ESCUnited’s complete guide to this weekend’s national finals – February 24 and 25

It’s a weekend filled with Eurovision selection shows, with four happening today and one more concluding tomorrow in Croatia. By the end of this weekend we’ll not only have a bunch of songs eliminated from the running, but also add 2 new songs to the Eurovision 2024 roster!

Mark your calendars and prepare your browser tabs, because you don’t want to miss a single moment of the fun!

🇸🇪 Sweden – Melodifestivalen Heat Four (20:00 CET)

The first of three shows set for 20:00 CET is the third heat of Melodifestivalen, live from Eskilstuna. As usual there are two spots in the final up for grabs, with the first finalist being decided by the first round of televoting, and the second being decided by a second short televoting window.

The 2nd and 3rd placing songs from round two will enter a “run-off” round and could still win a spot in the Melfest final. Tonight’s songs and performers will be:

1. Albin Tingwall – “Done Getting Over You“
2. Lia Larsson – “30 km/h”
3. Dotter – “It’s Not Easy to Write a Love Song“
4. Scarlet – “Circus X”
5. Lasse Stefanz – “En sång om sommaren“
6. Danny Saucedo – “Happy That You Found Me“

The first qualifying spot will be given to the winner of the public televote throughout the broadcast. After that announcement the lines will open once again, and a second round of televoting will determine the second qualifier for the final.

The show will begin at 20:00 CET and can be watched on SVT Play.

🇮🇸 Iceland – Söngvakeppnin Semi-Final Two (20:45 CET)

RÚV will continue their annual song competition Söngvakeppnin, where the winner could earn the right to compete in Eurovision 2024 in Malmo.

Tonight’s semi-final will feature the final five of the ten pre-selected songs, with two spots in the Final up for grabs. In past years the broadcaster has also chosen to hand out a wildcard pass to one of the eliminated semi-finalists, but it is currently unknown if they will do this once again.

As is tradition, all five artists will perform the Icelandic versions of their entries. The running order for tonight’s show is:

1. Hera Björk – “Við förum hærra“
2. Heiðrún Anna – “Þjakaður af ást“
3. Bashar Murad – “Vestrið villt“
4. Sigga Ózk – “Um allan alheiminn“
5. Maiaa – “Fljúga burt“

Tonight’s two qualifiers will be determined by a 100% public televote. The show begins at 20:45 in Reykjavík and can be viewed on RÚV.

🇸🇲 San Marino – Una Voce Per San Marino (21:00 CET)

Another edition of Una Voce Per San Marino is set to come to a close, after weeks of auditions, the announcement of 8 pre-qualified “Big Artists”, and five semi-finals shows.

The show will take place once again in the Teatro Nuovo in Dogana, and will hosted by Fabrizio Biggio and Melissa Greta Marchetto. The acts competing for a spot in Eurovision tonight are:

1. Aaron Sibley – “Human”
2. Aimie Atkinson – “A Dare for Love”
3. Jalisse – “Il Paradiso e’ qui”
4. La Rua – “Governo del cuore”
5. Loredana Bertè – “Pazza”
6. Marcella Bella – “Chi siamo davvero”
7. Pago – “Il Protagonista”
8. Wlady, DJ Jad, Corona & Ice MC – “X”
9. Dana Gillespie – “The Last Polar Bear”
10. Daudia – “With You”
11. Booom! – “Dance Like This”
12. Mate – “Big Mama”
13. Dez – “Freedom”
14. X Jupiter – “Nostalgia”
15. I pay – “The Protaganist”
16. Masala and Forest – “Paranoia”
17. Megara – “11:11”

The winner of Una Voce Per San Marino will be decided by a 100% jury vote, and will automatically win the right to represent San Marino at Eurovision 2024 in Malmo.

The show can be watched live at 21:00 CET from the SMRTV website.

🇵🇹 Portugal – Festival da Canção Semi-Final One (22:00 CET)

The highly celebrated song festival in Portugal Festival da Canção will finally begin today, with the first ten contestants vying for their place in the final on March 9th.

The competing artists and running order were decided prior to the show:

1. Nena – “Teorias da conspiração”
2. Perpétua – “Bem longe daqui”
3. Mela – “Água”
4. Mila Dores – “Afia a língua”
5. Left. – “Volto a ti”
6. Rita Rocha – “Pontos finais”
7. Noble – “Memory”
8. João Borsch – “…Pelas costuras”
9. Iolanda – “Grito”
10. Bispo – “Casa portuguesa”

A total of six qualifiers will be selected during tonight’s show, the first five being selected by a mix method of televoting and jury votes where each make up 50% of the result. Then the televoting lines will reopen, and only the public will decide which song earns the final qualifying spot.

The show is set to kick off at 22:00 CET and can be viewed on RTP1 or RTP Internacional.

🇭🇷 Croatia – Dora 2024 Final (SUNDAY 20:15 PM)

After two semi-finals that took place earlier this week, the final of Dora 2024 will occur TOMORROW February 25th at 20:15 CET.

A total of sixteen artists qualified for the final via the semi-finals, and HRT has already released the running order for the show:

1. Natalie Balmix – “Dijamanti”
2. Mario Battifiaca feat. Robert Ferlin – “Vodu piti trizan biti”
3. Lana Mandarić – “More”
4. Boris Štok – “Can We Talk”
5. Stefany – “Sretnih dana dat’ će Bog”
6. Pavel – “Do mjeseca”
7. Saša Lozar – “Ne plačem zbog nje”
8. Lara Demarin – “Ne vjerujem ti”
9. Let 3 – “Babaroga”
10. Alen Đuras – “A Tamburitza Lullaby”
11. Eugen – “Tišine”
12. Vatra – “Slatke suze, gorka ljubav”
13. Damir Kedžo – “Voljena ženo”
14. Baby Lasagna – “Rim Tim Tagi Dim”
15. Marcela – “Gasoline”
16. Vinko – “Lying Eyes”

The winner of Dora will be selected by a 50/50 voting process with the jury vote being divided into 4 regional juries and four international juries.

The show can be watched live via the official Eurovision Youtube Channel.

We hope that #YOU have an exciting time watching these great shows!