The 26 competing countries, which can be followed live in Portugal from 8:00 pm on RTP1, are, in order of competition: Sweden, Ukraine, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Israel, Lithuania, Spain, Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Greece, United Kingdom, Norway, Italy, Serbia, Finland, Portugal, Armenia, Cyprus, Switzerland, Slovenia, Croatia, Georgia, France and Austria.

According to the average of several bookmakers, calculated by the 'site' eurovisionworld.com, specialized in the contest, on Friday, at 8:30 pm, the three favorites to win this year's contest are Croatia, Israel and Switzerland.

In recent weeks, Croatia, which competes with the theme 'Rim Tim Tagi Dim', by Baby Lasagna, has emerged between the first and second place of the bettors' preferences.

Israel, represented by Eden Golan and the theme 'Hurricane', rose to second place, after weeks of varying between seventh and ninth places, on Thursday, after the second semifinal, in which it qualified for the final.

Switzerland, represented by Nemo with 'The Code', was, until Thursday, and throughout the last few weeks, disputing the first place with Croatia.

Portugal, however, is far from the podium. By 8:30 pm on Friday, the Portuguese song 'Grito', by Iolanda, appeared in 23rd place. Since the Portuguese representative was chosen, in March at the Festival da Canção, Portugal has occupied between 25th and 30th place in the bettors' preferences.

Portugal participated for the first time in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1964, having since missed five editions (in 1970, 2000, 2002, 2013 and 2016).

Last year, Sweden was the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest, with 'Tattoo' performed by Loreen.

In 2023, Portugal was in the Eurovision Song Contest with 'Ai coração', by Mimicat, which reached 23rd place in the contest. In 2017, Portugal won the contest for the first and only time with the song 'Amar pelos dois', by Luísa Sobral, performed by Salvador Sobral.

The 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest is being marked by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has been going on for decades, but intensified after an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas in Israel, on October 7, which caused almost 1,200 deaths, with the country led by Benjamin Netanyahu responding with an offensive that caused more than 34,000 deaths in the Gaza Strip, according to reports from both sides.

Since it became known that Israel would participate in the contest, represented by Eden Golan, several appeals have been made by European political representatives and artists to the EBU to veto the country's participation in the contest.

For example, on Friday, the vice-president of the Spanish government and minister of Labor, Yolanda Diáz, in a publication on the social network X, quoted by the EFE agency, recalled that the Eurovision Song Contest 'is joy, peace and diversity, not a showcase for whitewashing the genocide of the Palestinian people by Israel, which is death, destruction and hatred'.

For the Spanish government official, Israel 'is incompatible with the values promoted by the contest and should not participate' in the event.

Read Also: Spanish government against Israel's participation in the Eurovision final (Portuguese version)