Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010

Festival da Canção 2010 was the 46th edition of Festival da Canção, the music competition that selects Portugal's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest.

The format of the competition consisted of three shows: two semi-finals on 2 and 4 March 2010 and the final on 6 March 2010.[1] All shows took place at the Campo Pequeno (an old bullring) in Lisbon, which has a capacity of 10,000 attendees, making it the biggest Festival da Canção ever.[2][3] The competition featured twenty-four competing songs selected from an online vote between 21 and 27 January 2010.[4] Results during the semi-finals were determined exclusively by votes from the public. In the final, the winner was determined by the votes from regional jury panels and the public vote.[3][4]

RTP opened a submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries between 24 November 2009 and 15 January 2010. Composers of any nationality were allowed to submit entries, however artists were required to have Portuguese citizenship and songs were required to be performed in Portuguese.[1][3][5] 420 entries were received at the conclusion of the submission period, and a selection committee shortlisted 30 entries for the online vote. The selection committee consisted of the Head of Delegation José Poiares, Tozé Brito, Fernando Martins and Ramón Galarza.[6] The shortlisted entries were announced on 20 January 2010.

90-second clips of the thirty shortlisted entries were made available via RTP's official website on 20 January 2010, and local and international users were able to vote for their favorite entries each day between 21 January 2010 and 27 January 2010 at 23:59 GMT.[7] On 22 January 2010, "Luta assim não dá" performed by Homens da Luta, who were leading the voting, were disqualified from the competition due to their song having been released and performed in May 2009, as reported by the Eurovision fan community in Portugal.[8][9]

42,998 valid votes were received at the conclusion of the voting period and the twenty-four entries with the most votes advanced to the semi-finals, with "Há dias assim" performed by Filipa Azevedo winning the voting with 2,992 votes. The running order of the semi-finals for the twenty-four participating entries was drawn on 1 February 2010 at the RTP headquarters in Lisbon.[10][11][12]

The first semi-final took place on 2 March 2010, hosted by Sílvia Alberto. In the first semi-final twelve entries participated, and of these twelve, six advanced to the final. The qualifiers were determined exclusively by a public telephone vote.[13][14][15]

The second semi-final took place on 4 March 2010, hosted by Sílvia Alberto. In the second semi-final twelve entries participated, and of these twelve, six advanced to the final. The qualifiers were determined exclusively by a public telephone vote.[16][17][15]

The final took place on 6 March 2010, hosted by Sílvia Alberto. In the final twelve entries participated, and the winner was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from regional juries and the public televote.[18][19][15]

• In the Semi-final 1 Portugal came 4th with 89 points: the public awarded Portugal 9th place with 58 points and the jury awarded 2nd place with 107 points.
• In the Final Portugal came 18th with 43 points: the public awarded Portugal 20th place with 24 points and the jury awarded 13th place with 69 points.