The running order for the semi-finals of Festival da Canção 2018 has been revealed. A draw took place at the RTP headquarters in Lisbon today in order to determine which of the two semi-finals each composer would participate in. The draw was overseen by the director of RTP Gonçalo Madaíl and president of the Festival da Canção jury Júlio Isidro.

Competing in semi-final 1 on February 18 are:

Júlio Resende Benjamim Rita Dias Janeiro José Cid Mallu Magalhães Fernando Tordo Nuno Rafael Jorge Palma Diogo Clemente JP Simões Francisca Cortesão Paulo Praça

Competing in semi-final 2 on February 26 are:

Capicua Miguel Ângelo Peter Serrado Paulo Flores Francisco Rebelo Tito Paris Daniela Onis Diogo Piçarra Armando Teixeira João Afonso Isaura Bruno Cardoso Aline Frazão The seven highest scoring performances from each semi-final will then go on to the Grand Final. The semi-finals will take place on the 18th and 25th of February 2018, with the Grand Final scheduled for 4th March in Guimarães. This is the first time since 2001 that the Grand Final is being held outside of Lisbon.

The participating composers were selected through different methods. 22 were invited by RTP, one was selected through the “Master Class” programme on Antena 1, two were selected via a public selection for all residents of Portugal and overseas Portuguese citizens and finally, one was selected by Salvador Sobral, the winner of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. Two of the composers are former Portuguese Eurovision entrants. José Cid represented Portugal in 1980 and Fernando Tordo competed twice; once as a solo artist in 1973 and as part of the group Os Amigos in 1977. Source: RTP [tw-accordion class=””]

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Portugal debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1964 represented by António Calvário, the country finished last scoring nul points. Prior to 2016, the best result of Portugal in the contest was 6th place. This 6th place came in 1996 when Lúcia Moniz performed “O meu coração não tem cor” on stage in Oslo, Norway. She scored 92 points receiving 12 points from both Norway and Cyprus. Since their debut in 1964 Portugal has missed a total of five contests, the latest being in 2016. After their spectacular win last May, in Kyiv, Portugal will host the 2018 edition of the contest in the capital, Lisbon.

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