Portugal participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy, with "" performed by Maro. The Portuguese broadcaster (RTP) organised the national final 2022 in order to select the Portuguese entry for the 2022 contest. After two semi-finals and a final which took place in March 2022, "" performed by Maro emerged as the winner after achieving the highest score following the combination of votes from seven regional juries and a public televote.
Portugal was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 10 May 2022. Performing during the show in position 10, "" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 14 May. It was later revealed that Portugal placed fourth out of the 17 participating countries in the semi-final with 208 points. In the final, Portugal performed in position 3 and placed ninth out of the 25 participating countries with 207 points.
Background
Prior to the 2022 contest, Portugal has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-two times since its first entry in 1964. Portugal had won the contest on one occasion: in with the song "" performed by Salvador Sobral. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Portugal had featured in only six finals. Portugal's least successful result has been last place, which they have achieved on four occasions, most recently in with the song "" performed by Cláudia Pascoal. Portugal has also received nul points on two occasions; in 1964 and 1997. The nation qualified to the final in and placed twelfth with the song "Love Is on My Side" performed by the Black Mamba.
The Portuguese national broadcaster, (RTP), broadcasts the event within Portugal and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. RTP confirmed Portugal's participation in the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest on 8 September 2021. The broadcaster has traditionally selected the Portuguese entry for the Eurovision Song Contest via the music competition , with exceptions in and when the Portuguese entries were internally selected. Along with their participation confirmation, the broadcaster revealed details regarding their selection procedure and announced the organization of 2022 in order to select the 2022 Portuguese entry.
Before Eurovision
Festival da Canção 2022
2022 was the 56th edition of that selected Portugal's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022. Twenty entries competed in the competition that consisted of two semi-finals held on 5 and 7 March 2022 leading to a ten-song final on 12 March 2022. All three shows of the competition took place at RTP's Studio 1 in Lisbon and were broadcast on RTP1 and RTP Internacional as well as on radio via Antena 1 and online via RTP Play. The shows were also broadcast on RTP Acessibilidades with presentation in Portuguese Sign Language and in Spain on Ten and tvG2, the latter with Galician commentary by Moncho Lemos and Xosé Manuel Martín, as well as online via RTVE Play.
Format
The format of the competition consisted of three shows: two semi-finals on 5 and 7 March 2022 and the final on 12 March 2022. Each semi-final featured ten competing entries from which five advanced from each show to complete the ten song lineup in the final. Results during the semi-finals were determined by the 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel appointed by RTP and public televoting, while results during the final were determined by the 50/50 combination of votes from seven regional juries and public televoting, which was opened following the second semi-final and closed during the final show. Both the public televote and the juries assigned points from 1–8, 10 and 12 based on the ranking developed by both streams of voting.
Competing entries
Twenty composers were selected by RTP through two methods: sixteen invited by RTP for the competition and four selected from over 600 submissions received through an open call for songs. The composers, which both created the songs and selected its performers, were required to submit the demo and final versions of their entries by 31 October and 30 November 2021, respectively. Songs could be submitted in any language. The selected composers were revealed on 4 November 2021, while the competing artists and songs were revealed on 21 January 2022.