Surprise: Besa Kokedhima, who represented Albania at Eurovision 2024 but didn’t make it to the final, will compete to represent San Marino at Eurovision 2025 in Basel, Switzerland!
San Marino’s Eurovision national selection, known for its colorful and multicultural nature, continues to provide surprising candidates to represent the country at Eurovision. After Ronela Hajati, who represented Albania at Eurovision 2022 with “Sekret” and attempted to represent San Marino through their national selection the following year, it’s now Besa‘s turn. The Albanian representative in 2024 is expected to participate in the auditions for San Marino’s Una Voce Per San Marino next week.
After Besa’s management team confirmed her participation in San Marino’s Eurovision national selection, it can be announced that this year will mark Besa’s third attempt in the Eurovision world. Besa’s journey began in 2009 when she competed in the Romanian national selection with the song “Nothing Gonna Change” but didn’t win. Her second attempt was in 2024 when she won the Albanian national final, represented Albania with “Titan” but failed to qualify for the final.
Besa’s participation in San Marino’s national selection highlights the diversity of the competition and its status as an opportunity for anyone in the world who wants to participate in Eurovision, regardless of their nationality. A prime example of this is the Spanish band Megara, who won the 2024 selection with the song “11:11“. The band had competed in the Spanish national selection the year before but didn’t win, and subsequently turned to San Marino.
The international nature of San Marino’s Eurovision national selection adds great interest to the competition and strengthens the country’s standing, despite being the smallest country participating in the contest.
Complete Schedule of Una Voce per San Marino 2025
Here is the full list of dates for the San Marinese Eurovision selection shows:
- First Semi-Final: Monday, February 17 – two qualifiers advance
- Second Semi-Final: Tuesday, February 18 – two qualifiers advance
- Third Semi-Final: Wednesday, February 19 – two qualifiers advance
- Fourth Semi-Final: Thursday, February 20 – two qualifiers advance
- Fifth Semi-Final: Friday, February 21 – one local artist qualifies, plus two from “Second Chance” round
- Grand Final: Sunday, February 23 – winner will represent San Marino at Eurovision 2025 in Basel, Switzerland
Format and Participants
Registration for the competition remains open until December 31, 2024. Interested artists can apply at unavocepersanmarino.com. The casting phase will continue until January 14, 2025.
A total of 11 contestants will compete in the Grand Final, advancing from six semi-finals – four regular semi-finals, one special semi-final for local artists, and a “Second Chance” round.
San Marino confirmed its participation in Eurovision 2025, using “Una Voce per San Marino” as its selection method for the fourth consecutive year. The competition aims to include both new and established artists from around the world.
Despite concerns expressed by San Marino’s Secretary of State Federico Pedini Amati about the country’s recent non-qualifications—stating, “There is something that doesn’t sit right with me. Three years in a row we are out of the final. First Achille Lauro, then Piqued Jacks, and now Megara. It almost seems that small countries are punished too much. The game cannot be only for big countries”—San Marino has fortunately confirmed its continued participation in the Eurovision Song Contest.
San Marino in Eurovision 2024:
“11:11” is the name of the song performed by the band Megara, which represented San Marino at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 held in Malmö, Sweden. The band participated in the second semi-final of Eurovision 2024 but did not advance to the grand final, finishing in 14th place in the semi-final with only 16 points, 10 of which came from Spain.
Source: escportugal.pt.
Eurovision 2025: This will be San Marino’s 15th participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. San Marino joined the competition in 2008 and achieved its best result in Eurovision 2019 when the singer Serhat finished in 19th place with the song “Say Na Na Na” .
