TVR has announced that two artists have received a wildcard into the final of Selecția Națională 2026.
Having originally intended to award just one artist a wildcard into the final of the Romanian selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2026, TVR has this evening announced two artists have been selected to go through to the final. Antonio Picon and Wrs were chosen from five acts, with the wildcard to be awarded on the number of views a song received.
The results of the wildcard round are:
- Alexa & Aria Moon – “iELE”
- Antonio Pican – “Humans” – Finalist
- Bogdan Medvedi – “Broken Heart”
- Impact – “Bengalo”
- WRS – “All the Way” – Finalist
The artists who were chosen by the jury to directly qualify for the final:
- Alejandro Zandes & Emil Rengle – “Bailando solo” (Dancing alone)
- Alexandra Căpitănescu – “Choke Me”
- Edward Maya x LavBbe x Costi – “Everybody Needs Somebody”
- Emy Alupei – “Till Born”
- HVNDS – “Dor” (Sorrow)
- Monica Odagiu – “Fereastra pentru un orb” (Window for a blind man)
- Olivia Addams – “Croco”
- Vanu – “Therapy Enemy”
- Yguana – “Happy Birthday”
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. TVR also announced this evening, that should there be a tie in the jury voting, the number of views each act has received on the official Playlist on YouTube will be used to split a tie.
Romania returns 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.