RTP organised the national final Festival da Canção 2017 in order to select the Portuguese entry for the 2017 contest in Kyiv, Ukraine.

After two semi-finals and a final which took place in February and March 2017, "Amar pelos dois" performed by Salvador Sobral emerged as the winner after achieving the highest score following the combination of votes from seven regional juries and a public televote.

Performing during the show in position 9, "Amar pelos dois" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 13 May.

In the final, Portugal performed in position 11 and placed first out of the 26 participating countries, winning the contest with a record total of 758 points.

[1] The nation's highest placing in the contest was sixth, which they achieved in 1996 with the song "O meu coração não tem cor" performed by Lúcia Moniz.

Portugal's least successful result has been last place, which they have achieved on three occasions, most recently in 1997 with the song "Antes do adeus" performed by Célia Lawson.

The nation failed to qualify to the final in 2015 with the song "Há um mar que nos separa" performed by Leonor Andrade.

Sixteen composers were nominated by journalist and music critic Nuno Galopim and Antena 3 presenter Henrique Amaro and invited by RTP for the competition.

[9] The composers, which both created the songs and selected its performers, were required to submit the demo and final versions of their entries by 11 and 31 January 2017, respectively.

[14] In each semi-final eight entries competed and four advanced to the final based on the 50/50 combination of votes of a jury panel consisting of Júlio Isidro, Ramon Galarza, Nuno Markl, Tozé Brito, Inês Lopes Gonçalves, Gabriela Schaaf, João Carlos Callixto, Inês Meneses and Dora, and a public televote.

The final took place at the Coliseu dos Recreios in Lisbon on 5 March 2017, hosted by Sílvia Alberto and Catarina Furtado.

[14] The eight entries that qualified from the two preceding semi-finals competed and the winner, "Amar pelos dois" performed by Salvador Sobral, was selected based on the 50/50 combination of votes of seven regional juries and a public televote.

[16] On social media, the manager of the official Facebook page of Festival da Canção commented that "For many of the [participating] composers, Eurovision was not the goal but rather to have this opportunity to showcase more of Portuguese music".

The aim is to push for Portuguese music [...] I can say that half of the forest didn't burn"[18] Following the first semi-final, jury panellist Nuno Markl publicly revealed on social media that he had given top marks to Salvador Sobral, which sparked calls for his replacement.

Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency.

This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act.