The 2020–21 Liga I (also known as Casa Liga 1 for sponsorship reasons) was the 103rd season of the
Liga I
The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...
, the top professional league for Romanian
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
clubs. The season started on 21 August 2020 and ended on 19 May 2021.
CFR Cluj
Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ), is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, which competes in the Liga I. It was founded in 1907 as ''Kolozsvári Vasutas Sport Club'', whe ...
were winners and three-time defending champions. It was the sixth season to take place in the play-off/play-out format, and the first since the
2005–06 season to feature 16 teams.
The play-off/play-out rule was also altered, with the first six teams at the regular season qualified for the play-off tournament and the last ten for the play-out. The first six teams played two matches against each other as before, but in the play-out the teams only played once against each other. At the end of the play-out, the first two places (or the 7th and 8th overall) played a single match on the ground of the lower ranked team, and the subsequent winner played the last team ranked on a
UEFA Europa Conference League
The UEFA Europa Conference League (abbreviated as UECL) is an annual football club competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on their ...
spot in the play-off. The winner of the latter encounter qualified for the Europa Conference League.
[Liga 1 trece de la 14 la 16 echipe! Dinamo a fost salvată de la retrogradare, ultima clasată Chindia Târgoviște va juca barajul de menținere/promovare cu CS Mioveni. Se schimbă modul de promovare din Liga 2, însă din sezonul următor](_blank)
liga2.prosport.ro
The teams ranked 15th and 16th at the end of the play-out tournament were directly relegated, while the 13th and 14th places played a promotion/relegation play-off against 3rd and 4th places from
Liga II
The Liga 2, most often spelled as Liga II, is the second level of the Romanian football league system. The league changed its name from Divizia B just before the start of the 2006–07 Liga II, 2006–07. It is currently Sponsor (commercial), sp ...
.
Teams
The league consists of 16 teams: 13 from the
2019–20 Liga I, two teams from the
2019–20 Liga II
The 2019–20 Liga II (also known as 2019–20 Liga II Casa Pariurilor) was the 80th season of the Liga II, the second tier of the Romanian football league system. The season began on 3 August 2019 and ended on 2 August 2020. A total of 20 teams ...
, and the winner of the
2019–20 promotion/relegation play-off.
Teams promoted to the Liga I
The first club to be promoted was
UTA Arad
Uta or UTA may refer to:
Universities
*University of Texas at Arlington, in the United States
* University of Tarapacá, in Chile
*University of Tampere, in Finland
Sports
* FC UTA Arad, a Romanian football club based in the town of Arad
* A ...
, following their 1–1 draw against
FC Argeș
FC may refer to:
Businesses, organisations, and schools
* Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India
* Finncomm Airlines (IATA code)
* FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC
* Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakis ...
on 2 August 2020. UTA returned in the
Liga I
The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...
after 12 years of absence.
The second club to be promoted was
FC Argeș
FC may refer to:
Businesses, organisations, and schools
* Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India
* Finncomm Airlines (IATA code)
* FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC
* Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakis ...
, following their 1–1 draw against
UTA Arad
Uta or UTA may refer to:
Universities
*University of Texas at Arlington, in the United States
* University of Tarapacá, in Chile
*University of Tampere, in Finland
Sports
* FC UTA Arad, a Romanian football club based in the town of Arad
* A ...
on 2 August 2020. FC Argeș returned in the
Liga I
The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...
after 11 years of absence.
Teams relegated to the
Liga II
The Liga 2, most often spelled as Liga II, is the second level of the Romanian football league system. The league changed its name from Divizia B just before the start of the 2006–07 Liga II, 2006–07. It is currently Sponsor (commercial), sp ...
No teams were relegated from the
2019–20 Liga I.
