Portugal in The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 - at Eurovision

At Eurovision

Since Portugal had come in 11th in the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, Vânia Fernandes was obliged to perform her song in one of the two semi-finals of the 2008 contest. The EBU split up countries with a friendly voting history into the two different semi-finals, to give a better chance to other countries to win. On 28 January 2008, the EBU held a special draw which determined that Portugal would be in the second semi-final, held on 22 May 2008. The draw for the running order allowed three countries in each semi-final to select their positions in the running order. Portugal was selected as a wild card, and were allowed to select their position in the semi-final. As such, the Portuguese delegation for the contest selected to perform 19th (last) on the night of the semi-final.

Although only being allowed to vote in the second semi-final, RTP broadcast both semi-finals on RTP. The first semi-final was broadcast on a time-delay, 3 hours ahead of the live showing. The second semi-final, which Portugal was competing in, was broadcast live on RTP.

At the contest the commentator for RTP was Isabel Angelino, who also hosted a series of shows for RTP on Fernandes, her preparations in Belgrade and the rehearsals in Belgrade. The spokesperson for Portugal, announcing the results of the Portuguese televote for the contest, was Sabrina, the Portuguese entry at the 2007 contest.