Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

Festival da Canção 2018 was the 52nd edition of Festival da Canção, the music competition that selects Portugal's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest.[2]

The format of the competition consisted of three shows: two semi-finals on 18 and 25 February 2018 and the final on 4 March 2018. The semi-finals took place at RTP's studios in Lisbon, while the final took place at Pavilhão Multiusos in Guimarães.[4][5] The competition featured a total of twenty-six competing songs written by composers selected by RTP through various methods. The composers both created the song and selected the performer for their entry. Each semi-final featured thirteen competing entries from which seven advanced to the final from each show. Results during the semi-finals were determined by a jury panel appointed by RTP and votes from the public. In the final, the winner was determined by the votes from regional jury panels and a public voting.

For the second consecutive year, RTP abolished the language restrictions, so that artists may submit songs in any language(s), even without Portuguese. On 27 September 2017, RTP revealed the names of the twenty-six participating composers: twenty-two invited by RTP, one invited by the Festival da Canção 2017 winner Salvador Sobral, one selected from Antena 1's radio show MasterClass and two selected from 346 submissions received during an open call for songs.[6][7] The running order of the semi-finals for the twenty-six participating composers was drawn on 25 October 2017.[8]

26 entries participated in the 52nd Festival da Canção. The competing performers were revealed on 18 January 2018. Among the competing artists were former Eurovision Song Contest entrants José Cid, who represented Portugal in the 1980 and 1998 Contests, the latter as part of Alma Lusa, and Anabela, who represented Portugal in the 1993 Contest.[9][10]

The first semi-final took place at RTP's studios in Lisbon on 18 February 2018, hosted by Jorge Gabriel and José Carlos Malato.[11] In the first semi-final thirteen entries participated, and of these thirteen, seven advanced to the final. The qualifiers were determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from jury members made up of music professionals and a public telephone vote. The jury that voted in the first semi-final consisted of Júlio Isidro, Ana Bacalhau, Ana Markl, António Avelar de Pinho, Carlão, Luísa Sobral, Mário Lopes, Sara Tavares and Tozé Brito. It was shortly detected that there was a mistake in the announced televoting results and was corrected on the day after the results were announced.[12]

The second semi-final took place at RTP's studios in Lisbon on 25 February 2018, hosted by Sónia Araújo and Tânia Ribas de Oliveira.[11] In the second semi-final thirteen entries participated, and of these thirteen, seven advanced to the final. The qualifiers were determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from jury members made up of music professionals and a public telephone vote. The jury that voted in the second semi-final consisted of Júlio Isidro, Ana Bacalhau, Ana Markl, António Avelar de Pinho, Carlão, Luísa Sobral, Mário Lopes, Sara Tavares and Tozé Brito. On 27 February 2018, Diogo Piçarra, who qualified from the second semi-final, withdrew from the competition and was replaced by Susana Travassos.

The final took place at Pavilhão Multiusos in Guimarães on 4 March 2018, hosted by Filomena Cautela and Pedro Fernandes.[11] In the final fourteen entries participated, and the winner was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from seven regional juries and a public telephone vote. Catarina Miranda and Cláudia Pascoal were both tied for the first place with 22 points but Cláudia Pascoal won as she received the most votes from the public.[13]

After the second semi-final, Diogo Piçarra's entry, which got top marks from both jury and televote, was accused of plagiarism on social media. As a result of the controversy, on 27 February 2018, Piçarra announced his decision to withdraw from the competition.[14] RTP released a statement stating that they "respect and understand" Piçarra's decision and announcing that Susana Travassos' entry would replace Piçarra's entry in the final following the rules of the competition.[15]

Portugal performed 8th in the Final. In a complete reversal of fortune from 2017, Portugal wound up finishing 26th and last in the final, with 39 points. This is only the third time the host country has finished last in a grand final, following the Netherlands' joint last place with Luxembourg in 1958 and Austria's joint 0-point finish with Germany in 2015. That means that this is the first time ever a host country becomes last without another country joined with the same number of points. However, it still is one of the highest-scoring songs to still finish last.

The following five members comprised the Portuguese jury:[17]

• Armando Jorge Ferreira Leite Morais Teixeira (Armando Teixeira) – Chairperson – composer, singer, producer
• Daniela Rute Rodrigues (Daniela Onis) – composer, singer
• Anabela Braz Pires (Anabela) – singer, actress, represented Portugal in the 1993 Contest
• Luis Manuel Oliveira Nunes (Benjamim) – composer, producer
• Pedro Lopes Madureira Silva Miguel (Peu Madureira) – singer

Split voting results from Portugal (Semi-final 1)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		A. Teixeira	D. Onis	Anabela	Benjamim	P. Madureira	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Azerbaijan	18	13	19	19	18	19		4	7
02	Iceland	19	19	14	13	14	16		16
03	Albania	9	5	3	9	4	6	5	15
04	Belgium	2	1	5	3	2	2	10	12
05	Czech Republic	8	8	7	7	7	8	3	10	1
06	Lithuania	6	2	1	1	1	1	12	5	6
07	Israel	7	9	8	6	10	9	2	9	2
08	Belarus	14	18	15	15	13	14		13
09	Estonia	1	3	4	2	3	3	8	1	12
10	Bulgaria	3	7	2	5	5	4	7	14
11	Macedonia	17	16	16	17	16	17		19
12	Croatia	13	12	13	8	9	10	1	18
13	Austria	5	6	6	4	6	5	6	6	5
14	Greece	11	10	11	14	11	11		11
15	Finland	16	14	18	18	19	18		7	4
16	Armenia	4	4	9	11	8	7	4	17
17	Switzerland	15	11	10	12	12	12		8	3
18	Ireland	10	17	12	10	15	13		3	8
19	Cyprus	12	15	17	16	17	15		2	10

Split voting results from Portugal (final)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		A. Teixeira	D. Onis	Anabela	Benjamim	P. Madureira	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Ukraine	14	13	15	20	18	16		7	4
02	Spain	13	9	7	11	10	9	2	1	12
03	Slovenia	4	3	16	6	11	8	3	24
04	Lithuania	6	6	4	2	3	5	6	13
05	Austria	3	7	2	4	5	3	8	11
06	Estonia	1	2	5	1	4	1	12	4	7
07	Norway	24	24	17	24	24	23		17
08	Portugal
09	United Kingdom	20	20	19	21	14	20		16
10	Serbia	15	23	21	22	20	21		25
11	Germany	16	12	18	16	8	14		3	8
12	Albania	7	1	1	10	6	2	10	23
13	France	5	5	6	8	1	6	5	12
14	Czech Republic	19	16	11	12	9	13		15
15	Denmark	22	22	23	23	23	24		9	2
16	Australia	12	14	9	15	13	12		14
17	Finland	18	18	20	18	15	18		22
18	Bulgaria	2	4	3	5	7	4	7	21
19	Moldova	25	25	25	25	25	25		5	6
20	Sweden	23	21	22	19	19	22		19
21	Hungary	17	19	24	14	22	19		18
22	Israel	9	10	13	7	16	10	1	10	1
23	Netherlands	21	17	14	13	21	17		20
24	Ireland	10	11	12	9	12	11		8	3
25	Cyprus	11	15	10	17	17	15		6	5
26	Italy	8	8	8	3	2	7	4	2	10