2020 Belarusian First League
# 2020 Belarusian First League

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.

## Teams summary

| Team | Location | Position in 2019 |
| - | - | - |
| Gomel | Gomel | Premier League, 15 |
| Lokomotiv Gomel | Gomel | 4 |
| Naftan Novopolotsk | Novopolotsk | 5 |
| Sputnik Rechitsa | Rechitsa | 6 |
| Lida | Lida | 7 |
| Krumkachy Minsk | Minsk | 8 |
| Granit Mikashevichi | Mikashevichi | 9 |
| Orsha | Orsha | 10 |
| Khimik Svetlogorsk | Svetlogorsk | 11 |
| Volna Pinsk | Pinsk | 12 |
| Slonim-2017 | Slonim | 13 |
| Smorgon | Smorgon | 14 |
| Arsenal Dzerzhinsk | Dzerzhinsk | Second League, 1 |
| Oshmyany | Oshmyany | Second League, 2 |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Sputnik Rechitsa (C, P) | 26 | 19 | 4 | 3 | 50 | 18 | +32 | 61 | Promotion to the Belarusian Premier League |
| 2 | Gomel (P) | 26 | 18 | 5 | 3 | 60 | 20 | +40 | 54 | Promotion to the Belarusian Premier League |
| 3 | Krumkachy | 26 | 16 | 4 | 6 | 46 | 28 | +18 | 52 | Advance to the promotion play-offs |
| 4 | Arsenal Dzerzhinsk | 26 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 41 | 28 | +13 | 46 | |
| 5 | Lokomotiv Gomel | 26 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 56 | 38 | +18 | 45 | |
| 6 | Smorgon (P) | 26 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 29 | 26 | +3 | 36 | Promotion to the Belarusian Premier League |
| 7 | Lida | 26 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 37 | 42 | −5 | 31 | |
| 8 | Slonim-2017 | 26 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 22 | 32 | −10 | 30 | |
| 9 | Volna Pinsk | 26 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 41 | 52 | −11 | 27 | |
| 10 | Oshmyany (W) | 26 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 35 | 43 | −8 | 26 | Withdrew |
| 11 | Orsha | 26 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 30 | 42 | −12 | 24 | |
| 12 | Naftan Novopolotsk | 26 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 36 | 43 | −7 | 21 | |
| 13 | Granit Mikashevichi (W) | 26 | 4 | 5 | 17 | 21 | 52 | −31 | 17 | Withdrew |
| 14 | Khimik Svetlogorsk (W) | 26 | 2 | 4 | 20 | 12 | 52 | −40 | 1 | Advance to the relegation play-offs; Withdrew |

* ↑ Gomel were deducted 5 points before the start of the season as a result of match-fixing investigation in the previous season.
* ↑ Lida were deducted 3 points before the start of the season as a result of match-fixing investigation in the previous season.
* ↑ Orsha were deducted 3 points before the start of the season as a result of match-fixing investigation in the previous season.
* ↑ Naftan Novopolotsk were deducted 15 points before the start of the season as a result of match-fixing investigation in the previous season.
* ↑ Khimik Svetlogorsk were deducted 9 points before the start of the season as a result of match-fixing investigation in the previous season.

## Results

| Home \ Away | ARS | GOM | GRA | KHI | KRU | LID | LGM | NAF | ORS | OSH | SLO | SPU | SMR | VOL |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Arsenal Dzerzhinsk | | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 4–0 | 4–2 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 3–2 |
| Gomel | 0–1 | | 2–1 | 3–1 | 0–2 | 7–2 | 2–3 | 0–0 | 4–2 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 |
| Granit Mikashevichi | 1–2 | 1–4 | | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 |
| Khimik Svetlogorsk | 2–2 | 0–1 | 0–0 | | 0–4 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–4 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 2–1 | 1–2 |
| Krumkachy Minsk | 2–0 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 1–0 | | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 2–3 |
| Lida | 1–0 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 0–0 | 2–1 | | 4–2 | 2–2 | 1–5 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 |
| Lokomotiv Gomel | 1–1 | 1–4 | 4–0 | 5–0 | 4–0 | 2–3 | | 3–3 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 |
| Naftan Novopolotsk | 2–1 | 1–4 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–5 | | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 2–0 |
| Orsha | 0–1 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 0–4 | 3–2 | 0–2 | 0–2 | | 0–0 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 3–2 |
| Oshmyany | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–3 | 3–2 | 0–6 | 5–1 | 0–0 | | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 5–5 |
| Slonim-2017 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | | 1–3 | 0–1 | 1–1 |
| Sputnik Rechitsa | 2–1 | 0–4 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 5–1 | 5–0 | 4–2 | 1–0 | 3–0 | | 1–1 | 3–1 |
| Smorgon | 1–1 | 1–3 | 5–0 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–1 | | 2–0 |
| Volna Pinsk | 1–1 | 0–3 | 3–1 | 4–2 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 2–3 | 1–2 | 2–3 | 3–2 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 2–3 | |

## 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

| Rank | Goalscorer | Team | Goals |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Andrey Solovey | Lokomotiv Gomel | 20 |
| 2 | Artsyom Vaskow | Gomel | 16 |
| 3 | Dmitry Gomza | Gomel | 11 |
| 4 | Yan Senkevich | Lida | 10 |
| 4 | Pavel Klenyo | Lokomotiv Gomel | 10 |
| 4 | Pavel Demidchik | Oshmyany | 10 |
| 4 | Iskandar Zarobekov | Volna Pinsk | 10 |
| 4 | Valery Potorocha | Sputnik Rechitsa | 10 |

Updated to games played on 21 November 2020 Source: football.by

