its debut in 1964 and again in 1974, before achieving its best result of the 20th century in 1996, with Lúcia Moniz finishing sixth. The country then finished last for the third time in 1997. Having not appeared in the final since 2010 and as holders of the record for most appearances in the contest without a win, Portugal won at the 49th attempt, when Salvador Sobral won the 2017 contest with the song "Amar Pelos Dois", Portugal's first top five result in the contest. As hosts in 2018, the country finished last in the contest for the fourth time. In 2019, the country failed to qualify.

History

Luísa and Salvador Sobral, ESC 2017 Winner's press conference

Portugal's debut entry was António Calvário with "Oração". It was not a successful debut for the country, with Calvário coming last in the contest. Since then, Portugal has come last on three further occasions, in 1974, when Paulo de Carvalho sang "E depois do adeus", in 1997, when Célia Lawson performed "Antes do adeus" and in 2018 as a host country. Despite its last-place finish in the contest, "E depois do adeus" gained notability for being used as the radio musical signal to begin the Carnation Revolution against the Estado Novo regime, being played at 22:55 on the 24th of April, 1974.[1] Prior to their sixth-place finish for Lúcia Moniz, with the song "O meu coração não tem cor" in 1996, Portugal's best result in the contest was two seventh-place finishes, for Carlos Mendes in 1972 and José Cid in 1980. Despite having some really weak results, the 90s were the most successful decade for the country, reaching the top 10 four times. Portugal had admission to take part in the 2000 and 2002 contest but refused. Its place was taken by Latvia both times, which ended up winning the contest in the latter year.

Since semi-finals were introduced in 2004, Portugal has failed to reach the final eight times, including from 2004 to 2007. In 2008, Vânia Fernandes finished 13th with the song "Senhora do Mar," Portugal's best outcome since 1996. The country continued to be present in the final until 2010. In 2017, Portugal reached the finals with Salvador Sobral's entry, "Amar pelos dois", ending a 6-year non-appearance in the finals, as it did not participate in the contest in 2013 and 2016 and did not qualify for the finals in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015, finally winning the contest for the first time ever, earning 758 points, setting the record for the highest number of points in the history of the competition, topping both the televoting and jury voting for the first time since Austria's "Rise Like a Phoenix" in 2014. It was the first winning song entirely performed in a country's native language since Serbia's "Molitva" in 2007. In 2018, as a host country, Portugal came last for the fourth time in the contest, and for the first time in a non-joint last position. This was the third instance of a host country placing in the bottom 5 since 2015.

Absences

Portugal has been absent from five contests since their first participation. The country's first absence was in 1970, where Portugal, along with four other countries, boycotted the contest due to the result of the previous year, when four countries were announced the winner.[2]

Portugal missed the 2000 contest due to their poor average results over the past five years. Despite being eligible to enter the 2002 contest, RTP declined to enter, and was replaced by eventual winner Latvia.[3]

The fourth absence was in 2013, when Portugal didn't participate for financial reasons.[4]

The fifth absence was in 2016.[5] RTP mentioned that this break was needed, so that the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest had its contents renewed.[6]

Festival da Canção

Main article: Festival da Canção

Festival da Canção (sometimes referred to as "Festival RTP da Canção") is the Portuguese national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, organized by RTP, and is normally held in February/March of the year of the contest. It is one of the longest-running Eurovision selection methods. Previously a number of regional juries selected the winner, however recently the winner has been selected through televoting. In 2009, 2010, 2017, 2018 and 2019 a 50-50 system between district juries and televote (like in the ESC) has been used.

In the years when Portugal does not participate in the contest, the Festival da Canção was not held, except in two occasions: in 1970, when Portugal boycotted the contest, and in 2000.

