Eurovision Song Contest 2018

The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 was the 63rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It consisted of two semi-finals on 8 and 10 May and a final on 12 May 2018, held at the Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal, and presented by Filomena Cautela, Sílvia Alberto, Catarina Furtado, and Daniela Ruah. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP), which staged the event after winning the 2017 contest for Portugal with the song "Amar pelos dois" by Salvador Sobral.

Broadcasters from forty-three countries participated in the contest, equalling the record of the 2008 and 2011 editions. Russia returned after their absence from the previous edition, and for the first time since 2011, no country that participated in the previous edition withdrew.

The winner was Israel with the song "Toy", performed by Netta and written by Doron Medalie and Stav Beger. Cyprus, Austria, Germany, and Italy rounded out the top five, with Cyprus achieving its best result to date. Israel won the public vote, and came third in the jury vote behind Austria and Sweden. Further down the table, the Czech Republic also achieved its best result to date, finishing sixth. The EBU reported that 186 million viewers watched the contest, surpassing the previous edition by over 4 million.

Location

Venue

The Altice Arena (known as the "Lisbon Arena" during the contest) is a multi-purpose indoor arena built for the Expo '98 and has a capacity of 20,000 attendees, making it the largest indoor venue in Portugal and among the largest in Europe. It is located in the Parque das Nações (Park of Nations) riverside district in the northeast of Lisbon, which was completely renovated to host the 1998 world's fair. It is connected by metro to the nearby international airport and by train (Oriente Station) to the rest of the country and Europe.

Bidding phase

On the day of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 final, it was reported that Portuguese broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) would accept the challenge of organising the 2018 contest in case of a victory. Following Sobral's triumph, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU)'s Executive Supervisor for the Eurovision Song Contest, Jon Ola Sand, issued the hosting invitation to RTP during the winner's press conference. The following day, the director-general of RTP, Nuno Artur Silva, confirmed that the broadcaster would organise the contest in 2018 and mentioned the Lisbon Arena as a likely venue to host the contest. On 15 May 2017, RTP appeared to have confirmed Lisbon as the host city, but clarified the following day that no final decision had been taken regarding both the host city and venue.

The basic requirements to select a host city were set out in a document presented by the EBU to RTP following their win in Kyiv:

• A suitable venue that can accommodate around 10,000 spectators.
• An international press centre for 1,500 journalists with adequate facilities for all the delegates.
• A good distribution of hotel rooms, at different price categories, able to accommodate at least 2,000 delegates, accredited journalists and spectators.
• An efficient transport infrastructure, including a nearby international airport with readily available connections with the city, venue, and hotels.

Besides Lisbon, other cities signalled their interest in bidding to host the 2018 contest: Braga, Espinho, Faro, Gondomar, Guimarães, and Santa Maria da Feira. The mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira, declared he would not be interested in "spending millions of euros" to host the contest, but he would support a bid from the Metropolitan Area of Porto (Espinho, Gondomar, and Santa Maria da Feira).

On 13 June 2017, RTP representatives met with the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group at the EBU headquarters in Geneva. During the meeting, RTP officials attended a workshop covering several topics related with hosting the Eurovision Song Contest and learned from the experience of the Ukrainian broadcaster UA:PBC. They also had the opportunity to present their first plans for the 2018 contest, including multiple proposals for the host city and venue.

On 25 July 2017, the EBU and RTP announced that Lisbon had been selected as the host city, overcoming confirmed bids from Braga, Gondomar, Guimarães, and Santa Maria da Feira. In addition, RTP indicated the Parque das Nações, where the Lisbon Arena is located, as the site for the shows.

Key:  †  Host venue

Other sites

The Eurovision Village was the official Eurovision Song Contest fan and sponsors area during the event weeks, where it was possible to watch performances by contest participants and local artists, as well as the live shows broadcast from the main venue. It was located in Lisbon's downtown Praça do Comércio (also called Terreiro do Paço), a large central square open to the Tagus river.

The EuroClub was the venue for the official after-parties and private performances by contest participants. Unlike the Eurovision Village, access to the EuroClub was restricted to accredited fans, delegations, and press. It was located at the "Ministerium" club, next to the Eurovision Village.

The "Blue Carpet" event, where all the contestants and their delegations are presented before the accredited press and fans, took place on 6 May 2018 at the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT) in Lisbon's Belém district. This preceded the official Opening Ceremony of the 2018 contest, which took place at the nearby Electricity Museum.

Participants

Eligibility for participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active EBU membership, or a special invitation from the EBU as in the case of Australia.

It was initially announced on 7 November 2017 that forty-two countries would participate in the contest. Russia confirmed their return after their absence the previous edition, while Macedonia's participation was provisionally blocked by the EBU due to unpaid debts by Macedonian Radio Television (MRT). However, ten days later, it was announced that Macedonia would be allowed to enter the contest, raising the number of participating countries to forty-three, equaling the highest number of participants with the 2008 and 2011 editions.

Returning artists

The contest featured two representatives who also previously performed as lead vocalists for the same countries. Alexander Rybak won for Norway in 2009 performing "Fairytale" (and also sang entry No. 1500) and Waylon placed second for the Netherlands in 2014 as part of The Common Linnets performing "Calm After the Storm".

The contest also featured Jessica Mauboy, representing Australia, after taking part in 2014 as the interval act for the second semi-final, performing "Sea of Flags". In addition, the contest featured four lead singers previously participating as backing vocalists, two of them for the same countries. Lea Sirk backed for Slovenia in 2014 and off-stage in 2016, and Equinox member Vlado Mihailov backed for Bulgaria in 2017. Cesár Sampson, representing Austria, backed for Bulgaria in 2016 (also as a dancer) and off-stage in 2017. SuRie, representing the United Kingdom, backed for Belgium in 2015 (also as a dancer) and was the musical director again for Belgium in 2017. Sara Tavares, who performed in the interval act, was the representative from Portugal in the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, with the song "Chamar a música" reaching 8th place.

Other countries

Active EBU members

Active EBU member broadcasters in Andorra, Luxembourg and Slovakia confirmed non-participation prior to the announcement of the participants list by the EBU. Despite hopes expressed by past Turkish representatives Sertab Erener (2003 winner), Hadise (2009) and maNga (2010), Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey Bekir Bozdağ and Turkish broadcaster TRT denied any plans for a return of the country.

Associate EBU members

Kazakh broadcaster Khabar Agency became an associate member of the EBU on 1 January 2016. This opened up the possibility of their participation since 2017, under the condition of a special invitation, as for Australia. The country was not invited in 2017 but broadcast all the shows. Turkvision Song Contest 2014 winner Zhanar Dugalova expressed interest in representing her country at the 2018 contest; however, the country was not invited in 2018 either and it did not appear on the final list of participants.

Non-EBU members

Kosovan broadcaster RTK, with the support of national broadcasters across the Balkans (except for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia), expressed hopes to become an EBU member in order to debut at the 2018 contest; however, the EBU clarified that this was not possible due to the limited international recognition of Kosovo and the country not being a UN member.