Portugal participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the song "Todas as ruas do amor" written by Pedro Marques and Paulo Pereira. The song was performed by the group Flor-de-Lis. The Portuguese broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) organised the national final Festival da Canção 2009 in order to select the Portuguese entry for the 2009 contest in Moscow, Russia. The competition took place on 28 February 2009 where "Todas as ruas do amor" performed by Flor-de-Lis emerged as the winner after achieving the highest score following the combination of votes from twenty 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 12 May 2009. Performing during the show in position 16, "Todas as ruas do amor" was announced among the 10 qualifying entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 16 May. It was later revealed that Portugal placed eighth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 70 points. In the final, Portugal performed in position 6 and placed fifteenth out of the 25 participating countries with 57 points.
Background
Prior to the 2009 contest, Portugal had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-two times since its first entry in 1964. The nation's highest placing in the contest was sixth, which they achieved in 1996 with the song "O meu coração não tem cor" performed by Lúcia Moniz. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Portugal had featured in only one final. Portugal's least successful result has been last place, which they have achieved on three occasions, most recently in 1997 with the song "Antes do adeus" performed by Célia Lawson. Portugal has also received nul points on two occasions; in 1964 and 1997. The nation qualified to the final in 2008 for the first time and placed thirteenth with the song "Senhora do mar (Negras águas)" performed by Vânia Fernandes.
The Portuguese national broadcaster, Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP), broadcasts the event within Portugal and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. RTP confirmed Portugal's participation in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest on 20 October 2008. The broadcaster has traditionally selected the Portuguese entry for the Eurovision Song Contest via the music competition Festival da Canção, with exceptions in 1988 and 2005 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 Festival da Canção 2009 in order to select the 2009 Portuguese entry.
Before Eurovision
Festival da Canção 2009
Festival da Canção 2009 was the 45th edition of Festival da Canção that selected Portugal's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. Twelve entries competed in the competition which took place on 28 February 2009 at the Teatro Camões in Lisbon. The show was hosted by Sílvia Alberto and broadcast on RTP1, RTP África and RTP Internacional as well as online via the broadcaster's official website rtp.pt.
Competing entries
Artists and composers that possessed Portuguese citizenship were able to submit their entries for the competition between 2 December 2008 and 12 January 2009. Songs were required to be submitted in Portuguese. A jury panel consisting of Head of Delegation for Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest José Poiares, singer-songwriter Tozé Brito, and music producers Fernando Martins and Ramón Galarza selected twenty-four entries for an online vote from 393 submissions received, which were revealed on 19 January 2010. Among the competing artists were former Eurovision Song Contest entrants Armando Gama, who represented Portugal in the 1983 contest, Nucha, who represented Portugal in the 1990 contest, and Luciana Abreu, who represented Portugal in the 2005 contest as part of the duo 2B.