RTSH announces that the date for revealing contestants in the “Festivali i Këngës,” Albania’s Eurovision selection festival, has been moved up to October 7.

Following the confirmation of Albania’s participation in Eurovision 2025 by the Albanian national broadcaster RTSH, they have announced that they will reveal the contestants for their traditional national selection “Festivali i Këngës” tomorrow, October 7th, three days earlier than initially planned.

The submission window for the festival, which has served as Albania’s Eurovision national selection since they began participating in the contest, was open for three days and closed last Sunday evening. While the festival date is yet to be set, it is expected to take place, as usual, at the end of December. The contest rules have not been published yet, but it’s noted that song submitters must have Albanian citizenship, and each songwriter can only submit one song to the festival.

A Rich History: From National Festival to Eurovision Selection

The Albanian festival has been held continuously since 1961, with RTSH deciding to transform it into Albania’s Eurovision national selection in 2003. In the festival, all contestants are required to sing in Albanian, with the winner having the option to perform in English at Eurovision, as happened this year with singer Besa, who performed the song “Titan” at Eurovision.

To celebrate Albania’s 20th anniversary in Eurovision, RTSH announced back in May that there would be a “nostalgia evening” as part of the festival. While the details of this event are still unclear, we can only wait and see what it will entail.

Evolving Selection Process: Public Vote vs. Jury Decision

In the past two years, the results of the national selection and the festival were split. The festival winner was determined by a panel of juries, as has been the tradition throughout its history, while the Eurovision representative was chosen by public vote. Elhaida Dani, the festival’s artistic director and a former Albanian 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 juries, also becomes Albania’s Eurovision representative?”

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.”