Initially, two clubs would have been relegated at the end of the
2019–20 Liga I season, with a third playing a relegation play-off with the 3rd-placed team from the 2019–20 Liga II. The first club to have been relegated would have been
Chindia Târgoviște, following a 0–1 defeat on 2 August 2020 against
Politehnica Iași, ending their 1-year stay in the top flight. However, owing to the effects of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
on the
previous season, the league table was frozen on 6 August 2020 and no teams were directly relegated. Instead, Chindia Târgoviște played
a promotion/relegation play-off against
CS Mioveni
Clubul Sportiv Mioveni (; ''Mioveni Sports Club''), commonly known as CS Mioveni, or simply as Mioveni, is a Romanian professional football club based in Mioveni, Argeș County, currently playing in the Liga I.
They were founded in 2000 as ''AS ...
and kept their Liga I spot after a 3–1 aggregate result.
Venues
Personnel and kits
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Managerial changes
Regular season
In the regular season the 16 teams will meet twice for a total of 30 matches per team, with the top 6 advancing to the Championship play-offs and the bottom 10 qualifying for the relegation play-outs.
Table
Results
Positions by round
Play-off round
The top six teams from Regular season will meet twice (10 matches per team) for places in
2021–22 UEFA Champions League,
2021–22 UEFA Europa League, and
2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League
The 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League was the inaugural season of the UEFA Europa Conference League, Europe's tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA.
The final was played at the Arena Kombëtare in Tirana, Albania, with Roma ...
as well as deciding the league champion. Teams start the Championship round with their points from the Regular season halved, rounded upwards, and no other records carried over from the Regular season.
Play-off table
Positions by round
Play-out round
The bottom ten teams from the regular season meet once to contest against relegation. Teams started the play-out round with their points from the Regular season halved, rounded upwards, and no other records carried over from the Regular season. The winner of the Relegation round finish 7th in the overall season standings, the second placed team – 8th, and so on, with the last placed team in the Relegation round being 16th.
Play-out table
Positions by round
European play-offs
In the semi-final, the 7th and 8th-placed teams of the
Liga I
The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...
plays a one-legged match on the ground of the better placed team (7th place). In the final, the winner of the semi-final will encounter the team ranked on the last
UEFA Europa Conference League
The UEFA Europa Conference League (abbreviated as UECL) is an annual football club competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on their ...
spot in the play-off tournament. The winner of the final will enter the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa Conference League.
European play-off semi-final
European play-off final
Promotion/relegation play-offs
The 13th and 14th-placed teams of the
Liga I
The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...
faces the 3rd and 4th-placed team of the
Liga II
The Liga 2, most often spelled as Liga II, is the second level of the Romanian football league system. The league changed its name from Divizia B just before the start of the 2006–07 Liga II, 2006–07. It is currently Sponsor (commercial), sp ...
.
First leg
Second leg
Season statistics
Top scorers
:''As of games played on 20 May 2021''
Top assists
:''As of games played on 23 April 2021''
Hat-tricks
;Notes
(H) – Home team
(A) – Away team
Double
;Notes
(H) – Home team
(A) – Away team
Clean sheets
:''As of games played on 23 April 2021''
Discipline
:''As of games played on 16 February 2021''
Player
* Most yellow cards: 9
**
Ousmane Viera (Hermannstadt)
* Most red cards: 2
**
Ondřej Bačo (Gaz Metan Mediaș)
**
Alexandru Benga
Alexandru Constantin Benga (born 15 June 1989) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Liga I club UTA Arad.
Career
Benga joined Botev Plovdiv on 18 January 2014.
On 22 July 2014, Benga signed a one-year contract wi ...
(UTA Arad)
**
Valentin Gheorghe (Astra Giurgiu)
**
Gabriel Matei (FC Argeș)
Team
* Most yellow cards: 74
** Hermannstadt
** Gaz Metan Mediaș
* Most red cards: 6
** Botoșani
* Fewest yellow cards: 34
** Universitatea Craiova
* Fewest red cards: 0
** CFR Cluj
Champion squad
Awards
Liga I Team of the Season
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liga I, 2020-21
2020-21
2020–21 in Romanian football
ro