The 2020–21 Scottish Premiership was the eighth season of the
Scottish Premiership, the 124th edition of the highest division of
Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 6 July 2020, with the season beginning on 1 August, following
Scottish Government
The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...
approval due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland.
Twelve teams contested the league:
Aberdeen
Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
,
Celtic,
Dundee United,
Hamilton Academical,
Hibernian,
Kilmarnock,
Livingston,
Motherwell
Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...
,
Rangers,
Ross County,
St Johnstone and
St Mirren. Celtic were the defending champions, seeking a record-breaking
tenth successive title.
On 7 March, Rangers clinched their 55th title, their first since 2011, and the earliest title clinching date after Celtic drew 0–0 away to Dundee United with 6 games remaining. Rangers also completed an unbeaten league season on 15 May 2021 after a 4–0 win against Aberdeen on the final matchday.
Teams
The following teams changed division after the 2019–20 season.
Promoted from the
Championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this sys ...
*
Dundee United
Relegated to the
Championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this sys ...
*
Heart of Midlothian
Stadia and locations
Personnel and kits
Managerial changes
Format
In the initial phase of the season, the 12 teams play a round-robin tournament whereby each team plays each one of the other teams three times. After 33 games, the league splits into two sections of six teams, with each team playing each other in that section. The league attempts to balance the fixture list so that teams in the same section play each other twice at home and twice away, but sometimes this is impossible. A total of 228 matches were played, with 38 matches played by each team.
League summary
Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
After the 12 Premiership clubs were given permission to restart full-contact training by the Scottish Government from 29 June 2020, it was announced that an Aberdeen player had tested positive for
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
two days later. The identity of the player was not disclosed but the club said that he was asymptomatic and self-isolating.
Nine days prior to the start of the season on 1 August, it was reported on 23 July that seven members of St Mirren's coaching staff had tested positive. As a result, a pre-season friendly between St Mirren and St Johnstone on 25 July was cancelled and Hamilton Academical, who had played St Mirren in a friendly on 18 July, confirmed that all of their players and coaching staff had subsequently tested negative. The following day, St Mirren announced that after the seven positive tests were retested, only one came back as positive with the other six negative.
On the opening day of the season Rangers defeated Aberdeen 1–0 at
Pittodrie Stadium and after the game, eight members of the Aberdeen squad went out to a pub in the city. Later in the week, the pub was linked to an outbreak of COVID-19 in
Aberdeen
Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
which led to a lockdown of the city.
Two of the group subsequently tested positive for COVID-19 and the eight players were put into self-isolation.
Initially, the Scottish Government said Aberdeen's match against St Johnstone, scheduled for 8 August, wouldn't be affected by the lockdown of the city but the match was postponed after
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she was "pretty furious" about the situation.
Aberdeen manager
Derek McInnes was critical of the group of players - namely
Bruce Anderson,
Craig Bryson,
Sam Cosgrove,
Michael Devlin,
Jonny Hayes,
Matty Kennedy,
Dylan McGeouch and
Scott McKenna - who apologised for a "huge error of judgement".
The following weekend, defending champions Celtic drew 1–1 with Kilmarnock at
Rugby Park
Rugby Park, also known as The BBSP Stadium Rugby Park for sponsorship reasons, is a association football, football stadium which is the home of Scottish Premiership club Kilmarnock F.C. and is situated in the Scotland, Scottish town of Kilmarnoc ...
on 9 August. Defender
Boli Bolingoli was in the Celtic match squad and came off the bench during the match, but was found to have travelled back from Spain a few days earlier
– at that time, a 14-day quarantine was required for anyone travelling to Scotland from that country. Celtic manager
Neil Lennon said Bolingoli "went rogue" and the club were unaware of his actions before it came to light on 10 August.
