Zya has withdrawn from the Semi-Finals phase of Selecția Națională 2026, as auditions commenced today in Bucharest.
Zya, who was due to compete with “Cu a me” (With love), has withdrawn from the Romanian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2026. The singer according to TVR has withdrawn for personal reasons, meaning that 67 songs remain in contention to make it through to the final of the Romanian selection.
The semi-final auditions are taking place from February 9 to 11. The semi-finalists will perform their entries in front of the jury, who will select ten artists to advance to the final. The finalists will be announced on February 12 during Telejurnal at 8:00 PM, live on TVR 1, TVR INFO, and on tvrplus.ro.
The final of Selecția Națională 2026 will take place on March 4. A jury will decide which artist will represent Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 in Vienna.
Romania will come back to the Eurovision Song Contest after two years of absence. The last time they participated was in 2023, with “D.G.T. (Off And On)” by Theodor Andrei, scoring 0 points in the second semi-final. They are one of the three countries coming back to the contest in 2026, together with Bulgaria and Moldova. Romania actively participated in Eurovision from 1994 until its withdrawal in 2024 due to financial problems.
Source: TVR
Romania first participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994. The country tried to participate in 1993 but failed to get through the pre-qualifying round. At the 1994 contest, Dan Bittman finished 21st in the final scoring 14 points, Romania didn’t make it through to another final until 1998. Romania’s best results in the contest are two third-place finishes. In 2005, Luminita Anghel & Sistem finished 3rd scoring 158 points, while Paula Seling & Ovi finished 3rd in 2010 with the song “Playing with Fire”. Romania missed the 2016 contest due to TVR being removed from the EBU due to debts to the organisation. Romania has not participated in Eurovision since 2023, coming back only this year.