2020–21 Scottish Premiership

The 2020–21 Scottish Premiership is the eighth season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 6 July 2020,[4] with the season beginning on 1 August, following Scottish Government approval due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland.[5] Celtic are the defending champions for the ninth season in a row.

Scottish Premiership
Season2020–21
Dates1 August 2020 – 16 May 2021
Matches played20
Goals scored45 (2.25 per match)
Top goalscorerChris Burke
Odsonne Édouard
Kevin Nisbet
(3 goals)[1][2]
Biggest home winCeltic 5–1 Hamilton Academical[3]
(2 August 2020)
Biggest away winLivingston 1–4 Hibernian[3]
(8 August 2020)
Highest scoringCeltic 5–1 Hamilton Academical[3]
(2 August 2020)
Longest winning runThree matches:[3]
Hibernian
Rangers
Longest unbeaten runFour matches:[3]
Hibernian
Rangers
Longest winless runFour matches:[3]
Three teams
Longest losing runThree matches:[3]
Hamilton Academical
2021–22 →
All statistics correct as of 16 August 2020.

Twelve teams are contesting the league: Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee United, Hamilton Academical, Hibernian, Kilmarnock, Livingston, Motherwell, Rangers, Ross County, St Johnstone and St Mirren.

Teams

The following teams changed division after the 2019–20 season.

Promoted from the Championship

Relegated to the Championship

Stadia and locations
Aberdeen Celtic Dundee United Hamilton Academical
Pittodrie Stadium Celtic Park Tannadice Park New Douglas Park
Capacity: 20,866[7] Capacity: 60,411[8] Capacity: 14,223[9] Capacity: 6,018[10]
Hibernian
Location of teams in the 2020–21 Scottish Premiership
 Kilmarnock
Easter Road Rugby Park
Capacity: 20,421[11] Capacity: 17,889[12]
Livingston Motherwell
Almondvale Stadium Fir Park
Capacity: 9,512[13] Capacity: 13,677[14]
Rangers Ross County St Johnstone St Mirren
Ibrox Stadium Victoria Park McDiarmid Park St Mirren Park
Capacity: 50,817[15] Capacity: 6,541[16] Capacity: 10,696[17] Capacity: 7,937[18]

Personnel and kits
Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor
Aberdeen Derek McInnes Joe Lewis Adidas Saltire Energy
Celtic Neil Lennon Scott Brown Adidas[19] Dafabet
Dundee United Micky Mellon Mark Reynolds Macron Utilita
Hamilton Academical Brian Rice Brian Easton Adidas Cullen[20]
Hibernian Jack Ross David Gray Macron "Thank You NHS"[21]
Kilmarnock Alex Dyer Gary Dicker Hummel[22] Brownings The Bakers[23]
Livingston Gary Holt Marvin Bartley Nike Phoenix Drilling Ltd
Motherwell Stephen Robinson Declan Gallagher Macron Paycare[24]
Rangers Steven Gerrard James Tavernier Castore[25] 32Red
Ross County Stuart Kettlewell Iain Vigurs Macron Ross-shire Engineering[26]
St Johnstone Callum Davidson Jason Kerr Macron Binn Group
St Mirren Jim Goodwin Kyle Magennis Joma Skyview Capital

Managerial changes
Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment
Ross County Steven Ferguson (co-manager) Internal restructuring 10 June 2020[27] Pre-season Stuart Kettlewell (manager) 10 June 2020[27]
St Johnstone Alec Cleland End of caretaker spell 18 June 2020[28] Callum Davidson 18 June 2020[28]
Dundee United Robbie Neilson Signed by Heart of Midlothian 21 June 2020[29] Micky Mellon 6 July 2020[30]

Format

In the initial phase of the season, the 12 teams will 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 will be 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,[31] it was announced that an Aberdeen player had tested positive for COVID-19 two days later. The identity of the player was not disclosed but the club said that he was asymptomatic and self-isolating.[32]

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.[33] 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.[34]

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 coronavirus cases in Aberdeen which led to a lockdown of the city.[35][36] Two of the group subsequently tested positive for COVID-19 and the eight players were put into self-isolation.[35] 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.[35][37] 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".[38]

