Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest

Portugal's debut entry was António Calvário with "Oração". It was not a successful debut for the country, with Calvário coming last in the contest. Since then, Portugal has come last on three further occasions, in 1974, when Paulo de Carvalho sang "E depois do adeus", in 1997, when Célia Lawson performed "Antes do adeus" and in 2018 as a host country. Despite its last-place finish in the contest, "E depois do adeus" gained notability for being used as the radio musical signal to begin the Carnation Revolution against the Estado Novo regime, being played at 22:55 on 24 April 1974.^[1] Prior to its sixth-place finish for Lúcia Moniz, with the song "O meu coração não tem cor" in 1996, Portugal's best result in the contest was two seventh-place finishes, for Carlos Mendes in 1972 and José Cid in 1980. Despite prior poor results, the 1990s were the most successful decade for the country, with four recorded finishes in the top 10. Portugal was relegated in 2000 due to insufficient points accrued, and withdrew in 2002 due to financial difficulties (allowing Latvia, who ultimately won, to compete).

Since semi-finals were introduced in 2004, Portugal has failed to reach the final eight times, including from 2004 to 2007. In 2008, Vânia Fernandes finished 13th with the song "Senhora do mar", Portugal's best result since 1996. The country continued to be present in the final until 2010. In 2017, Portugal reached the finals with Salvador Sobral's entry, "Amar pelos dois", ending a 6-year non-appearance in the finals, as it did not participate in the contest in 2013 and 2016 and did not qualify for the finals in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015, finally winning the contest for the first time ever, earning 758 points, setting the record for the highest number of points in the history of the competition, topping both the televoting and jury voting for the first time since Austria's "Rise Like a Phoenix" in 2014. It was the first winning song entirely performed in a country's native language since Serbia's "Molitva" in 2007. As the host country in 2018, Portugal came last for the fourth time in the contest, and for the first time in a non-joint last position. This was the third instance of a host country placing in the bottom five since 2015. Following a non-qualification in 2019, Portugal recorded a 12th-place finish in 2021, a ninth-place finish in 2022, a 23rd-place finish in 2023, and a tenth-place finish in 2024.

Portugal has been absent from five 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.^[2]

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.^[3]

The fourth absence was in 2013, when Portugal didn't participate for financial reasons.^[4]

The fifth absence was in 2016.^[5] RTP stated that this break was needed in order to facilitate a content renewal for its national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, Festival da Canção.^[6]

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 between February and 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, the winner has been selected through televoting in recent years. In 2009, 2010 and since 2017, a 50/50 system between regional juries and televoting has been used.

In the years when Portugal does not participate in the contest, Festival da Canção was not held, except in two occasions: in 1970, when Portugal boycotted the contest, and in 2000, when the country was relegated.

Year	Conductor[d]	Notes	Ref.
1964	Kai Mortensen		[12]
1965	Fernando de Carvalho
1966	Jorge Costa Pinto
1967	Armando Tavares Belo
1968	Joaquim Luis Gomes
1969	Ferrer Trindade
1971	Jorge Costa Pinto		[13]
1972	Richard Hill
1973	Jorge Costa Pinto
1974	Jose Calvario
1975	Pedro Osorio
1976	Thilo Krasmann
1977	Jose Calvario
1978	Thilo Krasmann
1979
1980	Jorge Machado		[14]
1981	Shegundo Galarza
1982	Luis Duarte
1983	Mike Sergeant
1984	Pedro Osorio
1985	Jose Calvario
1986	Colin Frechter
1987	Jaime Oliveira
1988	Jose Calvario
1989	Luis Duarte
1990	Carlos Alberto Moniz
1991	Fernando Correia Martins
1992	Carlos Alberto Moniz
1993	Armindo Neves
1994	Thilo Krasmann
1995
1996	Pedro Osorio
1997	Thilo Krasmann
1998	Mike Sergeant

Additionally, there was an orchestra present at the Portuguese national final in 1999 and 2001, where the winning entries were conducted by José Marinho and Rui Filipe Reis, respectively.

• 
  Simone de Oliveira in Naples (1965)
• 
  José Cid in The Hague (1980)
• 
  Sofia Vitória in Istanbul (2004)
• 
  Sabrina in Helsinki (2007)
• 
  Vânia Fernandes in Belgrade (2008)
• 
  Flor-de-Lis in Moscow (2009)
• 
  Filipa Azevedo in Oslo (2010)
• 
  Suzy in Copenhagen (2014)
• 
  Leonor Andrade in Vienna (2015)
• 
  Salvador Sobral in Kyiv (2017)
• 
  Cláudia Pascoal in Lisbon (2018)
• 
  Conan Osíris in Tel Aviv (2019)
• 
  Maro in Turin (2022)
• 
  Mimicat in Liverpool (2023)
• 
  Iolanda in Malmö (2024)

• Portugal in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest – Junior version of the Eurovision Song Contest.
• Portugal in the Eurovision Dance Contest – Dance version of the Eurovision Song Contest.
• Portugal in the Eurovision Young Dancers – A competition organised by the EBU for younger dancers aged between 16 and 21.
• Portugal in the Eurovision Young Musicians – A competition organised by the EBU for musicians aged 18 years and younger.