Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest

Portugal
Member station RTP
National selection events Festival da Canção
Appearances
Appearances 45
First appearance 1964
Best result 6th: 1996
Worst result Last: 1964, 1974, 1997
External links
RTP page
Portugal's page at Eurovision.tv

Portugal has entered the Eurovision Song Contest 45 times since its debut in the 1964 contest. Portugal has missed only three contests since the country's debut in 1964.

Portugal's debut entry was António Calvário with "Oração", however it was not a successful debut for the country, with Calvário coming last in the contest. Since then Portugal has come last another two times, in 1974 when Paulo de Carvalho sang "E depois do adeus" and in 1997 when Célia Lawson performed "Antes do adeus". Despite its last-place finish in the contest, "E depois do adeus" has since gained notability for being one of the two signals to begin the Carnation Revolution against the Estado Novo regime in the country.

Portugal has never won the contest, being the longest country in the contest without a win. Their best place was at the 1996 contest, when Lúcia Moniz came sixth for Portugal with the song "O meu coração não tem cor". As such, Portugal has never finished in the top five of any contest.

Since semi-finals were introduced into the contest in 2004 Portugal could not proceed from the semi-final from 2004 to 2007, achieving a best place of 11th place at Helsinki, 3 points away from qualifying. However, in 2008, Vânia Fernandes became the first Portuguese artist to qualify to the final when she came second with "Senhora do mar (Negras águas)". In the final she came 13th with 69 points, Portugal's best place since 1998. Portugal again qualified to the final in 2009, represented by Flor-de-Lis with "Todas as ruas do amor", where Portugal eventually finished 15th with 57 points. And again in 2010 qualified to the final with Filipa Azevedo. In the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 Portugal failed to qualify for the Final for the first time in 3 years when they achieved 18th place with 22 points.

The contest is broadcast in Portugal by Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP).

Contents

Absences

Portugal has been absent from three contests since their first participation. The country's first absence was in 1970 where Portugal, along with four other countries, boycotted the contest due to the result of the previous year, when four countries were announced the winner.[1]

Portugal missed the 2000 contest due to their poor average results over the past five years. Despite being eligible to enter the 2002 contest, RTP declined to enter, and was replaced by eventual winner Latvia.[2]

Festival da Canção

Festival da Canção (sometimes referred to as "Festival RTP da Canção") is the Portuguese national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, organized by RTP, and is normally held in February/March of the year of the contest. It is one of the longest-running Eurovision selection methods. Previously a number of regional juries selected the winner, however recently the winner has been selected through televoting. In 2009 and 2010, a 50-50 system between district juries and televote (like in the ESC) has benn used.

Despite Portugal being absent from the contest on three occasions, the Festival da Canção has mostly gone on regardlessly. In 1970, when Portugal boycotted the contest, Festival da Canção 1970 went on ahead, the same occurring in 2000. The only time that Festival da Canção has not been held was in 2002.

Contestants

Year Artist Title Final Points Semi Points
1964 António Calvário "Oração" 13 0
1965 Simone de Oliveira "Sol de inverno" 13 1
1966 Madalena Iglésias "Ele e ela" 13 6
1967 Eduardo Nascimento "O vento mudou" 12 3
1968 Carlos Mendes "Verão" 11 5
1969 Simone de Oliveira "Desfolhada portuguesa" 15 4
1971 Tonicha "Menina do alto da serra" 9 83
1972 Carlos Mendes "A festa da vida" 7 90
1973 Fernando Tordo "Tourada" 10 80
1974 Paulo de Carvalho "E depois do adeus" 14 3
1975 Duarte Mendes "Madrugada" 16 16
1976 Carlos do Carmo "Uma flor de verde pinho" 12 24
1977 Os Amigos "Portugal no coração" 14 18
1978 Gemini "Dai li dou" 17 5
1979 Manuela Bravo "Sobe, sobe, balão sobe" 9 64
1980 José Cid "Um grande, grande amor" 7 71
1981 Carlos Paião "Playback" 18 9
1982 Doce "Bem bom" 13 32
1983 Armando Gama "Esta balada que te dou" 13 33
1984 Maria Guinot "Silêncio e tanta gente" 11 38
1985 Adelaide Ferreira "Penso em ti, eu sei" 18 9
1986 Dora "Não sejas mau para mim" 14 28
1987 Nevada "Neste barco à vela" 18 15
1988 Dora "Voltarei" 18 5
1989 Da Vinci "Conquistador" 16 39
1990 Nucha "Há sempre alguém" 20 9
1991 Dulce Pontes "Lusitana paixão" 8 62
1992 Dina "Amor d'água fresca" 17 26
1993 Anabela "A cidade (até ser dia)" 10 60
1994 Sara Tavares "Chamar a música" 8 73
1995 Tó Cruz "Baunilha e chocolate" 21 5
1996 Lúcia Moniz "O meu coração não tem cor" 6 92
1997 Célia Lawson "Antes do adeus" 24 0
1998 Alma Lusa "Se eu te pudesse abraçar" 12 36
1999 Rui Bandeira "Como tudo começou" 21 12
2001 MTM "Só sei ser feliz assim" 17 18
2003 Rita Guerra "Deixa-me sonhar (só mais uma vez)" 22 23
2004 Sofia Vitória "Foi magia" X X 15 38
2005 2B "Amar" X X 17 51
2006 Nonstop "Coisas de nada (Gonna Make You Dance)" X X 19 26
2007 Sabrina "Dança comigo (Vem ser feliz)" X X 11 88
2008 Vânia Fernandes "Senhora do mar (Negras águas)" 13 69 2 120
2009 Flor-de-Lis "Todas as ruas do amor" 15 57 8 70
2010 Filipa Azevedo "Há dias assim" 18 43 4 89
2011 Homens da Luta "A luta é alegria" X X 18 22
2012

Voting history (1975-2011)

Portugal has given the most points to...

Rank Country Points
1  United Kingdom 156
2  Italy 152
3  Germany 147
4  Spain 138
5  France 113
=  Israel 113
=  Ireland 113

Portugal has received the most points from...

Rank Country Points
1  France 136
2  Spain 117
3  Switzerland 66
4  Netherlands 52
5  Luxembourg 51

NOTE: The totals in the above tables include only points awarded in Eurovision finals, and not the semi-finals since 2004.

Since introducing the semi-finals in 2004

Portugal has given the most points to...

Rank Country Points
1  Ukraine 68
3  Romania 57
4  Moldova 50
5  Iceland 38
6  Greece 33
7  Sweden 28
8  Belgium 26
9  Latvia 24
10  Russia 22

Portugal has received the most points from...

Rank Country Points
1  Switzerland 65
2  Andorra 58
3  France 56
4  Spain 55
5  Germany 33
 Belgium 33
6  Iceland 25
7  United Kingdom 16
8  Romania 15
 Albania 15
 Belarus 15

NOTE: The tables with points from 2004 include points awarded in both finals and semi-finals where the highest point from the final/semi-final is picked.

Televoting Trends

Since the introduction of televoting and the semi-finals at the 2004 contest, Portugal has frequently awarded relatively high marks to Spain, Ukraine, Romania and Moldova:

Portugal has frequently been awarded relatively high marks by Spain, France, Switzerland and Andorra:

(since 2009, votes have been decided by a combination of 50% televoting results and 50% national jury, but the splits were revealed for 2009 so the televoting results for 2009 is written.)

References

  1. ^ O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007 ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3
  2. ^ Bakker, Sietse (2002-11-29). "EBU confirmed: Portugal resigns, Latvia is in". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/121. Retrieved 2009-02-28. 

External links