The following weekend, defending champions Celtic drew 1–1 with Kilmarnock at Rugby Park 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[39][40] – at that time, a 14-day quarantine was required for anyone travelling to Scotland from that country.[41] Celtic manager Neil Lennon said Bolingoli "went rogue" and the club were unaware of his actions before it came to light on 10 August.[39] Kilmarnock manager Alex Dyer revealed that Celtic had apologised for the situation.[42] Bolingoli (who tested negative for the virus) was subsequently fined £480 by the police for his breach of quarantine rules.[40]

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.[43][44]

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation[lower-alpha 1]
1 Rangers 4 3 1 0 7 0 +7 10 Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round
2 Hibernian 4 3 1 0 7 2 +5 10 Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
3 Ross County 4 2 1 1 5 4 +1 7 Qualification for the Europa Conference League second qualifying round
4 Dundee United 4 2 1 1 4 3 +1 7
5 St Mirren 3 2 0 1 2 3 −1 6
6 Celtic 2 1 1 0 6 2 +4 4
7 St Johnstone 3 1 1 1 3 5 −2 4
8 Kilmarnock 4 0 2 2 5 7 −2 2
9 Motherwell 4 0 2 2 2 4 −2 2
10 Livingston 4 0 2 2 3 7 −4 2
11 Aberdeen 1 0 0 1 0 1 −1 0 Qualification for the Premiership play-off final
12 Hamilton Academical 3 0 0 3 1 7 −6 0 Relegation to the Championship
Updated to match(es) played on 16 August 2020. Source: BBC SPFL
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-Head points; 5) Head-to-Head goal difference; 6) Play-off (only if deciding champion, UEFA competitions qualification, second stage group allocation or relegation).[45]
Notes:
  1. Teams play each other three times (33 matches), before the league is split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six).

Positions by round
Team ╲ Round1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435363738
Rangers3211
Hibernian2122
Ross County4333
Dundee United6554
St Mirren5665
Celtic1446
St Johnstone7797
Kilmarnock8878
Motherwell111089
Livingston10111010
Aberdeen991111
Hamilton Academical12121212
Leader and Champions League Third qualifying round
Champions league Second qualifying round
Europa Conference League second qualifying round
Qualification for the Premiership play-off final
Relegated to the Championship
Source:

Results

Matches 1–22

Teams play each other twice, once at home and once away.

Home \ Away ABE CEL DUN HAM HIB KIL LIV MOT RAN ROS STJ STM
Aberdeen — 24 Oct 2 Jan 6 Nov 12 Sep 23 Aug 19 Sep 0–1 12 Dec 26 Dec 2 Oct
Celtic — 30 Dec 5–1 26 Sep 12 Dec 19 Sep 30 Aug 17 Oct 23 Dec 5 Dec 31 Oct
Dundee United 17 Oct 22 Aug — 21 Nov 0–1 23 Dec 2 Oct 26 Dec 12 Dec 31 Oct 1–1 19 Sep
Hamilton Academical 31 Oct 26 Dec 26 Sep — 12 Dec 5 Dec 23 Dec 2 Jan 29 Aug 0–1 17 Oct 0–1
Hibernian 30 Aug 21 Nov 19 Dec 2 Oct — 2–1 2 Jan 0–0 19 Sep 30 Dec 31 Oct 23 Dec
Kilmarnock 19 Dec 1–1 29 Aug 19 Sep 24 Oct — 26 Dec 2 Oct 31 Oct 21 Nov 1–2 2 Jan
Livingston 30 Dec 19 Dec 5 Dec 12 Sep 1–4 17 Oct — 31 Oct 0–0 29 Aug 26 Sep 21 Nov
Motherwell 23 Dec 6 Nov 0–1 22 Aug 5 Dec 30 Dec 2–2 — 26 Sep 24 Oct 12 Sep 12 Dec
Rangers 21 Nov 2 Jan 12 Sep 6 Nov 26 Dec 22 Aug 24 Oct 19 Dec — 2 Oct 3–0 3–0
Ross County 26 Sep 12 Sep 1–2 19 Dec 17 Oct 2–2 6 Nov 1–0 5 Dec — 2 Jan 26 Dec
St Johnstone 20 Aug 2 Oct 24 Oct 30 Dec 23 Aug 6 Nov 12 Dec 21 Nov 23 Dec 19 Sep — 29 Aug
St Mirren 5 Dec 6 Nov 24 Oct 12 Sep 26 Sep 1–0 17 Oct 30 Dec 22 Aug 19 Dec —
Updated to match(es) played on 16 August 2020. Source: SPFL
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Matches 23–33

Teams play each other once, either home or away.

