The deadline for countries to submit their respective applications to the EBU in order to participate at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest concluded on 15 September. Hereafter, broadcasters had a grace period until 10 October to either confirm or withdraw their respective applications without suffering a penalty. What about San Marino? Is the country coming to Lisbon next year?

San Marino has been very silent regarding its plans for Eurovision 2018. SMRTV, the country’s national broadcaster, has remained tight lipped, thus giving ground to much speculation.

Will we see San Marino in Eurovision 2018?

The Sammarinese national broadcaster has announced today that it will be revealing its plans for Eurovision 2018 during a press conference, where it will update us on whether the landlocked country will compete or not in Lisbon. We have no reason to believe that we will not see the micro-state in the competition next year!

SMRTV will be holding a special conference on Tuesday 17 October at 16:00 CET in order to shed more light on the great mystery surrounding its upcoming Eurovision participation. Mr. Davide Gasperoni (President of SMRTV), Mr Carlo Romeo (General Director of SMRTV) and Mr. Alessandro Capicchioni (Head of Delegation for San Marino at Eurovision) will be attending the press conference, which will be held at the Sala Della Stampa Stera in Rome.

San Marino in Eurovision

San Marino debuted in Eurovision in 2008 and is yet to win the event. The country has only qualified once to the Grand Final, namely in 2014 with Valentina Monetta’s Maybe. Valentina Monetta represented the country 3 years in a row (2012, 2013 and 2014).

In 2017, Valentina Monetta returned to the contest for the 4th time and flew the Sammarinese flag in Kyiv with Jimmie Wilson. Despite a fabulous performance the duo failed to qualify to the Grand Final with their disco beat Spirit of the night.

The story so far

So far a total of 38 countries have confirmed their participation at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon. We are yet awaiting a confirmation from Russia, Moldova, Armenia, San Marino and FYR Macedonia. We have no reason to believe that any of these remaining countries will not be present in Lisbon. 40 plus countries are expected to compete in Europe’s favorite television show next year in Portugal

The EBU is expected to release the final list of participating countries at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in due course.

The 2018 Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to be held on 8, 10 and 12 May in Lisbon, Portugal.