Portugal has won the 2017 Eurovision song contest with a ballad performed by Salvador Sobral. The 27-year-old’s song, Amar Pelos Dois, was written by his sister who also sang with him during the finale. During his acceptance speech, he said that he wanted the world to make music which meant something and wasn’t disposable. ‘We live in a world of fast food music. This is a victory for music… music isn’t fireworks, music is feeling.’
Sobral won with a landslide victory – getting 785 points in total from the public and jury votes. It is the first time that the country has won the Eurovision for the first time since it began 53 years ago. He was presented with the trophy by the winner of last year’s contest, Jamala. Bulgaria and Moldova came is second and third place respectively.
Israel also announced that they would no longer be participating in the competition because the country’s Broadcasting Authority is shutting down. The person revealed the results from Israel said ‘But tonight, is our final night, shortly IBA will shut down its broadcasting forever, so on behalf of all of us here in IBA, let me say thank you Europe for all the magical moments and the beautiful years.’