The 2020–21 Primeira Liga (also known as Liga NOS for sponsorship reasons) was the 87th season of the Primeira Liga, the top professional league for Portuguese association football clubs. The season started later than usual, on 18 September 2020, due to the delayed end of the previous season caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and it concluded on 19 May 2021.
This was the fourth Primeira Liga season to use video assistant referee (VAR). As was the case at the end of the previous season, there were limited or no attendance in the stadiums besides each team's staff and personnel.
Porto were the defending champions. Nacional and Farense were promoted from the second-tier 2019–20 LigaPro by decision of the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional, after the suspension of the 2019–20 LigaPro due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal. They replaced Desportivo das Aves and Vitória de Setúbal, who were relegated to the 2020–21 Campeonato de Portugal.
On 11 May 2021, Sporting CP secured a 19th title after a 1–0 home win against Boavista, their first title since the 2001–02 season. It was also the first title since that season not being won by either Benfica or Porto.
Since Portugal ascended from seventh to sixth place in the UEFA association coefficient rankings at the end of 2019–20 season, the three best-ranked teams could qualify for the UEFA Champions League (the champions and runners-up entered directly into the group stage, and the third placed team entered the third qualifying round). The fourth and fifth-placed teams would qualified respectively to the UEFA Europa Conference League play-off and third qualifying rounds.
Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal, since March 2020, in contrast with various European leagues, the Primeira Liga began playing matches behind closed doors. On 13 September, Sporting confirmed that three players had tested positive for coronavirus, leading their pre-season match against Napoli to be cancelled due to the orders of the Portuguese Ministry of Health. The following day, Sporting confirmed that four players and a member of their staff had tested positive for coronavirus. Meanwhile, Gil Vicente confirmed that fifteen players had tested positive for coronavirus, leading also their pre-season match against Vitória de Guimarães to be cancelled. Three days later, Sporting confirmed that their manager Ruben Amorim and another player tested positive for coronavirus, with both going into self-isolation. On 17 September, it was announced that the Gil Vicente and Sporting fixture on matchday 1 would be postponed, following direct orders from the Portuguese Ministry of Health, after it was confirmed that Gil Vicente had four more positive cases of coronavirus.
On 3 October, Santa Clara faced Gil Vicente on matchday 3 at the Estádio de São Miguel, in Ponta Delgada, Azores, in a match, which was the first one to allow spectators in Portugal, with the stadium being limited to 10% of its capacity (1,000 spectators). Ten days later, it was announced that Paços de Ferreira's manager Pepa had tested positive for COVID-19, leading him and his staff being placed in quarantine as a preventive measure, forcing him to miss Paços de Ferreira's match against Santa Clara on October 18 at matchday 4.
On matchday 5, played between 23 and 26 October, there were three matches in which spectatores were allowed: Tondela against Portimonense at Estádio João Cardoso, Santa Clara against Sporting at the Estádio de São Miguel (with spectators being allowed for the second consecutive match) and Farense against Rio Ave at Estádio Algarve, where Farense played their first three home matches, instead of their regular home stadium Estádio de São Luís, due to a turf change. Like the match against Gil Vicente, Santa Clara match was played with the stadium capacity limited to 10%, as the other two matches were limited to 15% (approximately 750 and 4,500 spectators in Estádio João Cardoso and Estádio Algarve, respectively).
Santa Clara announced on February 20 that spectators will be allowed in Estádio de São Miguel, for the third time this season, in the match against Paços de Ferreira on matchday 21, played one week later on 27 February. This time, one third of the stadium's maximum capacity was allowed.
Teams Eighteen teams competed in the league – the top sixteen teams from the previous season and two teams promoted from the LigaPro. Nacional and Farense were promoted on 5 May 2020 by decision of the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional, after the suspension of the 2019–20 LigaPro due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal. This decision was made based on UEFA's recommendations, focusing on sporting merit, as these teams were in first and second place of the LigaPro, respectively, at the time of cancellation.
