Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026
| Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 2026 | ||||
| Participating broadcaster | Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) | |||
| Country |  Serbia | |||
| Selection process | Pesma za Evroviziju '26 | |||
| Selection date | 28 February 2026 | |||
| Participation chronology | ||||
| ||||
Serbia is set to be represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2026, which will be held in Vienna, Austria. The Serbian participating broadcaster, Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), will organise the national final Pesma za Evroviziju '26 in order to select its entry for the contest.
Background
Prior to the 2026 contest, Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Serbia seventeen times since its first entry in 2007, winning the contest with its debut entry "Molitva" performed by Marija Šerifović. Since then, 13 out of the 17 total Serbian entries have featured in the final with RTS failing to qualify in 2009, 2013, 2017, and 2025. In 2025, "Mila" performed by Princ failed to qualify to the final, placing 14th in its semi-final, Serbia's worst result to date.[1]
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, RTS organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster has used both internal selections and national finals to determine its entries throughout the years. Between 2007 and 2009, RTS used the Beovizija national final, but after its 2009 entry failed to qualify to the final, the broadcaster shifted its selection strategy to selecting specific composers to create songs for artists. After a successful internal selection in 2012, in 2013 RTS returned to an open national final format, titled Beosong, but it failed to qualify to the final. After reverting to internal selection in 2016 and 2017, it returned to use the Beovizija national final between 2018 and 2020, managing to qualify to the final in both 2018 and 2019, with Eurovision having been cancelled in 2020. In 2022, RTS returned to organising a national final under the name Pesma za Evroviziju '22, with this format being used every year since.
On 27 May 2025, RTS confirmed its commitment to not withdraw from the contest.[2] On 15 September 2025, RTS announced its intention to select its entry through Pesma za Evroviziju '26.[3]
Before Eurovision
Pesma za Evroviziju '26
The fifth edition of Pesma za Evroviziju will be organized by RTS in order to select its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026.[3] It will mark the first edition of the format without the involvement of Olivera Kovačević, who was removed from the role of supervisor after she allowed participants of the 2025 edition to make statements supporting the Serbian anti-corruption protests during the shows;[4] she is replaced by Uroš Marković.[5]
The semi-finals will take place on 24 and 26 February 2026, with the final on 28 February.[6]
At Eurovision
Serbia is set to perform at the second half of the first semi-final on 12 May 2026.[7]
References
- ^ "Serbia". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Retrieved 25 August 2024.
- ^ "Душка Вучинић: Србија се не повлачи са „Песме Евровизије"" [Duška Vučinić: Serbia is not withdrawing from the Eurovision Song Contest] (in Serbian (Cyrillic script)). RTS. 26 May 2025. Retrieved 26 May 2025.
- ^ a b "Radio-televizija Srbije raspisuje javni konkurs za izbor kompozicije za Pesmu za Evroviziju 2026". RTS (in Serbian (Latin script)). 15 September 2025. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
- ^ "Olivera Kovačević o smenjivanju s mesta urednice Pesme za Evroviziju: Nisam želela da cenzurišem bilo koga na festivalu". Danas (in Serbian). 31 July 2025. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
- ^ Ljuština, Stevan (2 November 2025). "PzE26 | Uroš Marković novi supervizor". Evrovizija.rs. Retrieved 2 February 2025.
- ^ "ПЗЕ 2026: Све композиције доступне од 2. фебруара, фестивал 24, 26. и 28. фебруара" [PZE 2026: All compositions available from February 2nd, festival February 24th, 26th and 28th] (in Serbian). RTS. 21 January 2026. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
- ^ "Eurovision 2026: Who's in which Semi-final?". Eurovisionworld. 12 January 2026. Retrieved 17 January 2026.