Contestants

Table key

1	Winner
2	Second place
◁	Last place
X	Entry selected but did not compete

Year	Artist	Language	Title	Final	Points	Semi	Points
1964	António Calvário	Portuguese	"Oração"	13 ◁	0	No semi-finals
1965	Simone de Oliveira	Portuguese	"Sol de inverno"	13	1
1966	Madalena Iglésias	Portuguese	"Ele e ela"	13	6
1967	Eduardo Nascimento	Portuguese	"O vento mudou"	12	3
1968	Carlos Mendes	Portuguese	"Verão"	11	5
1969	Simone de Oliveira	Portuguese	"Desfolhada portuguesa"	15	4
1971	Tonicha	Portuguese	"Menina do alto da serra"	9	83
1972	Carlos Mendes	Portuguese	"A festa da vida"	7	90
1973	Fernando Tordo	Portuguese	"Tourada"	10	80
1974	Paulo de Carvalho	Portuguese	"E depois do adeus"	14 ◁	3
1975	Duarte Mendes	Portuguese	"Madrugada"	16	16
1976	Carlos do Carmo	Portuguese	"Uma flor de verde pinho"	12	24
1977	Os Amigos	Portuguese	"Portugal no coração"	14	18[lower-alpha 1]
1978	Gemini	Portuguese	"Dai li dou"	17	5
1979	Manuela Bravo	Portuguese	"Sobe, sobe, balão sobe"	9	64[lower-alpha 2]
1980	José Cid	Portuguese	"Um grande, grande amor"	7	71
1981	Carlos Paião	Portuguese	"Playback"	18	9
1982	Doce	Portuguese	"Bem bom"	13	32
1983	Armando Gama	Portuguese	"Esta balada que te dou"	13	33
1984	Maria Guinot	Portuguese	"Silêncio e tanta gente"	11	38
1985	Adelaide Ferreira	Portuguese	"Penso em ti, eu sei"	18	9
1986	Dora	Portuguese	"Não sejas mau para mim"	14	28
1987	Nevada	Portuguese	"Neste barco à vela"	18	15
1988	Dora	Portuguese	"Voltarei"	18	5
1989	Da Vinci	Portuguese	"Conquistador"	16	39
1990	Nucha	Portuguese	"Há sempre alguém"	20	9
1991	Dulce Pontes	Portuguese	"Lusitana paixão"	8	62
1992	Dina	Portuguese	"Amor d'água fresca"	17	26
1993	Anabela	Portuguese	"A cidade (até ser dia)"	10	60	Kvalifikacija za Millstreet
1994	Sara Tavares	Portuguese	"Chamar a música"	8	73	No semi-finals
1995	Tó Cruz	Portuguese	"Baunilha e chocolate"	21	5
1996	Lúcia Moniz	Portuguese	"O meu coração não tem cor"	6	92	18	32
1997	Célia Lawson	Portuguese	"Antes do adeus"	24 ◁	0	No semi-finals
1998	Alma Lusa	Portuguese	"Se eu te pudesse abraçar"	12	36
1999	Rui Bandeira	Portuguese	"Como tudo começou"	21	12
2001	MTM	Portuguese	"Só sei ser feliz assim"	17	18
2003	Rita Guerra	Portuguese, English	"Deixa-me sonhar (só mais uma vez)"	22	13
2004	Sofia Vitória	Portuguese	"Foi magia"	Failed to qualify		15	38
2005	2B	Portuguese, English	"Amar"			17	51
2006	Nonstop	Portuguese, English	"Coisas de nada (Gonna Make You Dance)"			19	26
2007	Sabrina	Portuguese[lower-alpha 3]	"Dança comigo"			11	88
2008	Vânia Fernandes	Portuguese	"Senhora do mar (Negras águas)"	13	69	2	120
2009	Flor-de-Lis	Portuguese	"Todas as ruas do amor"	15	57	8	70
2010	Filipa Azevedo	Portuguese	"Há dias assim"	18	43	4	89
2011	Homens da Luta	Portuguese	"A luta é alegria"	Failed to qualify		18	22
2012	Filipa Sousa	Portuguese	"Vida minha"			13	39
2014	Suzy	Portuguese	"Quero ser tua"			11	39
2015	Leonor Andrade	Portuguese	"Há um mar que nos separa"			14	19
2017	Salvador Sobral	Portuguese	"Amar pelos dois"	1	758	1	370
2018	Cláudia Pascoal	Portuguese	"O jardim"	26 ◁	39	Host country[lower-alpha 4]
2019	Conan Osíris	Portuguese	"Telemóveis"	Failed to qualify		15	51
2020	Elisa	Portuguese	"Medo de sentir"	Contest cancelled[lower-alpha 5] X

