This year, 40 countries entered the competition, but 25 made it to the final, of which 20 were selected in two semi-finals, which took place on Tuesday and Thursday, also in Turin.
The 66th Eurovision Song Contest, which has been held annually in Europe since 1956, originally included 41 countries, but the European Broadcasting Union, which promotes the contest, announced on February 25, the day after the invasion of Ukraine, that Russia would remain on the sidelines.
In the first semi-final – Portugal (“Saudade, Saudade”, Maro), Ukraine (“Stefania”, Kalush Orchestra), Switzerland (“The Boys Cry”, Marius Bear), Armenia (“Snap”, Rosa Lynn), Iceland (“Með hækkandi sól”, Systur), Lithuania (“Sentimentai”, Monika Liu), Norway (“Give the wolf a banana”, Subwoolfer), Greece (“Let’s die together”, Amanda Georgiadi Tenfjord), Moldova (“Trenuletul”, Zdob si Zdub & Advahov Brothers) and the Netherlands (“De Diepte”, S10).
Czech Republic (“Turn off the light”, We Are Domi), Azerbaijan (“Fade to Black”, Nadir Rustamli), Poland (“River”, Ochman), Estonia (“Hope”, Stefan), Australia (“Not the same”, Sheldon Riley), Sweden (Hug Me Closer, Cornelia Jacobs), Romania (Llámame, WRS) and Serbia (In corpore sano, Konstrakta) were selected for the second semi-final.
These 20 countries are joined by the so-called “Big Five” (“Big Five” in Portuguese) – France (“Fullen”, Alvan & Ahez), Germany (“Rockstars”, Malik Harris), Italy (“Brividi”, Mahmood & Blanco), Spain (“SloMo”, Chanel) and the UK (“Space Man”, Sam Ryder).
Portugal’s representative Maro won the Song Festival in March with the song “Saudade, Saudade”. Maro performs at the competition accompanied by a female choir, as well as at the final of the Festival da Canção, which features Beatriz Fonseca, Beatriz Pessoa, Carolina Leite, Diana Castro and Milhanas.
Maro is the stage name of Mariana Secchi from Lisbon, who grew up in a family environment marked by music, began studying piano at the age of four, attended the conservatory and studied at the Berklee School in Boston, USA.
In 2018, he released his first self-titled album.
Maro will be the third to play in the final, which can be viewed live in Portugal from 20:00 on RTP1.
On Friday afternoon, Portugal should be in 17th place, according to the multi-bookmaker average calculated by competition site eurovisionworld.com. However, in recent weeks, Portugal has fluctuated between 10th and 12th place.
Also, at stakes, Ukraine has been the favorite to win this year’s contest for several weeks now. The next three places were taken by Italy, Great Britain and Sweden.
Portugal first took part in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1964, but failed five contests (in 1970, 2000, 2002, 2013 and 2016).
Between 2004 and 2007 inclusive, as well as in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2019, Portugal failed to reach the final.
Portugal won the competition for the first and only time in 2017 with the theme “Love for Two”, performed by Salvador Sobral and written by Luisa Sobral. After the victory, Lisbon hosted the competition the following year.
In 2021, Portugal participated in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Love is on my side”, written by Tatanka and performed by The Black Mamba, which finished 12th in the contest. Italy won the competition last year with Moneskin’s “Zitti e buoni”.
