The 2020–21 Belgian First Division A was the 118th season of top-tier football in Belgium. As part of a proposal by the Jupiler Pro League's board of directors accepted by the General Assembly on 15 May 2020, the 2020–21 season would involve shortened playoffs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Only the top four teams would play for the title, while teams five through eight would play for the remaining ticket into Europe. The league fixtures were announced on 8 July 2020. Club Brugge successfully defended their title from the previous season, finishing level on points in the title play-offs with Racing Genk, as regular season runners-up Royal Antwerp's challenge faded.

Team changes Waasland-Beveren were originally relegated to the Belgian First Division B, as they were the bottom-placed team when the 2019–20 Belgian First Division A stopped prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, following legal proceedings, they remained in the top-flight, and instead, the league was expanded to 18 teams, with both OH Leuven and Beerschot being promoted (normally only one of them would have gained promotion). Technically, under its current form and owners, Beerschot will make its debut in the top tier of Belgian football, although in reality two teams with the same identity have played at the top level: Beerschot VAC (81 seasons, last in 1990–91) and Beerschot AC (until its bankruptcy at the end of the 2012–13 season, and known as Germinal Beerschot from 1999 until 2011). OH Leuven returned to the top tier after an absence of four seasons, when they dropped to the last place on the ultimate matchday of the 2015–16 season.

Format change With now 18 instead of 16 teams, the format has changed somewhat. While the season still starts with an initial round-robin phase in which all teams play each other twice, the end of season play-offs have been shortened temporarily and for the 2020–21 and 2021–22 seasons only. The title playoffs will now only be played by the top four teams (instead of six) and the Europa play-offs will now be played by the teams finishing fifth through eight (instead of all teams finishing below 6th). As a result, for all teams finishing below 8th, the season will be over upon completion of the round-robin phase, with the team in last position being relegated. One exception is the team finishing in 17th position, as this team will play a promotion-relegation play off against the 2nd-place finisher in the 2020–21 Belgian First Division B, with the winner playing in the 2021–22 Belgian First Division A.

Teams Stadiums and locations

Matricule Club Location Venue Capacity 35 Anderlecht Constant Vanden Stock Stadium 21,500 1 Antwerp Bosuilstadion 12,97513BeerschotAntwerpOlympic Stadium 12,771 12 Bruges Jan Breydel Stadium 29,042 22 Charleroi Stade du Pays de Charleroi 14,000 3 Bruges Jan Breydel Stadium 29,042 4276 Eupen Kehrwegstadion 8,363 322 Genk Luminus Arena 24,956 7 Ghent Ghelamco Arena 20,000 19 Kortrijk Guldensporen Stadion 9,399 25 Mechelen AFAS-stadion Achter de Kazerne 16,700 216 Mouscron Stade Le Canonnier 10,571 31 Ostend Versluys Arena 8,43218LeuvenDen Dreef 10,000 373 Sint-Truiden Stayen 14,600 16 Liège Stade Maurice Dufrasne 30,023 4068 Beveren Freethiel Stadion 8,190 5381 Waregem Regenboogstadion 12,500

Number of teams by provinces Number of teams Province or region Team(s)5 , , , and 3 , Beerschot and 2 and Waasland-Beveren and and and 1

Personnel and kits Club Manager Kit Manufacturer Sponsors Anderlecht Vincent Kompany Joma DVV Insurance (home) Candriam (away) Antwerp Franky Vercauteren Jako Ghelamco Beerschot Will Still XIII Yelo Cercle Brugge Yves Vanderhaeghe Kappa Napoleon Games Charleroi Karim Belhocine Kappa Lotto Club Brugge Philippe Clement Macron Unibet Eupen Beñat San José Adidas Qatar Airways Excel Mouscron Jorge Simão Uhlsport Star Casino Genk John van den Brom Nike Beobank Gent Hein Vanhaezebrouck Craft VDK Bank Kortrijk Luka Elsner Jako AGO Jobs & HR Mechelen Wouter Vrancken Jartazi Telenet OH Leuven Marc Brys Adidas King Power Oostende Alexander Blessin Kipsta Star Casino Sint-Truiden Peter Maes Macron DMM.com Standard Liège Mbaye Leye New Balance VOO Waasland-Beveren Nicky Hayen Uhlsport Star Casino Zulte-Waregem Francky Dury Patrick Napoleon Games

