| Competition: | Belgian First Division A |
| Season: | 2020–21 |
| Dates: | 8 August 2020 – 23 May 2021 |
| Winners: | Club Brugge |
| Relegated: | Excel Mouscron Waasland-Beveren |
| Continentalcup1: | Champions League |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Club Brugge Genk |
| Continentalcup2: | Europa League |
| Continentalcup2 Qualifiers: | Royal Antwerp |
| Continentalcup3: | Europa Conference League |
| Continentalcup3 Qualifiers: | Gent Anderlecht |
| League Topscorer: | Paul Onuachu (30 goals) |
| Matches: | 306 |
| Total Goals: | 914 |
| Biggest Home Win: | (4 October 2020) (30 October 2020) (15 February 2021) (10 April 2021) (11 April 2021) |
| Biggest Away Win: | (20 September 2020) |
| Highest Scoring: | (7 November 2020) |
| Longest Wins: | 10 matches Club Brugge |
| Longest Unbeaten: | 12 matches Club Brugge |
| Longest Winless: | 10 matches Cercle Brugge Excel Mouscron Waasland-Beveren |
| Longest Losses: | 7 matches Cercle Brugge |
| Prevseason: | 2019–20 |
| Nextseason: | 2021–22 |
| Updated: | 20 May 2021 |
The 2020–21 Belgian First Division A was the 118th season of top-tier football in Belgium. As part of a proposal by the Jupiler Pro League's board of directors accepted by the General Assembly on 15 May 2020, the 2020–21 season would involve shortened playoffs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Only the top four teams would play for the title, while teams five through eight would play for the remaining ticket into Europe.[1] The league fixtures were announced on 8 July 2020.[2] Club Brugge successfully defended their title from the previous season, finishing level on points in the title play-offs with Racing Genk, as regular season runners-up Royal Antwerp's challenge faded.
Waasland-Beveren were originally relegated to the Belgian First Division B, as they were the bottom-placed team when the 2019–20 Belgian First Division A stopped prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, following legal proceedings, they remained in the top-flight, and instead, the league was expanded to 18 teams, with both OH Leuven and Beerschot being promoted (normally only one of them would have gained promotion). Technically, under its current form and owners, Beerschot will make its debut in the top tier of Belgian football, although in reality two teams with the same identity have played at the top level: Beerschot VAC (81 seasons, last in 1990–91) and Beerschot AC (until its bankruptcy at the end of the 2012–13 season, and known as Germinal Beerschot from 1999 until 2011). OH Leuven returned to the top tier after an absence of four seasons, when they dropped to the last place on the ultimate matchday of the 2015–16 season.
With now 18 instead of 16 teams, the format has changed somewhat. While the season still starts with an initial round-robin phase in which all teams play each other twice, the end of season play-offs have been shortened temporarily and for the 2020–21 and 2021–22 seasons only. The title playoffs will now only be played by the top four teams (instead of six) and the Europa play-offs will now be played by the teams finishing fifth through eight (instead of all teams finishing below 6th). As a result, for all teams finishing below 8th, the season will be over upon completion of the round-robin phase, with the team in last position being relegated. One exception is the team finishing in 17th position, as this team will play a promotion-relegation play off against the 2nd-place finisher in the 2020–21 Belgian First Division B, with the winner playing in the 2021–22 Belgian First Division A.
