The 2020–21 La Liga season, also known as La Liga Santander due to sponsorship reasons, was the 90th since its establishment. The season began on 12 September 2020 and concluded on 23 May 2021. The fixtures were announced on 31 August 2020.

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

were the defending champions, after winning a record 34th title in the previous season.

Huesca Huesca (; an, Uesca) is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the autonomous community of Aragon. It is also the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and of the comarca of Hoya de Huesca. In 2009 it had a population of 52,059, almo ...

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

and

Elche Elche ( ca-valencia, Elx) is a city and municipality of Spain, belonging to the province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. According to 2014 data, Elche has a population of 228,647 inhabitants,2019–20 Segunda División The 2019–20 Segunda División season, also known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, was the 89th since its establishment. On 12 March 2020 after most of teams had played 31 games, the league was suspended for at least two weeks due t ...

. They replaced

Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

and

Leganés Leganés () is a city in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Considered part of the Madrid metropolitan area, it is located about 11 km southwest of the centre of Madrid. , it has a population of 188,425, making it the region's fifth most popul ...

, who were relegated to the 2020–21 Segunda División. Exceptionally, this season the five substitutions were maintained in a maximum of three rounds per team, adopted in May 2020 due to the

impact of the COVID-19 pandemic As of 2022, the COVID‑19 pandemic is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV‑2). Its impact has been broad, affecting general society, the ...

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

clinched their eleventh La Liga title on the final matchday of the season, after a 2–1 comeback win against

Valladolid Valladolid () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province o ...

. It was their first title since 2013–14.

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

and Real Madrid were the only other teams to have won the title since Atlético Madrid last did so.

Teams

Promotion and relegation (pre-season)

A total of twenty teams contested the league, including seventeen sides from the 2019–20 season and three promoted from the

2019–20 Segunda División The 2019–20 Segunda División season, also known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, was the 89th since its establishment. On 12 March 2020 after most of teams had played 31 games, the league was suspended for at least two weeks due t ...

. This included the two top teams from the Segunda División, and the winners of the

promotion play-offs Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

. ;Teams relegated to Segunda División The first team to be relegated from

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

were

, after a 0–1 loss to city rivals

on 8 July 2020, ending their 26-year stay in the top tier. The second team to be relegated were

, following a 1–2 home defeat against

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

on 16 July 2020, suffering an immediate return to the second division. The third and final team to be relegated were

, after drawing 2–2 against

on 19 July 2020 in their final game of the season. This ended ''Legas four-year stint in the first tier. ;Teams promoted from Segunda División On 12 July 2020,

became the first side to mathematically be promoted, assured of a return to the top flight after a fourteen-year absence following

Oviedo Oviedo (; ast, Uviéu ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city. Oviedo is located ap ...

's 4–2 win against

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

. The second team to earn promotion were

, following their 3–0 win against Numancia on 17 July 2020. This marked an immediate return to the first division after a season away. The final team to achieve promotion were

Elche Elche ( ca-valencia, Elx) is a city and municipality of Spain, belonging to the province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. According to 2014 data, Elche has a population of 228,647 inhabitants,Girona Girona (officially and in Catalan language, Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter River, Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in ...

in the final of the promotion play-offs, sealing a return to La Liga after a five-year absence. This was the first season since the 2018–19 season without any teams from the

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...

s of Spain (teams located on the

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...

and

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

) since

was relegated and

Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spain, Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), the most populous city in th ...

failed to qualify for the

Stadiums and locations

Personnel and sponsorship

:1. On the back of shirt. :2. On the sleeves. :3. On the shorts.

Managerial changes

League table

Results

Season statistics

Top goalscorers

Zamora Trophy

The

Zamora Trophy The Zamora Trophy ( es, Trofeo Ricardo Zamora, link=no) is a association football, football award, established by Spanish newspaper ''Marca (newspaper), MARCA'' in 1958. The award goes to the goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper who h ...

was awarded by newspaper ''

Marca Marca may refer to: Places * Marca, Sălaj, a commune in Sălaj County, Romania * Marca, a tributary of the Barcău in Sălaj County, Romania * an alternative name for Merca, Somalia * Marca District, in the province Recuay, Peru * Marçà, a vil ...

'' to the goalkeeper with the lowest goals-to-games ratio. A goalkeeper had to have played at least 28 games of 60 or more minutes to be eligible for the trophy.

Hat-tricks

Scoring

*First goal of the season:
Yangel Herrera for Granada against Athletic Bilbao (12 September 2020) *Last goal of the season:
Alejandro Gómez for Sevilla against Alavés (23 May 2021)

Discipline

Stats from:

Player

* Most yellow cards: 15 ** Stefan Savić (Atlético Madrid) * Most red cards: 2 **

Pape Diop Pape Diop (born 17 April 1954.) is a Senegalese politician and a leading member of the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) who was President of the Senate of Senegal from 2007 to 2012. He was Mayor of Dakar, the capital city, from 2002 to 2009, as ...

(Eibar) **

Djené Djené Dakonam Ortega (born 31 December 1991), known as Djené, is a Togolese professional footballer who plays for and captains Spanish club Getafe and the Togo national team. Mainly a centre-back, he can also play as a right-back. Club care ...

(Getafe) ** Raúl García (Athletic Bilbao) **

Clément Lenglet Clément Nicolas Laurent Lenglet (born 17 June 1995) is a French professional Association football, footballer who plays as a centre-back for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur on loan from La Liga club FC Barcelona, Bar ...

(Barcelona) **

Aïssa Mandi Aïssa Mandi ( ar, عيسى ماندي; born 22 October 1991) is a professional footballer who plays for La Liga club Villarreal and the Algeria national team. Mainly a central defender, he can also play as a right-back. Born in France, Mandi m ...

(Real Betis)

Team

* Most yellow cards: 114 **

Getafe Getafe () is a municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city centre, within a flat ar ...

* Most red cards: 8 ** Alavés **

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

* Fewest yellow cards: 57 **

* Fewest red cards: 0 **

Awards

Monthly

Annual

Number of teams by autonomous community

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:La Liga, 2020-21 2020-21

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...