Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

originally planned to participate in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2020 The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was planned to be the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It would have taken place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's victory at the with the song "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The con ...

with the song "" written by Marta Carvalho. The song was performed by

Elisa The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (, ) is a commonly used analytical biochemistry assay, first described by Eva Engvall and Peter Perlmann in 1971. The assay uses a solid-phase type of enzyme immunoassay (EIA) to detect the presence ...

. The Portuguese broadcaster (RTP) organised the national final in order to select the Portuguese entry for the 2020 contest in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, Netherlands. After two semi-finals and a final which took place in February and March 2020, "" performed by Elisa emerged as the winner after achieving the highest score following the combination of votes from seven regional juries and a public televote. Portugal was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 14 May 2020. However, the contest was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Background

Prior to the 2020 contest, Portugal had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-one times since its first entry in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

. Portugal had won the contest on one occasion: in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

with the song "" performed by

Salvador Sobral Salvador Thiam Vilar Braamcamp Sobral (; born 28 December 1989) is a Portuguese singer, who won the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 for with the song "Amar pelos dois," written and composed by his sister, Luísa Sobral. In doing so, he gave its ...

. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, Portugal had featured in only five finals. Portugal's least successful result has been last place, which they have achieved on four occasions, most recently in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

with the song "" performed by

Cláudia Pascoal Cláudia Rafaela Teixeira Pascoal (; born 12 October 1994) is a Portuguese singer who represented her country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 on home soil in Lisbon. Career 2010–2015: ''Ídolos'' and ''Factor X'' In 2010, Pascoal part ...

. Portugal has also received on two occasions; in 1964 and 1997. The nation failed to qualify to the final in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

with the song "" performed by Conan Osíris. The Portuguese national broadcaster, (RTP), broadcasts the event within Portugal and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. RTP confirmed Portugal's participation in the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest on 19 August 2019. The broadcaster has traditionally selected the Portuguese entry for the Eurovision Song Contest via the music competition , with exceptions in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

and

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

when the Portuguese entries were internally selected. Along with their participation confirmation, the broadcaster revealed details regarding their selection procedure and announced the organization of in order to select the 2020 Portuguese entry.

Before Eurovision

''Festival da Canção 2020''

was the 54th edition of that selected Portugal's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. Sixteen entries competed in the competition that consisted of two semi-finals held on 22 and 29 February 2020 leading to an eight-song final on 7 March 2020. All three shows of the competition were broadcast on

RTP1 RTP1 (''RTP um'') is a Portuguese free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP). It is the company's flagship television channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstr ...

, and as well as online via RTP Play. The shows were also broadcast on RTP Acessibilidades with presentation in

Portuguese Sign Language Portuguese Sign language () is a sign language used mainly by deaf people in Portugal. It is recognized in the present Constitution of Portugal. It was significantly influenced by Swedish Sign Language, through a school for the Deaf that was esta ...

Format

The format of the competition consisted of three shows: two semi-finals on 22 and 29 February 2020 and the final on 7 March 2020. Each semi-final featured eight competing entries from which four advanced from each show to complete the eight song lineup in the final. Results during the semi-finals were determined by the 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel appointed by RTP and public televoting, while results during the final were determined by the 50/50 combination of votes from seven regional juries and public televoting, which was opened following the second semi-final and closed during the final show. Both the public televote and the juries assigned points from 3-8, 10 and 12 based on the ranking developed by both streams of voting.

Format

Sixteen composers were selected by RTP through three methods: fourteen invited by RTP for the competition, one selected from 320 submissions received through an open call for songs and one selected from the radio show ''MasterClass'' featuring composers without any published work. The composers, which both created the songs and selected its performers, were required to submit the demo and final versions of their entries by 31 October and 31 November 2019, respectively. Songs could be submitted in any language other than

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

. The selected composers were revealed on 7 November 2019, while the competing artists were revealed on 15 January 2020.

Shows

Semi-finals

The two semi-finals took place at RTP's Studio 1 in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

on 22 and 29 February 2020. The first semi-final was hosted by

Jorge Gabriel Jorge Gabriel Mendes Fialho, simply referred to as Jorge Gabriel, (born 29 May 1968 in Lisbon) is a Portuguese television presenter. The TV shows presented by him included ''Quem Quer Ser Milionário?'' (the Portuguese version of ''Who Wants ...

and Tânia Ribas de Oliveira while the second semi-final was hosted by

José Carlos Malato José Carlos Malato (born 7 March 1964, in Monforte) is a Portuguese TV presenter, radio broadcaster, copywriter and college teacher. In 2018, he publicly declared himself as gay. In 2022, he declared himself as non-binary. Television programs ...

and

Sónia Araújo Sónia Araújo (born 24 November 1970) is a Portuguese TV hostess, known for her work in the Portuguese talk show '' Praça da Alegria''. She participated in the 2007 edition of the Eurovision Dance Contest, in which she won the fifth place. ...

. In each semi-final eight entries competed and four advanced to the final based on the 50/50 combination of votes of a jury panel consisting of Anabela, Capicua, Conan Osíris, Héber Marques, Isilda Sanches, Miguel Ângelo and Rui Miguel Abreu, and a public televote.

Final

The final took place at the Coliseu Comendador Rondão Almeida in

Elvas Elvas () is a Portuguese municipality, former episcopal city and frontier fortress of easternmost central Portugal, located in the district of Portalegre in Alentejo. It is situated about east of Lisbon, and about west of the Spanish fortress ...

on 7 March 2020, hosted by

Filomena Cautela Filomena Cautela (born 16 December 1984) is a Portuguese television presenter and actress. Cautela started her acting career in the theatre in the year 2000. In 2004, she made her debut in cinema, and in 2005, she was cast as a presenter by MTV Po ...

and Vasco Palmeirim. The eight entries that qualified from the two preceding semi-finals competed and the winner, "

Medo de sentir "Medo de sentir" (; English: "Afraid of feeling", literally "Fear of feeling") is a song performed by Portuguese singer Elisa Silva and written by Portuguese singer-songwriter Marta Carvalho. It would have represented Portugal in the Eurovision ...

" performed by

, was selected based on the 50/50 combination of votes of seven regional juries and a public televote. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Portuguese Eurovision 2019 entrant Conan Osíris, Joana Espadinha,

Lena d'Água Lena or LENA may refer to: Places * Léna Department, a department of Houet Province in Burkina Faso * Lena, Manitoba, an unincorporated community located in Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipality in Manitoba, Canada * Lena, Norway, a village in ...

, NBC, Samuel Úria together with Alex D'Alva Teixeira, and Surma performed as the interval acts.

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the " Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...

(EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 28 January 2020, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Portugal was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 14 May 2020, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. However, due to 2019-20 pandemic of Coronavirus, the contest was cancelled. During the Eurovision Song Celebration YouTube broadcast in place of the semi-finals, it was revealed that Portugal was set to perform in position 15, following the entry from

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

and before the entry from

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

References

External links

Official ''Festival da Canção'' site
{{Eurovision Song Contest 2020

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...