| Matricule | Club | Location | Venue | Capacity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | Anderlecht | Constant Vanden Stock Stadium | 21,500 | ||
| 1 | Antwerp | Bosuilstadion | 12,975 | ||
| 13 | Beerschot | Antwerp | Olympic Stadium | 12,771 | |
| 12 | Bruges | Jan Breydel Stadium | 29,042 | ||
| 22 | Charleroi | Stade du Pays de Charleroi | 14,000 | ||
| 3 | Bruges | Jan Breydel Stadium | 29,042 | ||
| 4276 | Eupen | Kehrwegstadion | 8,363 | ||
| 322 | Genk | Luminus Arena | 24,956 | ||
| 7 | Ghent | Ghelamco Arena | 20,000 | ||
| 19 | Kortrijk | Guldensporen Stadion | 9,399 | ||
| 25 | Mechelen | AFAS-stadion Achter de Kazerne | 16,700 | ||
| 216 | Mouscron | Stade Le Canonnier | 10,571 | ||
| 31 | Ostend | Versluys Arena | 8,432 | ||
| 18 | Leuven | Den Dreef | 10,000 | ||
| 373 | Sint-Truiden | Stayen | 14,600 | ||
| 16 | Liège | Stade Maurice Dufrasne | 30,023 | ||
| 4068 | Beveren | Freethiel Stadion | 8,190 | ||
| 5381 | Waregem | Regenboogstadion | 12,500 |
| Number of teams | Province or region | Team(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | ,,, and | |
| 3 | , Beerschot and | |
| 2 | and Waasland-Beveren | |
| and | ||
| and | ||
| and | ||
| 1 | ||
| Club | Manager | Kit Manufacturer | Sponsors | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anderlecht |  Vincent Kompany | Joma | DVV Insurance (home) Candriam (away) | |
| Antwerp | Franky Vercauteren | Jako | Ghelamco | |
| Beerschot | Will Still | XIII | Yelo | |
| Cercle Brugge | Yves Vanderhaeghe | Kappa | Napoleon Games | |
| Charleroi |  Karim Belhocine | Kappa | Lotto | |
| Club Brugge | Philippe Clement | Macron | Unibet | |
| Eupen |  Beñat San José | Adidas | Qatar Airways | |
| Excel Mouscron | Jorge Simão | Uhlsport | Star Casino | |
| Genk | John van den Brom | Nike | Beobank | |
| Gent | Hein Vanhaezebrouck | Craft | VDK Bank | |
| Kortrijk |  Luka Elsner | Jako | AGO Jobs & HR | |
| Mechelen | Wouter Vrancken | Jartazi | Telenet | |
| OH Leuven | Marc Brys | Adidas | King Power | |
| Oostende | Alexander Blessin | Kipsta | Star Casino | |
| Sint-Truiden | Peter Maes | Macron | DMM.com | |
| Standard Liège |  Mbaye Leye | New Balance | VOO | |
| Waasland-Beveren | Nicky Hayen | Uhlsport | Star Casino | |
| Zulte-Waregem | Francky Dury | Patrick | Napoleon Games |
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position | Replaced by | Date of appointment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cercle Brugge | Bernd Storck | End of contract[3] | End of 2019–20 season | Pre-season | Paul Clement | 3 July 2020[4] | |
| Antwerp | László Bölöni | End of contract[5] | Ivan Leko | 20 May 2020[6] | |||
| Sint-Truiden | Miloš Kostić | Mutual consent[7] |  Kevin Muscat | 2 June 2020[8] | |||
| Waasland-Beveren | Dirk Geeraerd (caretaker) | Caretaker replaced | 4 June 2020 [9] | ||||
| Oostende |  Adnan Čustović | Replaced[10] | Alexander Blessin | 7 June 2020 | |||
| Standard Liège | Michel Preud'homme | Resigned[11] | Philippe Montanier | 10 June 2020[12] | |||
| Excel Mouscron | Bernd Hollerbach | Mutual consent[13] | Fernando Da Cruz | 18 July 2020[14] | |||
| Anderlecht | Franky Vercauteren | Kompany became sole manager[15] | 17 August 2020 | 3rd | Vincent Kompany | 17 August 2020 | |
| Gent | Jess Thorup | Sacked[16] | 20 August 2020 | 16th | László Bölöni | 20 August 2020 | |
| Gent | László Bölöni | Sacked[17] | 14 September 2020 | 16th | Wim De Decker | 14 September 2020 | |
| Genk | Hannes Wolf | Sacked[18] | 15 September 2020 | 14th | Domenico Olivieri (caretaker) | 15 September 2020 | |
| Genk | Domenico Olivieri | Caretaker replaced[19] | 24 September 2020 | 14th | Jess Thorup | 24 September 2020 | |
| Excel Mouscron | Fernando Da Cruz | Sacked[20] | 19 October 2020 | 18th | Jorge Simão | 20 October 2020[21] | |
