Mexico in the OTI Festival 1980

Mexico was represented at the OTI Festival 1980 with the song "Sólo te amo a ti", written and performed by José Roberto. The Mexican participating broadcaster, Televisa, selected its entry through a national televised competition with several phases. The song, that was performed in position 17, placed eighth out of 23 competing entries, with 21 points.

Televisa held a national competition with four televised qualifying rounds and a final to select its entry for the 9th edition of the OTI Festival. This ninth edition of the National OTI Festival featured forty songs, of which ten reached the final. In addition to the general competition, awards were given for Best Male Performer, Best Female Performer, Best Musical Arrangement, and Breakout Artist, among all the competing artists.

The shows were held at Teatro de la Ciudad in Mexico City, were presented by Raúl Velasco, and were broadcast on Canal 2. The musical director was Chucho Ferrrer, who conducted the Single Union of Music Workers of Mexico orchestra when required. Hermanos Zavala, the single mixed backing choir of four voices, were credited on the songs they accompanied.

There were four qualifying rounds with ten entries each, of which the ten highest-scoring entries among the 40 competing advanced to the final. Ten expert jurors were present in the hall, and five provincial juries of five members each were located remotely. Each of the present ten jurors and the five remote juries scored between 2 and 7 points all the entries. The provincial juries, which voted via telephone, had a stand in juror each in the hall in case of communication failure during voting. In case of a tie for tenth place, the jurors in the hall would break the tie so that only ten entries would pass to the final.

The jurors present in the hall were: Guillermo Infante, Gustavo Páez, Juan Calderón, Lourdes Guerrero, Raúl Cervantes Ayala, Eduardo Linares, Eduardo Laso, Sergio Romano, José Gutiérrez Vivó, and Alicia Colmenares, who was the chairperson. Ignacio Morales was the stand in juror, in case any juror could not vote due to a conflict of interest.

Each of the performers received on stage a diploma of participation after their performance. The fourth qualifying round featured a guest performance by Angélica María.

The final was held on Sunday 21 September 1980. The same jurors present in the hall for the qualifying rounds were also present for the final, to which five international jurors also present were added. After all the competing entries were performed, each of the fifteen jurors announced aloud one vote for their favourite entry. The three songs with the most votes were awarded first, second, and third prize. In the event that the jurors unanimously voted for a single song, the score in the qualifying rounds would be taken into account for the remaining prizes. In case of a tie for the prizes, the jurors would break the tie between the tied entries, and if the tie persisted, the chairperson would decide.

The winner was "Sólo te amo a ti", written and performed by José Roberto; with "¿Quién partirá?", written by Roberto Cantoral and performed by Gualberto Castro, placing second; and "Se solicita una aventura", written by Roberto Cantoral and performed by Lila Deneken, placing third. The festival ended with a reprise of the winning entry.

In the final, the fifteen jurors voted aloud for the Best Male and Female Performer Awards, Best Musical Arrangement Award, and Breakout Artist Award among the shortlisted artist in each category.

Gualberto Castro received the Best Male Performer Award; Lila Deneken the Best Female Performer Award; Eduardo Magallanes the Best Musical Arrangement Award for "Sólo una noche"; and Javier de León the Breakout Artist Award.

Las 10 finalistas del Festival OTI 80 is the official compilation album of the ninth edition of the Mexican National OTI Festival, released by Raff in 1980. The vinyl LP features the studio version of the ten songs qualified for the national final.^[6]

On 15 November 1980, the OTI Festival was held at the Martín Coronado hall of the Teatro General San Martín in Buenos Aires, Argentina, hosted by Argentina Televisora Color (ATC), and broadcast live throughout Ibero-America. José Roberto performed "Sólo te amo a ti" in position 17, placing eighth out of 23 competing entries, with 21 points.^[7]

Each participating broadcaster assembled a jury who awarded 5–1 points to their five favourite songs in order of preference.