Nacional came back to the top division one season after being relegated, while Farense secured their return after an 18-year absence. They replaced Desportivo das Aves and Vitória de Setúbal, who were relegated after three and sixteen seasons in the top flight, respectively.
Stadia and locations
Team Location Stadium Capacity 2019–20 B-SAD Oeiras Estádio Nacional 37,593 15th Benfica Lisbon Estádio da Luz 64,642 2nd Boavista Porto Estádio do Bessa 28,263 12th Braga Braga Estádio Municipal de Braga 30,286 3rd Famalicão Vila Nova de Famalicão Estádio Municipal 22 de Junho 5,307 6th Farense Faro Estádio de São Luís 7,000 2nd (LP) Gil Vicente Barcelos Estádio Cidade de Barcelos 12,504 10th Marítimo Funchal Estádio do Marítimo 10,932 11th Nacional Funchal Estádio da Madeira 5,132 1st (LP) Moreirense Moreira de Cónegos Parque de Jogos ComendadorJoaquim de Almeida Freitas 6,153 8th Paços de Ferreira Paços de Ferreira Estádio Capital do Móvel 9,076 13th Portimonense Portimão Estádio Municipal de Portimão 6,204 17th Porto Porto Estádio do Dragão 50,033 1st Rio Ave Vila do Conde Estádio dos Arcos 9,065 5th Santa Clara Ponta Delgada Estádio de São Miguel 13,277 9th Sporting CP Lisbon Estádio José Alvalade 50,095 4th Tondela Tondela Estádio João Cardoso 5,000 14th Vitória de Guimarães Guimarães Estádio D. Afonso Henriques 30,000 7th
Personnel and sponsors Team Manager Captain KitManufacturer Main Sponsor B-SAD Petit Silvestre Varela Lacatoni Betway Group Benfica Jorge Jesus Jardel Adidas Emirates Boavista Jesualdo Ferreira Javi García Kelme VITO Tools Braga Carlos Carvalhal Fransérgio Hummel Betano Famalicão Ivo Vieira Gustavo Assunção Macron Porminho Farense Jorge Costa Cássio Scheid Adidas McDonald's Gil Vicente Ricardo Soares Rúben Fernandes Lacatoni Las Kasas Marítimo Julio Velázquez Edgar Costa Nike Betano Nacional Manuel Machado Rúben Micael Hummel Santander Moreirense Vasco Seabra João Aurélio CDT Paços de Ferreira Pepa Marcelo Joma Aldro Energy Portimonense Paulo Sérgio Dener Mizuno McDonald's Porto Sérgio Conceição Pepe New Balance MEO Rio Ave Miguel Cardoso Tarantini Nike MEO Santa Clara Daniel Ramos Osama Rashid Kelme Santander Sporting CP Ruben Amorim Sebastián Coates Nike Betano Tondela Pako Ayestarán Ricardo Alves CDT Cabriz Vitória de Guimarães Moreno André André Macron
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Date of vacancy Pos in table Incoming manager Date of appointment Santa Clara João Henriques Mutual consent 24 July 2020Pre-season Daniel Ramos 28 July 2020 Vitória de Guimarães Ivo Vieira 24 July 2020 Tiago Mendes 28 July 2020 Boavista Daniel Ramos 25 July 2020 Vasco Seabra 30 July 2020 Rio Ave Carlos Carvalhal 25 July 2020 Mário Silva 30 July 2020 Marítimo José Gomes Signed for Almería 27 July 2020 Lito Vidigal 30 July 2020 Braga Artur Jorge End of caretaker role 28 July 2020 Carlos Carvalhal 28 July 2020 Benfica Nélson Veríssimo 1 August 2020 Jorge Jesus 3 August 2020 Tondela Natxo González Mutual Consent 5 August 2020 Pako Ayestarán 9 August 2020 Vitória de Guimarães Tiago Mendes 8 October 202011th João Henriques 13 October 2020 Moreirense Ricardo SoaresResigned 9 November 20209th César Peixoto 10 November 2020 Gil Vicente Rui AlmeidaSacked 11 November 202017th