| Eurovision Song Contest 1997 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Participating broadcaster | Radiotelevisão Portuguesa (RTP) | |||
| Country |  Portugal | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Festival RTP da Canção 1997 | |||
| Selection date(s) | Semi-finals: 25 January 1997 1 February 1997 8 February 1997 15 February 1997 22 February 1997 Final: 7 March 1997 | |||
| Selected artist(s) | Célia Lawson | |||
| Selected song | "Antes do adeus" | |||
| Selected songwriter(s) |
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| Finals performance | ||||
| Final result | 24th, 0 points | |||
| Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
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Portugal was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 with the song "Antes do adeus" composed by Thilo Krasmann, with lyrics by Rosa Lobato de Faria, and performed by Célia Lawson. The Portuguese participating broadcaster Radiotelevisão Portuguesa (RTP) organised the national final Festival RTP da Canção 1997 in order to select its entry for the 1997 contest in Dublin, Ireland. After five semi-finals and a final which took place between January and March 1997, "Antes do adeus" performed by Célia Lawson emerged as the winner after achieving the highest score following the combination of votes from 20 regional juries and a public televote.
The song competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 3 May 1997. Performing during the show in position 15, it placed twenty-fourth (last) out of the 24 participating songs from different countries and failed to score any points, making it the second time that the Portuguese entry had placed last in the history of the competition and receiving nul points.