Home \ Away ABE CEL DUN HAM HIB KIL LIV MOT RAN ROS STJ STM
Aberdeen — — — 6 Mar — 3 Apr 3 Feb 23 Jan 9 Jan — — 13 Feb
Celtic 27 Feb — — 27 Jan 9 Jan — 16 Jan 6 Feb 20 Mar — — —
Dundee United 20 Mar 6 Mar — — 23 Jan — 13 Feb — — — 9 Jan 27 Jan
Hamilton Academical — — 16 Jan — — — — — 6 Feb 3 Feb 27 Feb 20 Mar
Hibernian 6 Feb — — 3 Apr — 16 Jan — 27 Feb 27 Jan — — —
Kilmarnock — 3 Feb 27 Feb 9 Jan — — — 20 Mar — — 23 Jan —
Livingston — — — 23 Jan 20 Mar 27 Jan — — 27 Feb 9 Jan 6 Feb —
Motherwell — — 3 Feb 13 Feb — — 6 Mar — 16 Jan — 3 Apr —
Rangers — — 3 Apr — — 13 Feb — — — 23 Jan 3 Feb 6 Mar
Ross County 16 Jan 3 Apr 6 Feb — 13 Feb 6 Mar — 27 Jan — — — —
St Johnstone 27 Jan 13 Feb — — 6 Mar — — — — 20 Mar — 16 Jan
St Mirren — 23 Jan — — 3 Feb 6 Feb 3 Apr 9 Jan — 27 Feb — —
First match(es) will be played on 9 January 2021. Source: SPFL
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

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.

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers
As of 16 August 2020
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Odsonne Édouard Celtic 3
Kevin Nisbet Hibernian
Chris Burke Kilmarnock
4 Nicky Clark Dundee United 2
Martin Boyle Hibernian
Christian Doidge Hibernian
Lyndon Dykes Livingston
Ryan Kent Rangers
Alfredo Morelos Rangers
Ross Stewart Ross County

Source: [1][2]

Hat-tricks
Main article: List of Scottish Professional Football League hat-tricks § Scottish Premiership
Player For Against Score Date Ref.
Odsonne Édouard Celtic Hamilton Academical 5–1 (H) 2 August 2020 [46]
Kevin Nisbet Hibernian Livingston 4–1 (A) 8 August 2020 [47]

Attendances

These are the average attendances of the teams.

Pos Team Total High Low Average Change
1 Aberdeen 0 0 0 n/a†
2 Celtic 0 0 0 n/a†
3 Dundee United[lower-alpha 1] 0 0 0 n/a†
4 Hamilton Academical 0 0 0 n/a†
5 Hibernian 0 0 0 n/a†
6 Kilmarnock 0 0 0 n/a†
7 Livingston 0 0 0 n/a†
8 Motherwell 0 0 0 n/a†
9 Rangers 0 0 0 n/a†
10 Ross County 0 0 0 n/a†
11 St Johnstone 0 0 0 n/a†
12 St Mirren 0 0 0 n/a†
League total 0 0 0 n/a†

Source:

  1. Club was playing in Championship during the previous season.

Awards
Month Manager of the Month Player of the Month Ref.
Manager Club Player Club
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April

Premiership play-offs

The quarter-finals will be contested between the third and fourth placed teams in the Scottish Championship. The winners will advance to the semi-finals to face the second placed team in the Championship, and the winners of that tie will advance 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.

Broadcasting

Live matches (UK and Ireland)

Sky Sports has exclusive rights to the Scottish Premiership and will show up to 48 matches, whilst also broadcasting the play-offs.[48] Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, clubs will 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.[49]

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 channel - available from 6pm on a Sunday for UK and Ireland viewers and 10pm on a Saturday for those worldwide.

