2020 Belarusian First League is the 30th season of 2nd level football in Belarus. It started in April and finished in November 2020.
Team changes from 2019 season Two best teams of 2019 Belarusian First League (Belshina Bobruisk and Smolevichi), as well as third-placed Rukh Brest (who won the promotion/relegation play-off) were promoted to Belarusian Premier League. They were replaced by 15th-placed teams of 2019 Belarusian Premier League (Gomel) and 14th-placed Dnyapro Mogilev (who lost the play-off to Rukh Brest). 16th-placed Premier League team Torpedo Minsk disbanded, leaving a vacancy in the First League.
Last placed team of the last season (Baranovichi) relegated to the Second League. They were replaced by two best teams of 2019 Second League (Arsenal Dzerzhinsk and Oshmyany).
NFK Minsk reverted their name to Krumkachy Minsk during the winter break.
Dnyapro Mogilev ceased to exist in the spring. To fill in two vacant spots left by Dnyapro and Torpedo and to return to 16 participants, two teams were additionally promoted (Molodechno and Underdog Chist as the 3rd- and 4th-placed Second League teams). However, as both clubs represent neighboring cities, Molodechno were unable to secure the necessary financial support from the Maladzyechna Raion administration (who decided to fully support Underdog instead) and were forced to give up the promotion. Underdog Chist, however, were also excluded a few weeks later due to financial problems of their own, and the league was left with only 14 participants for the season.
As a result of investigation of match-fixing incidents during 2017 and 2018 seasons, five clubs were punished with points deductions before the start of the season.
Teams summary
TeamLocationPosition in 2019GomelGomelPremier League, 15Lokomotiv GomelGomel4Naftan NovopolotskNovopolotsk5Sputnik RechitsaRechitsa6LidaLida7Krumkachy MinskMinsk8Granit MikashevichiMikashevichi9OrshaOrsha10Khimik SvetlogorskSvetlogorsk11Volna PinskPinsk12Slonim-2017Slonim13SmorgonSmorgon14Arsenal DzerzhinskDzerzhinskSecond League, 1OshmyanyOshmyanySecond League, 2
League table
Results
Promotion play-offs First leg
Second leg
Slutsk won 4–1 on aggregate and therefore both clubs remain in their respective leagues.
Relegation play-offs First leg
Second leg
Khimik Svetlogorsk won 4–0 on aggregate and therefore both clubs remain in their respective leagues.
Top goalscorers RankGoalscorerTeamGoals1 Andrey SoloveyLokomotiv Gomel202 Artsyom VaskowGomel163 Dmitry GomzaGomel114 Yan SenkevichLida10 Pavel KlenyoLokomotiv Gomel10 Pavel DemidchikOshmyany10 Iskandar ZarobekovVolna Pinsk10 Valery PotorochaSputnik Rechitsa10 Updated to games played on 21 November 2020 Source: football.by
See also 2020 Belarusian Premier League 2020 Belarusian Second League 2019–20 Belarusian Cup 2020–21 Belarusian Cup
References
External links Official site