Nothe first semifinal of the contest, in addition to Portugal, whose theme will be presented in 5th place, will be in competition, in order of presentation: Norway, Malta, Serbia, Latvia, Ireland, Croatia, Switzerland, Israel, Moldova, Sweden, Azerbaijan , Czech Republic, Netherlands and Finland.
This year, 37 countries participate in the Eurovision Song Contest, but in the final only 26 will compete: ten are chosen today, during the first semifinal, and another ten are selected on Thursday, in the second semifinal.
In addition, there are six countries, the so-called ‘Big Five’ (France, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom and Italy) and the host country (which this year should be Ukraine, having won last year) that have direct entry into the Final.
Although they are not in competition, in today’s semifinal the themes of France, Germany and Italy will be presented. Representatives of Spain, Ukraine and the United Kingdom will play in the second semi-final.
Today’s semifinal is shown live on RTP1 from 20:00 in Lisbon.
According to the average of several bookmakers, calculated by the ‘site’ eurovisionworld.com, specialized in the contest, Portugal has probabilities of going through to the final.
This year, Portugal is far from being considered a potential winner, appearing between the 25th and 26th place in the bookmakers since Mimicat won the final of the Festival da Canção, in March.
Portugal participated in the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in 1964, having, however, missed five editions (in 1970, 2000, 2002, 2013 and 2016). Between 2004 and 2007, inclusive, and in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2019, Portugal failed to reach the final.
Portugal won for the first and only time the Eurovision Song Contest in 2017, with the theme “Amar pelo dois”, performed by Salvador Sobral and composed by Luísa Sobral. Following the victory, Lisbon hosted the competition the following year.
In 2022, Portugal was in the Eurovision Song Contest with “Saudade, saudade”, by Maro, which reached 9th place in the contest. Ukraine won with “Stefania” by the Kalush Orchestra.
Ukraine’s victory was essentially due to the popular vote. The country, which had been invaded by Russia months earlier, won a total of 631 votes, 439 of them by public vote.
Also Read: Ukrainian duo at Eurovision about United Kingdom: “We are family”
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