Portugal announces dates and reveals composers for 'Festival da Canção'

Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) have announced the dates for the Portuguese national final ‘Festival da Canção’.

The dates for the two semi-finals have been set for February 20 and 27, 2021 and the final will take place on March 6 2021.

The contest has been used as the selection process for the Eurovision Song Contest since 1964, except for a couple of years when 'Operação Triunfo' and internal selections were used in the early 2000s. Since 2017 there have been no language restrictions in the competition.

RTP also revealed 20 composers of the songs that will be competing in ‘Festival da Canção 2021’, they include:

• Anne Victorino D’Almeida

• Carolina Deslandes

• Da Chick

• Fábia Maia

• Filipe Melo

• Hélder Moutinho

• IAN

• Irma

• João Vieira

• Joana Alegre

• Karetus

• Miguel Marôco

• NEEVE

• Pedro da Linha

• Pedro Gonçalves

• Stereossauro

• Tainá

• Tatanka

• Virgul

• Viviane

'Festival da Canção 2021' will see the same format as last year with the three shows, two semi finals and a final. 20 acts are expected to compete in the competition, with 10 in each semi final, and the top 5 in each semi final making it to the final. The winner of the final will go on to represent Portugal in Rotterdam at Eurovision Song Contest 2021.

Although debuting in 1964, Portugal have only won Eurovision once. That was with Salvador Sobral in 2017 and his jazz waltz song ‘Amar pelos dois’. Last year Elisa won ‘Festival da Canção 2020’ with ‘Medo de sentir’ and was set to represent Portugal at Eurovision 2020. Unfortunately the Contest was cancelled due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.