Hostings

Year	Location	Venue	Presenters	Image
2018	Lisbon	Altice Arena	Catarina Furtado, Daniela Ruah, Filomena Cautela and Sílvia Alberto

Awards

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Further information: Marcel Bezençon Awards

Year	Category	Song	Composer	Performer	Final	Points	Host city	Ref.
2008	Press Award	"Senhora do mar (Negras águas)"	Andrej Babić, Carlos Coelho	Vânia Fernandes	13	69	Belgrade	[7]
2017	Artistic Award[lower-alpha 6]	"Amar pelos dois"	Luísa Sobral	Salvador Sobral	1	758	Kiev	[8]
	Composer Award							[8]

Barbara Dex Award

Further information: Barbara Dex Award

Year	Performer	Host city	Ref.
2006	Nonstop	Athens	[9]
2019	Conan Osiris	Tel Aviv	[10]

Related involvement

Commentators and spokespersons

Year	Television commentator	Radio commentator	Spokesperson	Ref.
1963	Unknown	Unknown	Did not participate
1964	Gomes Ferreira		Maria Manuela Furtado
1965
1966	Henrique Mendes
1967
1968	Fialho Gouveia
1969	Henrique Mendes
1970			Did not participate
1971			No spokesperson
1972		Amadeu Meireles
1973	Artur Agostinho
1974		Unknown	Henrique Mendes
1975	Júlio Isidro	Amadeu Meireles	Ana Zanatti
1976	Eládio Clímaco
1977	José Côrte-Real
1978	Eládio Clímaco		Isabel Wolmar
1979	Fialho Gouveia	Unknown	João Abel da Fonseca
1980	Isabel Wolmar		Teresa Cruz
1981	Eládio Clímaco		Margarida Andrade
1982	Fialho Gouveia
1983	Eládio Clímaco		João Abel Fonseca
1984	Fialho Gouveia		Eládio Clímaco
1985	Eládio Clímaco		Maria Margarida Gaspar
1986	Fialho Gouveia	Fialho Gouveia	Margarida Andrade
1987	Maria Margarida Gaspar	Unknown	Ana Zanatti
1988	Margarida Andrade		Maria Margarida Gaspar
1989	Ana Zanatti		Margarida Andrade
1990	Ana do Carmo		João Abel Fonseca
1991			Maria Margarida Gaspar
1992	Eládio Clímaco		Ana Zanatti
1993	Isabel Bahia		Margarida Mercês de Mello
1994	Eládio Clímaco		Isabel Bahia
1995	Ana do Carmo		Serenella Andrade
1996	Maria Margarida Gaspar		Cristina Rocha
1997	Carlos Ribeiro
1998	Rui Unas		Lúcia Moniz
1999		João David Nunes	Manuel Luís Goucha
2000	Eládio Clímaco	Unknown	Did not participate
2001			Margarida Mercês de Mello
2002			Did not participate
2003	Margarida Mercês de Mello		Helena Ramos
2004	Eládio Clímaco		Isabel Angelino
2005
2006			Cristina Alves
2007	Isabel Angelino, Jorge Gabriel		Francisco Mendes
2008			Teresa Villa-Lobos
2009	Hélder Reis	No radio broadcast	Helena Coelho
2010	Sérgio Mateus		Ana Galvão
2011	Sílvia Alberto		Joana Teles
2012	Pedro Granger
2013	Sílvia Alberto		Did not participate
2014			Joana Teles
2015	Hélder Reis, Ramon Galarza		Suzy
2016	Hélder Reis, Nuno Galopim (final)		Did not participate
2017	José Carlos Malato, Nuno Galopim		Filomena Cautela	[11][12]
2018	Hélder Reis, Nuno Galopim	Noémia Gonçalves, António Macedo, Tozé Brito	Pedro Fernandes
2019	José Carlos Malato, Nuno Galopim	Unknown	Inês Lopes Gonçalves	[13]

Comedy

In the late 1990s the English actor and comedian Steve Coogan created the character "Tony Ferrino" for his television comedy series. "Tony Ferrino" is supposedly a Portuguese singer and winner of the Eurovision Song Contest; he is a stereotype based on singers and entertainers often seen on European television programmes in the 1970s and 1980s. The BBC produced a one-off programme The Tony Ferrino Phenomenon in 1997.

