RTSH has confirmed its participation in Eurovision 2025, which will be held in Basel, Switzerland. The national selection “Festivali i Këngës” will be used to choose the representative and song.
Albania’s national broadcaster, RTSH, has confirmed to us that Albania will participate in Eurovision 2025, set to take place in Basel, Switzerland. Albania becomes the 33rd country to express its intention to compete in Eurovision 2025, following Austria, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Estonia, Belgium, United Kingdom, Georgia, Germany, Denmark, Greece, Israel, Luxembourg, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Malta, Norway, San Marino, Slovenia, Spain, Serbia, Portugal, Finland, Czech Republic, France, Cyprus, Croatia, Sweden, and the host country, Switzerland.
Additionally, the broadcaster has confirmed that the well-known festival, “Festivali i Këngës“, will once again serve as the method for choosing both the song and the representative.
Submission Process and Festival Details
The submission window for the festival, which will also function as Albania’s Eurovision national selection, was open for three days and closed yesterday evening. The artists selected to participate in the festival will be revealed on October 10th. While the exact date of the competition has not yet been set, it is expected to take place, as usual, at the end of December. The competition rules have not been published yet, but it is specified that song submitters must have Albanian citizenship, and each songwriter can submit only one song to the competition.
The Albanian festival has been held continuously since 1961, with the national broadcaster deciding in 2003 to transform it into Albania’s Eurovision national selection. In the festival, all contestants are required to sing in Albanian, but the winner has the option to perform in English at Eurovision, as was the case this year with singer Besa, who performed the song “Titan” at Eurovision.
Recent Changes in Selection Process
In the past two years, the results of the Eurovision national selection and the festival have been split. The festival winner is determined by a panel of judges, as has been the tradition throughout its history, while the Eurovision representative is chosen by public televoting. Elhaida Dani, the artistic director of the festival and a former Eurovision representative, raised a question on her Instagram page: “Should we keep the new system or return to the previous one where the festival winner, chosen solely by the judges, also represents Albania at Eurovision?”
Albania began its Eurovision journey in 2004, sending young singer Anjeza Shahini to Istanbul with the song “The Image Of You”. The song finished seventh in the grand final, securing Albania an automatic place in the 2005 Eurovision final. However, in 2006, Albania experienced its first setback in the competition when it failed to qualify for the final. Albania achieved its best result in Eurovision in 2012 when it sent Kosovo-born singer Rona Nishliu, who finished fifth with her song “Suus”. Since then, Albania has experienced many ups and downs, missing out on a considerable number of finals.
Albania in Eurovision 2024
“Titan” is the title of the song performed by singer Besa Kokëdhima, representing Albania in the second semi-final of Eurovision 2024 held in Malmö, Sweden. Albania failed to qualify for the final, finishing 15th in the second semi-final with 14 points received from Greece, Italy, Switzerland, and San Marino.
The last time Albania sent an English-language song and successfully qualified for the grand final was in 2015, with Elhaida Dani’s performance of “I’m Alive.” Since then, every time Albania has submitted an English-language entry, they have failed to advance to the final.
Eurovision 2025: This will be Albania’s 21st participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. Albania joined the competition in 2004 and achieved its best result in Eurovision 2012 when singer Rona Nishliu reached fifth place with the song “Suus.”