Ricardo Soares 13 November 2020 Marítimo Lito Vidigal 4 December 2020 Milton Mendes 5 December 2020Boavista Vasco Seabra 8 December 202015th Daniel Gonçalves (Caretaker) 8 December 2020 Daniel Gonçalves (Caretaker)End of caretaker role 13 December 2020 Jesualdo Ferreira 13 December 2020 Rio Ave Mário Silva Sacked 30 December 202013th Pedro Cunha (Caretaker) 30 December 2020 Moreirense César PeixotoResigned 2 January 20218th Leandro Mendes (Caretaker) 2 January 2021 Leandro Mendes (Caretaker) End of caretaker role 5 January 2021 Vasco Seabra 5 January 2021 Rio Ave Pedro Cunha (Caretaker) 29 January 202110th Miguel Cardoso 29 January 2021 Famalicão João Pedro Sousa Sacked 31 January 202116th Silas 1 February 2021 Farense Sérgio Vieira Mutual Consent 1 February 202117th Jorge Costa 4 February 2021 Famalicão Silas 8 March 2021 Ivo Vieira 8 March 2021 Marítimo Milton Mendes Resigned 5 March 2021 18th Julio Velázquez 11 March 2021 Nacional Luís Freire Sacked 21 March 202117th Manuel Machado 22 March 2021 Vitória de Guimarães João Henriques 5 April 20216th Bino (Caretaker) 5 April 2021 Bino (Caretaker) End of caretaker role 13 May 2021 8th Moreno (Caretaker) 13 May 2021
League table
Relegation play-offs The relegation play-offs took place on 26 and 30 May 2021.
All times are WEST (UTC+1).
Arouca won 5–0 on aggregate and were promoted to 2021–22 Primeira Liga; Rio Ave were relegated to 2021–22 Liga Portugal 2.
Results
Positions by round The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve chronological evolvements, any postponed matches are not included to the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards.
Statistics Top goalscorers Rank Player Club Goals1 Pedro GonçalvesSporting CP232 Haris SeferovicBenfica223 Mehdi TaremiPorto164 Mario GonzálezTondela155 CarlosSanta Clara146 Sérgio OliveiraPorto13 7 BetoPortimonense 11 8 Mateo CassierraBelenenses SAD 10
Hat-tricks
PlayerForAgainstResultDate Mario GonzálezTondelaMoreirense3–2 (A)17 April 2021 Pedro GonçalvesSporting CPMarítimo5–1 (H)19 May 2021 Notes (H) – Home team(A) – Away team
Top assists Rank Player Club Assists 1 Mehdi Taremi Porto112 Darwin Núñez Benfica10 3 Everton Benfica9 Álex GrimaldoBenfica5 Otávio Porto 86 Jesús Corona Porto7 Alberth Elis Boavista Ryan Gauld Farense
Clean sheets RankPlayerClubClean sheets1 Antonio AdánSporting CP192 Agustín MarchesínPorto163 Paweł KieszekRio Ave11 Stanislav KritsyukBelenenses SAD5 Amir AbedzadehMarítimo10 Bruno VarelaVitória de Guimarães DenisGil Vicente8 MatheusBraga9 JordiPaços de Ferreira Léo JardimBoavista Luiz JúniorFamalicão Samuel PortugalPortimonense Marco PereiraSanta Clara
Discipline Player Most yellow cards: 13 Nicolás Otamendi (Benfica) Fábio Pacheco (Moreirense) Most red cards: 2 Salvador Agra (Tondela) Chidozie Awaziem (Boavista) David Carmo (Braga) Júlio César (Nacional) Rafael Defendi (Farense) Fransérgio (Braga) Javi García (Boavista) Stanislav Kritsyuk (Belenenses) Ygor Nogueira (Gil Vicente)
Club Most yellow cards: 102 Marítimo Most red cards: 10 Boavista
Awards Monthly awards For the 2020–21 season, there were seven monthly awards in the Primeira Liga: best player, goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, forward, manager and goal of the month.