Gallery

• 
  Simone de Oliveira in Naples (1965)
• 
  José Cid in The Hague (1980)
• 
  Sofia Vitória in Istanbul (2004)
• 
  Sabrina in Helsinki (2007)
• 
  Vânia Fernandes in Belgrade (2008)
• 
  Flor-de-Lis in Moscow (2009)
• 
  Filipa Azevedo in Oslo (2010)
• 
  Suzy in Copenhagen (2014)
• 
  Leonor Andrade in Vienna (2015)
• 
  Salvador Sobral in Kyiv (2017)
• 
  Cláudia Pascoal in Lisbon (2018)
• 
  Conan Osíris in Tel Aviv (2019)

See also

• Portugal in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest – Junior version of the Eurovision Song Contest.
• Portugal in the Eurovision Dance Contest – Dance version of the Eurovision Song Contest.
• Portugal in the Eurovision Young Dancers – A competition organised by the EBU for younger dancers aged between 16 and 21.
• Portugal in the Eurovision Young Musicians – A competition organised by the EBU for musicians aged 18 years and younger.

Notes

1. During the voting sequence of the live show, several errors were made in the announcement of the scores, which were then adjusted after the broadcast. Both Greece and France duplicated scores, awarding the same points to multiple countries. From the Greek scores, The UK, Netherlands, Austria & Finland all had 1 point deducted after the contest and from the French scores, Austria, Germany, Israel, Italy & Portugal all had 1 point deducted. None of the adjustments affected the placing of any of the songs. The Portuguese score was thus reduced from 20 during the broadcast to 18 after the show.
2. During the voting announcement, due to a misunderstanding by the presenter Yardena Arazi, Spain appeared to award 10 points to both Portugal and Israel and these scores were added to the scoreboard. After the programme, verification confirmed that Portugal should only have received six points, leaving the total Portuguese score reduced by four points to 64.
3. Also contains phrases in English, French and Spanish.
4. If a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year.
5. The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
6. Voted by commentators.

References

1. The Eurovision song that made Portuguese history - second Semi-Final - Eurovision 2018, Official Youtube Eurovision Channel, 10.05.2018
2. O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007 ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3
3. Bakker, Sietse (29 November 2002). "EBU confirmed: Portugal resigns, Latvia is in". esctoday.com. ESCToday. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 29 November 2002.
4. Jiandani, Sanjay (22 November 2012). "Portugal will not participate in Eurovision 2013". esctoday.com. ESCToday. Archived from the original on 8 June 2013. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
5. Jiandani, Sanjay (7 October 2015). "Portugal: RTP will not participate in Eurovision 2016". esctoday.com. ESCToday. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
6. Antunes, Rui Pedro (15 May 2017). "Portugal: Preparem o MEO Arena. E 30 milhões. Vem aí a Eurovisão". Observador. Observador. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
7. Floras, Stella (27 May 2008). "The 2008 Bezençon Awards winners". esctoday.com. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
8. "Winners of the Marcel Bezençon Awards 2017". eurovision.tv. 14 May 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
9. Adams, William Lee (9 July 2015). "Poll: Who was the worst dressed Barbara Dex Award winner?". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
10. van Lith, Nick (26 May 2019). "Conan Osiris wins the Barbara Dex Award 2019". escxtra.com. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
11. "Nuno Galopim também será comentador da Eurovisão". Portal dos Programas. 2017-04-14. Archived from the original on 2017-04-21. Retrieved 2017-05-01.
12. "Filomena Cautela é a porta-voz de Portugal na Grande Final do Festival Eurovisão 2017". www.escportugal.pt. Archived from the original on 2017-05-04.
13. "ESC2019: José Carlos Malato e Nuno Galopim são os comentadores da transmissão da RTP". ESCPortugal (in Portuguese). 4 May 2019. Archived from the original on 4 May 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2019.