Managerial changes <onlyinclude>

Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position Replaced by Date of appointment Cercle Brugge Bernd Storck End of contract End of 2019–20 season Pre-season Paul Clement 3 July 2020 Antwerp László Bölöni End of contract Ivan Leko 20 May 2020 Sint-Truiden Miloš Kostić Mutual consent Kevin Muscat 2 June 2020 Waasland-Beveren Dirk Geeraerd (caretaker) Caretaker replaced Nicky Hayen 4 June 2020 Oostende Adnan Čustović Replaced Alexander Blessin 7 June 2020 Standard Liège Michel Preud'homme Resigned Philippe Montanier 10 June 2020 Excel Mouscron Bernd Hollerbach Mutual consent Fernando Da Cruz 18 July 2020 Anderlecht Franky Vercauteren Kompany became sole manager 17 August 2020 3rd Vincent Kompany 17 August 2020 Gent Jess Thorup Sacked 20 August 2020 16th László Bölöni 20 August 2020 Gent László Bölöni Sacked 14 September 2020 16th Wim De Decker 14 September 2020 Genk Hannes Wolf Sacked 15 September 2020 14th Domenico Olivieri (caretaker) 15 September 2020 Genk Domenico Olivieri Caretaker replaced 24 September 2020 14th Jess Thorup 24 September 2020 Excel Mouscron Fernando Da Cruz Sacked 19 October 2020 18th Jorge Simão 20 October 2020 Genk Jess Thorup Hired by Copenhagen 2 November 2020 7th John van den Brom 8 November 2020 Sint-Truiden Kevin Muscat Sacked 1 December 2020 16th Stef Van Winckel (caretaker) 1 December 2020 Gent Wim De Decker Sacked 3 December 2020 12th Hein Vanhaezebrouck 4 December 2020 Sint-Truiden Stef Van Winckel Caretaker replaced 7 December 2020 17th Peter Maes 7 December 2020 Standard Liège Philippe Montanier Sacked 26 December 2020 11th Mbaye Leye 30 December 2020 Antwerp Ivan Leko Hired by Shanghai SIPG 29 December 2020 5th Franky Vercauteren 4 January 2021 Beerschot Hernán Losada Hired by D.C. United 17 January 2021 10th Will Still 19 January 2021 Kortrijk Yves Vanderhaeghe Sacked 31 January 2021 15th Luka Elsner 31 January 2021 Cercle Brugge Paul Clement Sacked 1 February 2021 17th Yves Vanderhaeghe 3 February 2021

<onlyinclude>

Regular season League table

Results

Play-offs

Play-Off I

The points obtained during the regular season were halved (and rounded up) before the start of the playoff. As a result, the teams started with the following points before the playoff: Club Brugge 38, Antwerp 30, Anderlecht 29 and Genk 28.

Play-Off II The points obtained during the regular season were halved (and rounded up) before the start of the playoff. As a result, the teams started with the following points before the playoff: Oostende 27, Standard 25, Gent 25 and Mechelen 24. The points of Oostende and Gent were rounded up, therefore in case of any ties on points at the end of the playoffs, the half point will be deducted for these teams.

European competition play-offs Originally, the fourth-placed team of the play-offs I (or third-placed team if the regular season winners finish fourth) and the first-placed team of the play-offs II would play two home-and-away matches to determine the Europa Conference League play-off winner, which would qualify for the second qualifying round of the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League. However, since Genk, winners of the 2020–21 Belgian Cup, finished in the regular season top four and qualified for play-offs I, this guaranteed that all four teams of play-offs I would qualify for European competitions. As a result, the play-off final was not played, and the first-placed team of the play-offs II, KAA Gent, qualified for the second qualifying round of the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League.

Promotion-Relegation play-off The team finishing in 17th place competes in a two-legged match with the runner-up of the 2020–21 Belgian First Division B, with the aggregate winner to play in the 2021–22 Belgian First Division A, while the losing team will take part in the 2021–22 Belgian First Division B.

On 11 April 2021, Seraing from the Belgian First Division B qualified for the promotion-relegation playoff as a loss by Lommel against Union SG meant Seraing could no longer be overtaken for second place. On 8 May 2021, Seraing was promoted to the 2021–22 Belgian First Division A after a 6–3 aggregate win in the two-legged series and Waasland-Beveren was relegated to the 2021–22 Belgian First Division B.

Seraing won 6–3 on aggregate.

Season statistics

Top scorers - regular season only

Rank Player Club Goals 1 Paul Onuachu Genk 30 2 Thomas Henry OH Leuven 21 3 Gianni Bruno Zulte Waregem 204 Yuma Suzuki Sint-Truiden17 Roman Yaremchuk Gent6 Raphael Holzhauser Beerschot16 Ike Ugbo Cercle Brugge 8 Smail Prevljak Eupen 159 Theo Bongonda Genk14 Noa Lang Club Brugge Lukas Nmecha Anderlecht

Top assists

Rank Player Club Assists1 Raphael Holzhauser Beerschot16 Xavier Mercier OH Leuven3 Andrew Hjulsager Oostende10 Junya Ito Genk5 Ruud Vormer Club Brugge96 Lior Refaelov Antwerp87 Omar Govea Zulte Waregem7 Noa Lang Club Brugge Ryota Morioka Charleroi Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe Gent Rob Schoofs Mechelen Faïz Selemani Kortrijk Hans Vanaken Club Brugge Awards Annual awards AwardWinnerClubPlayer of the Year Paul Onuachu Genk Top goalscorer Manager of the Year Alexander Blessin OostendeBreakthrough of the Year Noa Lang Club Brugge Team of the YearGoalkeeper Simon Mignolet (Club Brugge)Defence Clinton Mata (Club Brugge) Arthur Theate (Oostende) Ritchie De Laet (Royal Antwerp)Midfield Lior Refaelov (Royal Antwerp) Bryan Heynen (Genk) Raphael Holzhauser (Beerschot)Xavier Mercier (OH Leuven)Attack Junya Ito (Genk) Paul Onuachu (Genk) Noa Lang (Club Brugge)

Notes

References

External links Jupiler Pro League official website