Everything except participation approval: San Marino published a new logo of “San Marino Song Contest” on social media. Is San Marino’s next step toward Eurovision 2026 an official participation approval?
In recent months, San Marino has sent highly mixed signals about its potential participation in Eurovision 2026. But does the latest development point in a positive direction? Yesterday (Friday), the country’s national broadcaster revealed on the official social media channels of its national selection a brand-new logo for “San Marino Song Contest”. The question remains: does this mean that San Marino is preparing to confirm its Eurovision participation?
The Logo’s Impact On San Marino’s Eurovision Future
The release of the new logo indicates a positive step forward for San Marino, suggesting that a proper budget has likely been secured for preparations toward Eurovision 2026. However, despite this recent move, there has still been no official confirmation of participation from the national broadcaster. San Marino continues to carry the heavy burden of past years, which raises doubts about smooth progress heading into the next contest.
San Marino Towards Eurovision 2026
On August 5th, 2025, the San Marino government published an official participation approval for Eurovision 2026 through a document issued by the State Congress on July 8th. The statement acknowledged the Eurovision Song Contest’s value in promoting San Marino’s visibility worldwide and confirmed the continuation of “San Marino Song Contest”, for another year. This was initially understood as official confirmation of participation.
However, on August 6th, 2025, the San Marino national broadcaster, SMRTV, quickly responded by clarifying that no official decision had yet been made. It explained that the Congress’s statement expressed interest rather than a binding commitment. The final approval rests solely with the national broadcaster, pending resolution of disagreements with the EBU.
In past months, the San Marino national broadcaster openly expressed uncertainty regarding participation due to dissatisfaction with voting methods and results. Between 2022 and 2024, San Marino failed to qualify for the Eurovision final. The nation finally reached the final in 2025, but placed last. Following the contest, Roberto Sergio, Director General of the San Marino national broadcaster, did not hold back. He described the jury vote as “shameful”, continuing to argue that the voting system discriminates against smaller nations, placing them at a significant disadvantage.
San Marino at Eurovision 2025
“Tutta L’Italia” (in English: “All of Italy”) is the song that Gabry Ponte has performed to represent San Marino at Eurovision 2025 in Basel, Switzerland. He finished 10th in the semi-final and qualified with 46 points, for the fourth time ever for San Marino. In the final, Ponte came last (26th) with 27 points only.
Eurovision 2025: This was 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” .