| Genk | Jess Thorup | Hired by Copenhagen[22] | 2 November 2020 | 7th | John van den Brom[23] | 8 November 2020 | |
| Sint-Truiden | Kevin Muscat | Sacked[24] | 1 December 2020 | 16th | Stef Van Winckel (caretaker) | 1 December 2020 | |
| Gent | Wim De Decker | Sacked[25] | 3 December 2020 | 12th | Hein Vanhaezebrouck[26] | 4 December 2020 | |
| Sint-Truiden | Stef Van Winckel | Caretaker replaced[27] | 7 December 2020 | 17th | Peter Maes | 7 December 2020 | |
| Standard Liège | Philippe Montanier | Sacked[28] | 26 December 2020 | 11th | Mbaye Leye[29] | 30 December 2020 | |
| Antwerp | Ivan Leko | Hired by  Shanghai SIPG[30] | 29 December 2020 | 5th | Franky Vercauteren[31] | 4 January 2021 | |
| Beerschot |  Hernán Losada | Hired by  D.C. United[32] | 17 January 2021 | 10th | Will Still[33] | 19 January 2021 | |
| Kortrijk | Yves Vanderhaeghe | Sacked[34] | 31 January 2021 | 15th | Luka Elsner | 31 January 2021 | |
| Cercle Brugge | Paul Clement | Sacked[35] | 1 February 2021 | 17th | Yves Vanderhaeghe[36] | 3 February 2021 |
The points obtained during the regular season were halved (and rounded up) before the start of the playoff. As a result, the teams started with the following points before the playoff: Club Brugge 38, Antwerp 30, Anderlecht 29 and Genk 28.
The points obtained during the regular season were halved (and rounded up) before the start of the playoff. As a result, the teams started with the following points before the playoff: Oostende 27, Standard 25, Gent 25 and Mechelen 24. The points of Oostende and Gent were rounded up, therefore in case of any ties on points at the end of the playoffs, the half point will be deducted for these teams.
Originally, the fourth-placed team of the play-offs I (or third-placed team if the regular season winners finish fourth) and the first-placed team of the play-offs II would play two home-and-away matches to determine the Europa Conference League play-off winner, which would qualify for the second qualifying round of the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League. However, since Genk, winners of the 2020–21 Belgian Cup, finished in the regular season top four and qualified for play-offs I, this guaranteed that all four teams of play-offs I would qualify for European competitions. As a result, the play-off final was not played, and the first-placed team of the play-offs II, KAA Gent, qualified for the second qualifying round of the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League.
The team finishing in 17th place competes in a two-legged match with the runner-up of the 2020–21 Belgian First Division B, with the aggregate winner to play in the 2021–22 Belgian First Division A, while the losing team will take part in the 2021–22 Belgian First Division B.
On 11 April 2021, Seraing from the Belgian First Division B qualified for the promotion-relegation playoff as a loss by Lommel against Union SG meant Seraing could no longer be overtaken for second place. On 8 May 2021, Seraing was promoted to the 2021–22 Belgian First Division A after a 6–3 aggregate win in the two-legged series and Waasland-Beveren was relegated to the 2021–22 Belgian First Division B.
Seraing won 6–3 on aggregate.
| Award | Winner | Club | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Player of the Year | Genk | ||
| Top goalscorer | |||
| Manager of the Year | Oostende | ||
| Breakthrough of the Year | Club Brugge |
| Team of the Year[38] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goalkeeper | Simon Mignolet (Club Brugge) | ||||
| Defence | Clinton Mata (Club Brugge) | Arthur Theate (Oostende) | Ritchie De Laet (Royal Antwerp) | ||
| Midfield |  Lior Refaelov (Royal Antwerp) | Bryan Heynen (Genk) |  Raphael Holzhauser(Loreken) | Xavier Mercier (OH Leuven) | |
| Attack |  Junya Ito (Genk) |  Paul Onuachu (Genk) |  Noa Lang (Club Brugge) | ||
