The last “big week” in the 2008 national final season has already started today. A bit sad as an era is about to come to an end but we're even more excited because the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest is coming closer every day, let's take a look on what will happen this week. Overall, eight live shows with voting will take place.

Germany

The German national final will be held on Thursday with five acts competing. Like every year, the winner will be chosen by televoting, but this time in two rounds with the first round selecting the top two. Furthermore, various former Eurovision Song Contest participants will appear in the show: Katja Ebstein (Germany 1970, 1971 and 1980), Ruslana (Ukraine 2004) and Verka Serduchka (Ukraine 2007).

Sweden

The second chance round of Melodifestivalen will be held on Saturday. The third and fourth places acts of the four heats will compete against each other in different stages. The two winners will complete the line-up of the national final, which will be held on 15th March presumably making Sweden the final country to choose its representative.

Spain

After various withdrawals and disqualifications, the Spanish national final will be held on Saturday, this year in a more classic way again: 10 songs will be presented and the winner will be chosen by televoting. Spain has finished in the bottom five the last three years and hopes to do much better this year.

Armenia

Sirusho will perform all four or fivesongs in the Armenian national final on Saturday. Armenia has taken part in the Eurovision Song Contest twice so far finishing 8th in the final bothin 2006 and 2007.André and Hayko, the respective performers, will both appear in the national final.

Belgium

After four quarter finals and two semi finals, the Belgian national final will be held with the five remaining acts competing. The eventual winner will be chosen by televoting, the jury will only give advice again. The Flemish broadcaster, which is responsible for the Belgian entry every second year,has been waiting for a top ten finish since 1977and if it is gonna happen this year, itwill be decided on Sunday.

Serbia

The Serbian selection, which has been postponed, will kick off on Sunday with the semi final being held. 20 songs will be presented and the top ten will be chosen by a jury and televoting to move forward to the national final on Monday.

Russia

Russia will choose its representative during a national final on Saturday. With 25 songs presented in one show, it will be the biggest national final show this year. The last time the Russian representative was chosen in a televised final was in 2005which resulted in Russia's worst result in this decade and second worst result overall.

Portugal

Another national final will be held on Sunday: the Portuguese one. Again, ten songs will be presented. Portugal is one of only three countries that has not qualified in every semi final broadcast so far. In 2007, the country was closer than ever, finishing 11th – maybe this year they will take the final step?

Other events

Various other entries are supposed to be revealed this week: the Bosnia & Herzegoninianentry today, the Dutchentry on Friday and the Monetenigrinentry on Saturday. However, various song presentations have already been re-scheduled this year so this informationmay not be 100%right now.