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 (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

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

Huesca Huesca (; ) is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Aragon between 1096 and 1118. It is also the capital of the Spanish Huesca (province), ...

Cádiz Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...

and

Elche Elche (, ; , , , ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality of Spain, belonging to the province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. According to 2024's data, Elche has a population of 234,800 inhabitants,

joined as the promoted clubs 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 ...

. They replaced Espanyol,

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

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 popu ...

, 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.

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

won their eleventh La Liga title on the last day 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 pr ...

, who were relegated with the defeat. It was their first title since 2013–14.

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

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

. 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 as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

were Espanyol, 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 ( ; ) 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 foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

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 () or Uviéu (Asturian language, Asturian: ) 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 th ...

's 4–2 win against

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

. 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

on 23 August 2020, following a 1–0 aggregate victory over

Girona Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...

in the final of the promotion play-offs, sealing a return to La Liga after a five-year absence.

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

Scoring

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

Top goalscorers

Top assists

Zamora Trophy

The Zamora Trophy was awarded by newspaper '' Marca'' 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

Discipline

Stats from:

Player

* Most yellow cards: 15 ** Stefan Savić (Atlético Madrid) * Most red cards: 2 ** Pape Diop (Eibar) ** Djené (Getafe) ** Raúl García (Athletic Bilbao) ** Clément Lenglet (Barcelona) ** Aïssa Mandi (Real Betis)

Team

* Most yellow cards: 114 **

Getafe Getafe () is a municipalities in Spain, 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 c ...

* Most red cards: 8 ** Alavés **

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

* Fewest yellow cards: 57 **

* Fewest red cards: 0 **

Awards

Monthly

Annual

Notes and references

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

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...