2020 Belarusian First League Explained

Competition:Belarusian First League
Season:2020
Winners:Sputnik Rechitsa
Promoted:Sputnik Rechitsa,
Gomel,
Smorgon
League Topscorer: Andrey Solovey (Lokomotiv Gomel)
Biggest Home Win:Gomel 7–2 Lida
Biggest Away Win:Oshmyany 0–6 Lokomotiv Gomel
Highest Scoring:Oshmyany 5–5 Volna Pinsk
Matches:151
Total Goals:482
Prevseason:2019
Nextseason:2021

2020 Belarusian First League is the 30th season of 2nd level football in Belarus. It started in April and finished in November 2020.

Team changes from 2019 season

Two best teams of 2019 Belarusian First League (Belshina Bobruisk and Smolevichi), as well as third-placed Rukh Brest (who won the promotion/relegation play-off) were promoted to Belarusian Premier League. They were replaced by 15th-placed teams of 2019 Belarusian Premier League (Gomel) and 14th-placed Dnyapro Mogilev (who lost the play-off to Rukh Brest). 16th-placed Premier League team Torpedo Minsk disbanded, leaving a vacancy in the First League.

Last placed team of the last season (Baranovichi) relegated to the Second League. They were replaced by two best teams of 2019 Second League (Arsenal Dzerzhinsk and Oshmyany).

NFK Minsk reverted their name to Krumkachy Minsk during the winter break.

Dnyapro Mogilev ceased to exist in the spring. To fill in two vacant spots left by Dnyapro and Torpedo and to return to 16 participants, two teams were additionally promoted (Molodechno and Underdog Chist as the 3rd- and 4th-placed Second League teams). However, as both clubs represent neighboring cities, Molodechno were unable to secure the necessary financial support from the Maladzyechna Raion administration (who decided to fully support Underdog instead) and were forced to give up the promotion. Underdog Chist, however, were also excluded a few weeks later due to financial problems of their own, and the league was left with only 14 participants for the season.

As a result of investigation of match-fixing incidents during 2017 and 2018 seasons, five clubs were punished with points deductions before the start of the season.[1] [2]

Teams summary

width=140Teamwidth=120Locationdata-sort-type="number"Position in 2019
GomelGomelPremier League, 15
Lokomotiv GomelGomel4
Naftan NovopolotskNovopolotsk5
Sputnik RechitsaRechitsa6
LidaLida7
Krumkachy MinskMinsk8
Granit MikashevichiMikashevichi9
OrshaOrsha10
Khimik SvetlogorskSvetlogorsk11
Volna PinskPinsk12
Slonim-2017Slonim13
SmorgonSmorgon14
Arsenal DzerzhinskDzerzhinskSecond League, 1
OshmyanyOshmyanySecond League, 2

League table

Promotion play-offs

Second leg

Slutsk won 4–1 on aggregate and therefore both clubs remain in their respective leagues.

Relegation play-offs

Second leg

Khimik Svetlogorsk won 4–0 on aggregate and therefore both clubs remain in their respective leagues.

Top goalscorers

Rankwidth=170GoalscorerTeamGoals
1 Andrey SoloveyLokomotiv Gomel20
2 Artsyom VaskowGomel16
3 Dmitry GomzaGomel11
4 Yan SenkevichLida10
Pavel KlenyoLokomotiv Gomel10
Pavel DemidchikOshmyany10
Iskandar ZarobekovVolna Pinsk10
Valery PotorochaSputnik Rechitsa10
Updated to games played on 21 November 2020
Source: football.by

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: «Нафтан» начнет сезон с -15 очками, «Химик» лишен 9 очков, «Лида», «Неман-Агро» и «Орша» – 3 очков. Tribuna.com. 13 February 2020. ru. Naftan will start with minus 15 points; Khimik deducted 9 points; Lida, Neman-Agro and Orsha deducted 3 points each..
  2. Web site: «Гомель» лишили 5 очков за участие в договорных матчах. Tribuna.com. 16 April 2020. ru. Gomel deducted 5 points due to match-fixing..