It’s October and the days are getting darker and drawing shorter (unless you’re lucky enough to live in Australia). But for every Eurovision fan in Europe the encroaching darkness is actually good news, as it signals that national selection season for Eurovision 2018 will kick off in the months ahead. And today Portugal’s RTP decided to give us more to cheer about, as it revealed details of the Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon.



Portugal calling

RTP, Portugal’s Eurovision broadcaster, airs a show called A Voz do Cidadao, which translates as “Voice of the Citizen”. It regularly discusses matters of public interest and today’s episode turned to the song contest — one of the largest events Lisbon has on its upcoming agenda.

Carla Bugalho, Portugal’s head of delegation and next year’s associate executive producer, said that 43 countries will compete in Lisbon. She did not, however, reveal the precise list of countries and confirmations.

Daniel Deusdado, RTP’s head of programs, reiterated the broadcaster’s position that Eurovision doesn’t have to break the bank.

“Like we said before, countless times, we will try to make the cheapest Eurovision ever.”

Eurovision 2018 postcards

This year’s postcards will be funded by Portugal’s tourism board. They’ll fly in all of the contestants and will film them in different parts of Portugal prior to the event. At Eurovision 2012 Azerbaijan showcased different parts of the country. But Portugal will be giving the contestants a much more central role in that, filming their reaction to a variety of local settings.

Altice Arena

Officials also made clear that they will start preparing Altice Arena on April 1. They’ll have around one month to finish the work before the first delegation and press arrive in Lisbon.

We’ve also pulled out the arena calendar and noticed that officials will need to dismantle the stage rather quickly, as Sam Smith will perform in the same arena on 18 May as part of his European tour.

Eurovision 2018 volunteers

Last but not least, RTP will soon start the process of recruiting volunteers. And we can not wait for this, as volunteers have been a highlight of our time at Eurovision in recent years.

What do you think of today’s news? Are you excited about Portugal’s vision of the postcards? Which countries will we see on stage in Lisbon? Let us know in the comments box below!