References
  1. "Scottish Premiership Top Scorers". BBC. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  2. "Scottish Premiership Scoring Stats - 2020-21". ESPN. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  3. "Scottish Premiership Performance Stats - 2020-21". ESPN. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  4. "SPFL Premiership 2020-21: Celtic start 10-in-a-row quest at home to Hamilton". BBC Sport. 6 July 2020. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  5. "Scottish Premiership given green light for 1 August kick-off". BBC Sport. 10 July 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  6. "Dundee Utd, Raith & Cove win titles and reconstruction talks start after Dundee vote". BBC Sport. 15 April 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  7. "Aberdeen Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  8. "Celtic Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  9. "Dundee United Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  10. "Hamilton Academical Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  11. "Hibernian Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  12. "Kilmarnock Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  13. "Livingston Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  14. "Motherwell Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  15. "Rangers Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  16. "Ross County Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  17. "St Johnstone Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  18. "St Mirren Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
  19. "Celtic announce magnificent new five-year partnership with adidas". Celtic FC. 13 March 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  20. "Hamilton announce fantastic new two year partnership with Cullen". Hamilton Academical FC. 21 July 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  21. "HIBERNIAN FC PROUD TO ANNOUNCE NHS THANK YOU". Hibernian FC. 23 April 2020. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  22. "CLUB SIGN CLUB-RECORD KIT DEAL WITH HUMMEL". Kilmarnock FC. 26 February 2020. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  23. "STORY OF THE SHIRT: 2020/21". Kilmarnock FC. 5 June 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  24. "Paycare are our new main sponsors". Motherwell FC. 14 August 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  25. "Rangers Announce Historic New Partnership With Castore". Rangers FC. 17 May 2020. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  26. "New Kit Launches". Ross County FC. 22 June 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  27. "Ross County: Stuart Kettlewell to manage club as Steven Ferguson named CEO". BBC. 10 June 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  28. "Callum Davidson: St Johnstone appoint former player as boss". BBC. 18 June 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  29. "Robbie Neilson: Hearts name Dundee Utd boss to replace Daniel Stendel". BBC. 21 June 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  30. "Dundee United: Micky Mellon appointed as manager". BBC. 6 July 2020. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  31. McDougall, Mark (28 June 2020). "SPFL get go-ahead for clubs to return to full training in major step forward to football's return". Daily Record. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  32. "Aberdeen confirm positive COVID-19 test". BBC Sport. 1 July 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  33. Guy, Rachel (23 July 2020). "Seven St Mirren staff members test positive for coronavirus". STV Sport. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  34. McLaughlin, Chris (24 July 2020). "St Mirren: Six of seven failed Covid tests were 'false positives'". BBC Sport. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  35. McLaughlin, Chris (6 August 2020). "Eight Aberdeen players self-isolating amid coronavirus lockdown". BBC Sport. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  36. "Coronavirus: Aberdeen goes into lockdown as Covid cluster grows". BBC Scotland. 5 August 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  37. McLaughlin, Chris (7 August 2020). "Aberdeen coronavirus cases: Nicola Sturgeon criticises players after St Johnstone call-off". BBC Sport. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  38. "Aberdeen: Eight who broke lockdown rules issue apology". BBC Sport. 8 August 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  39. Idessane, Kheredine (11 August 2020). "Celtic: 'Very difficult' for Boli Bolingoli to be accepted back". BBC Sport. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  40. Cassidy, Peter (11 August 2020). "Celtic's Bolingoli fined by police over quarantine breach". STV Sport. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  41. "Travellers from Spain to face quarantine rules". Scottish Government. 25 July 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  42. Miller, Adam (11 August 2020). "Celtic apologise to Kilmarnock after Boli Bolingoli plays following trip to Spain". Glasgow Live. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  43. "'Yellow card' warning as Aberdeen and Celtic matches are called off". BBC Scotland. 11 August 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  44. "Celtic and Aberdeen games called off after Covid-19 breaches". BBC Sport. 11 August 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  45. "The Rules of the Scottish Professional Football League" (PDF). SPFL. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  46. English, Tom (2 August 2020). "Celtic 5-1 Hamilton: Odsonne Edouard shines again... but can Celtic keep him?". BBC Sport. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  47. Murray, Keir (8 August 2020). "Livingston 1-4 Hibernian: Kevin Nisbet claims hat-trick in second-straight win". BBC Sport. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  48. McLaughlin, Chris (19 November 2018). "Scottish Premiership: Matches to be shown live on Sky only as new £160m TV deal struck". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  49. "Hibs reveal virtual season ticket plans as sales near 9000". www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
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