RTP, the Portuguese national broadcaster, has kicked off preparations for the 2021 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 2021 national selection.
Festival da Canção 2021
The 2021 FdC will consist of three shows ( two semi-finals and a grand final) scheduled to be broadcast live in February and March (dates , host cities and venues yet to be determined).
A total of 20 acts will battle for the golden ticket to The Netherlands, 10 acts will compete in each semi-final, the top 5 entries from each semi-final will proceed to the Grand Final of FdC. Hence 10 acts will fight for the right to represent Portugal at the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest in the Portuguese national final.
RTP has extended an invite to 18 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 the following mechanism:
- Open submission for everyone. Composers interested to enter the competition can send their songs to to RTP via [email protected] until 25 November 2020. Portuguese citizens/ residents in Portugal and Poruguese citzens residing overseas are eligible to apply
The 2021 Portuguese Eurovision entry will be determined via a 50/50 public televoting- regional jury deliberation.
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.
Elisa was set to represent Portugal at the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam with her entry ‘Medo de sentir’. Unfortunately she was not able to grace the stage due to the untimely cancellation of the event.
