Boa tarde Europe, this is Lisbon calling! We are travelling to the sunny shores of Portugal tonight for the First Semifinal of Festival da Cançao 2026.
Portugal will be kicking off its traditional national selection Festival da Cançao this evening.
How to watch?
You can watch Festival da Canção 2026 Semi-final #1 at 22:00 CET (21:00 local time) via the following channels:
- RTP 1
- RTP 1 webstream
- RTP International
- RTP Asia
- RTP America
The Participants
- AGRIDOCE – «Onde Quero Estar«
- EVAYA – «Sprint«
- Marquise – «Chuva«
- Mário Marta – «Pertencer«
- Dinis Mota – «Jurei«
- Bateu Matou – «Nos Teus Olhos«
- André Amaro – «Dá-me a Tua Mão»
- Nunca Mates o Mandarim – «Fumo«
About the show
A total of 8 acts will be battling tonight for a ticket to the Grand Final of Festival da Canção 2026, only five of them will proceed to the next stage of the 2026 Portuguese national selection. Tonight’s show will be hosted by Vasco Palmerim, Catarina Maia and Alexandre Guimaraes .The show will be held at Valentim de Carvalho Studios at Paço de Arcos.
FdC 2026
The 2026 Fdc will consist of three shows ( two semi-finals and a grand final) scheduled to be broadcast live on 21,27 February and 07 March.
All three shows will be held at the Valentim de Carvalho Studios at Paço de Arcos. The FdC 2026 hosts will be:
- Vasco Palmeirim (1st semi-final and the Final)
- Filomena Cautela (2nd semi-final and the Final)
- Catarina Maia ( all three shows)
- Alexandre Guimarães (all three shows)
A total of 16 acts will compete in the semi-finals, the top 5 acts from each semi-final will proceed to the Grand Final. A total of 10 acts will battle for the Grand Prix at the Grand Final of FdC 2026.
RTP has used three mechanisms to determine the 16 competing acts:
- 8 acts via an invitation to composers
- 6 acts via a public open song submission window
- 1 act via an invitation extended by NAPA
- 1 act via an Entrance Exam selection
The winner of the competition will be determined via a combined public voting/ 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 56 times in the Eurovision Song Contest.
