RTP, the Portuguese national broadcaster, has kicked off preparations for the 2020 Portuguese national selection aka Festival da Canção and published the rules and regulations of the competition.

The Portuguese broadcaster has confirmed its participation at the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest in The Netherlands and has revealed more details and information  regarding its 2020 national selection.

Festival da Canção 2020

The 2020 FdC will consist of three shows ( two semi-finals and a grand final) scheduled to be broadcast live in February and March (dates yet to be determined).

A total of 16 acts will battle for the golden ticket to The Netherlands, 8 acts will compete in each semi-final, the top 4 entries from each semi-final will proceed to the Grand Final of FdC.  Hence 8 acts will fight for the right to represent Portugal at the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest in the Portuguese national final.

RTP has extended an invite to 14 composers to submit their songs for the competition, the composers will be free to chose the artist/s for their respective songs.

Whilst the remaining 2 entries will be selected via an open public selection via two different mechanisms:

• Master Class competition via Antena 1 Radio open to composers with no published material (31 October 2019 deadline for submission).
• Open submission for everyone. Composers interested to enter the competition can send their songs to to RTP via [email protected] until 15 October 2019. Portuguese citizens/ residents in Portugal are eligible to apply.

Portugal in Eurovision

Portugal debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1964 and has won the competition once, namely in 2017 with Salvador Sobral‘s  Amor pelo dois. The country successfully hosted the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon.

Portugal has competed 51 times in the Eurovision Song Contest.

In 2019 Conan Osiris was crowned the winner of the Portuguese national final Festival da Cançao with his entry Telemoveis.  Conan flew the Portuguese flag at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, despite an energetic performance Portugal failed to qualify to the Grand Final.