Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest 1999
| Eurovision Song Contest 1999 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  Portugal | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Festival da Canção 1999 | |||
| Selection date(s) | 8 March 1999 | |||
| Selected artist(s) | Rui Bandeira | |||
| Selected song | "Como tudo começou" | |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Final result | 21st, 12 points | |||
| Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
Portugal selected its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1999 through the Festival da Canção contest, organised by the Portuguese broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP). The winner of the festival was Rui Bandeira with the song "Como tudo começou", which represented Portugal at the Contest in Jerusalem on 29 May.
Before Eurovision
Originally, Portugal would have been relegated from the contest due to low average score over the past 5 years. However Latvia, who originally planned to participated, withdrew, and so did Hungary, who had the next highest average score, ultimately allowing Portugal to compete.
Festival da Canção 1999
Festival da Canção 1999 was the 36th edition of the festival, and was used to select the 35th Portuguese entry at the Eurovision Song Contest.
Final
The final was held on 8 March 1999 at the Pavilhão Atlântico in Lisbon, hosted by Manuel Luís Goucha and Alexandra Lencastre. Eight songs competed in the contest, with the winner selected by the votes of 11 regional juries. The winner was Rui Bandeira with "Como tudo começou".
| Final – 8 March 1999 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | Conductor | Points | Place |
| 1 | Tempo | "Uma parte de mim" | Samuel Lopes | Reginaldo S. Neves | 51 | 5 |
| 2 | Liliana Pinheiro | "Eu, tu e nós" | Tó Sanches, Liliana Pinheiro, Rui Bagulho | José Marinho | 32 | 7 |
| 3 | Francisco Ceia | "Romanzeira" | Francisco Ceia | 21 | 8 | |
| 4 | Rui Bandeira | "Como tudo começou" | Tó Andrade, Jorge do Carmo | José Marinho | 90 | 1 |
| 5 | Sofia Froes | "Menina alegria" | Firmino Mendes, José Sarmento | José Marinho | 72 | 2 |
| 6 | Célia Oliveira | "Ser o que sou" | Célia Oliveira, António José Guerra | 64 | 3 | |
| 7 | Tó Leal | "Sete anos, sete dias" | José Fanha, Eduardo Paes Mamede | Eduardo Paes Mamede | 44 | 6 |
| 8 | Filipa Lourenço | "No cais da solidão" | Carlos Soares, Simon Wadsworth | Simon Wadsworth | 57 | 4 |
| Detailed Regional Jury Votes | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Song | Viana do Castelo |
Ponta Delgada |
Bragança | Porto | Viseu | Coimbra | Lisbon | Évora | Faro | Funchal | Vila Real |
Total |
| 1 | "Uma parte de mim" | 2 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 51 |
| 2 | "Eu, tu e nós" | 3 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 32 |
| 3 | "Romanzeira" | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 21 |
| 4 | "Como tudo começou" | 10 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 90 |
| 5 | "Menina alegria" | 5 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 72 |
| 6 | "Ser o que sou" | 8 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 64 |
| 7 | "Sete anos, sete dias" | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 44 |
| 8 | "No cais da solidão" | 6 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 57 |
At Eurovision
On the night of the contest Bandeira performed 16th, following Sweden and preceding Ireland. The song received 12 points at the close of the voting (all from France), placing 21st of 23 countries competing, relegating Portugal from the 2000 contest.
Points awarded by Portugal
Final
| 12 points |  Germany
|
| 10 points |  Sweden
|
| 8 points |  Israel
|
| 7 points |  Estonia
|
| 6 points |  Croatia
|
| 5 points |  Austria
|
| 4 points |  Iceland
|
| 3 points |  Denmark
|
| 2 points |  Netherlands
|
| 1 point |  Malta
|
Points awarded to Portugal
| 12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |
