The 2020–21 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 119th season of top-tier Italian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, the 89th in a

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament is a competition format in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & ...

, and the 11th since its organization under an own league committee, the

Lega Serie A The Lega Nazionale Professionisti Serie A (Italian for ''National Professionals League Serie A''), commonly known as LNPA or Lega Serie A (Serie A League), is the governing body that runs the major professional Association football, football com ...

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

won the title with 4 matches left to play after closest challengers

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

failed to win against

Sassuolo Sassuolo (; ) is an Italian town, ''comune'', and industrial centre of the Province of Modena in Emilia-Romagna. Standing on the right bank of the river Secchia some southwest of Modena, the town is best known for being the centre of the Ita ...

. Inter Milan's title was the 19th their history and their first title in 11 years. Inter Milan's title also ended

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

's run of nine consecutive league titles with Juventus finishing in 4th place, 13 points behind Inter Milan.

Teams

Benevento Benevento ( ; , ; ) is a city and (municipality) of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the Sabato (r ...

and

Crotone Crotone (; ; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( or ; ), it became a great Greek city, home of the renowned mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras amongst other famous citizens, and one ...

were the two teams directly promoted from

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

—both after a two-year absence. On 20 August 2020, Spezia won a playoff match to earn their first promotion to Serie A; they became the 66th team to participate in the Italian top-tier league.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic

A day following the

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

–

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

match on 27 September 2020, Genoa announced that 14 of their players 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 ...

. The Genoa–

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

match scheduled for 3 October 2020 was thereby postponed. On 3 October 2020, two Napoli players, Piotr Zieliński and Eljif Elmas, tested positive for COVID-19, and after being denied authorization to leave

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

by the Local Health Authority ( ASL), Napoli blocked their players' departure for their match in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

against Juventus. The league decided not to postpone the match scheduled for 4 October 2020. On the day of the game, Juventus took to the field despite the absence of their opponents, who were quarantining in Naples. Juventus were awarded a 3–0 victory by default and Napoli were docked one point as the Disciplinary Commission ruled Napoli did not follow the country's

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 ...

protocol. Following a successful appeal by Napoli to the CONI Sports Guarantee Board, these penalties were overturned on 22 December 2020. The match was eventually recovered on 7 April 2021, more than six months after its originally scheduled date.

Team changes

Stadiums and locations

Personnel and kits

Managerial changes

League table

Results

*Internazionale = Inter Milan, Milan = AC Milan*

Players' awards

Most valuable player of the Month

Seasonal awards

Season statistics

Top goalscorers

Hat-tricks

;Note (H) – Home (A) – Away

Clean sheets

Discipline

Player

* Most yellow cards: 14 ** Pasquale Schiattarella (Benevento) * Most red cards: 2 ** Rodrigo De Paul (Udinese) ** Charalampos Lykogiannis (Cagliari)

Team

* Most yellow cards: 100 **

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

* Most red cards: 6 **

* Fewest yellow cards: 59 **

* Fewest red cards: 1 **

Hellas Verona Hellas Verona Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Hellas Verona (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Verona, Veneto, that currently plays in Serie A. The team won ...

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

Notes

Footnotes

References

External links

Official websiteSerie A
at ESPN.com {{DEFAULTSORT:2020-21 Serie A Serie A seasons

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...