Kilmarnock manager
Alex Dyer revealed that Celtic had apologised for the situation. Bolingoli (who tested negative for the virus) was subsequently fined £480 by the police for his breach of quarantine rules.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned Scottish football clubs, players and authorities that the breaches of COVID-19 protocols set up to allow football to resume in Scotland had resulted in her giving the game a "yellow card" and that further breaches could lead to a pause in the football season. Aberdeen and Celtic's matches against Hamilton Academical and St Mirren respectively on 12 August were postponed as a result of the two incidents, as well as the Celtic vs. Aberdeen match on 15 August.
The
Scottish Football Association (SFA) and
Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) introduced new rules following the breaches of COVID-19 rules which meant Bolingoli and the "Aberdeen eight" were charged by both governing bodies. An SFA hearing was held on 28 August which resulted in a three-match ban with a further two-match ban suspended for Bolingoli. The "Aberdeen eight" were each given a three-match suspended ban. The suspended bans would be triggered if a player was again charged with "bringing the game into disrepute" before 28 February 2021.
Three fixtures (
Kilmarnock v
Motherwell
Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...
,
St Mirren v Motherwell and St Mirren v
Hamilton
Hamilton may refer to:
* Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States
* ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda
** ''Hamilton'' (al ...
) during the autumn were postponed after Kilmarnock and St Mirren told the SPFL that they could not fulfil them as scheduled due to COVID-19 outbreaks. The SPFL initially awarded 3–0 victories to their opponents; but that decision was overturned after an appeal to the
Scottish Football Association.
League table
Positions by round
The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. To preserve chronological evolvements, any postponed matches are not included in the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for round 13, but then postponed and played between rounds 16 and 17, it is added to the standings for round 16.
Results
Matches 1–22
Teams play each other twice, once at home and once away.
Matches 23–33
Teams play each other once, either home or away.
Matches 34–38
After 33 matches, the league splits into two sections of six teams i.e. the top six and the bottom six, with the teams playing every other team in their section once (either at home or away). The exact matches are determined by the position of the teams in the league table at the time of the split.
Top six
Bottom six
Season statistics
Scoring
Top scorers
Source:
Hat-tricks
Clean sheets
Source:
Attendances
Games are mostly being played
behind closed doors due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. Limited attendance is allowed at some grounds with strict conditions under the
Scottish Government Tier system, dependent on the club's geographical location.
Awards
Premiership play-offs
The quarter-finals were contested between the third and fourth placed teams in the
Scottish Championship
The Scottish Championship known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association footb ...
. The winners advanced to the semi-finals to face the second placed team in the Championship, and the winners of that tie advanced to the final to play-off against the 11th placed team in the Premiership, with the winners securing a place in the 2021–22 Scottish Premiership.
Quarter-final
First leg
Second leg
Semi-final
First leg
Second leg
Final
First leg
Second leg
Broadcasting
Live matches
UK and Ireland
Sky Sports has exclusive rights to the Scottish Premiership regular league season and can show up to 48 matches, whilst also broadcasting the play-off final with
BBC Scotland showing the quarter-final & semi-final. Due to the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, clubs can stream matches (not broadcast on Sky) to fans on a pay-per-view or "virtual season ticket" basis, whilst capacities in stadia are limited due to social distancing restrictions.
United States
Select Premiership matches, along with the matches in the promotion/relegation playoffs, are shown in the United States on
ESPN+
ESPN+ is an American over-the-top subscription video streaming service available in the United States, owned by ESPN Inc., which is a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communicati ...
, as part of a deal that allows ESPN+ to broadcast matches from Scottish leagues.
Highlights
From the start of this season, highlights are shown on both Saturdays and Sundays on
BBC Scotland's flagship
Sportscene programme. Sky Sports also show highlights.
Gaelic-language channel
BBC Alba has rights to broadcast repeats in full of 38 Saturday 3pm matches "as live" at 5.30pm.
The SPFL also uploads the goals from every Premiership match onto its
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
channel - available from 6pm on a Sunday for UK and Ireland viewers and 10pm on a Saturday for those worldwide.
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:2020-21 Scottish Premiership
Scottish Premiership seasons
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