2019–20 Primeira Liga

Primeira Liga 2019–20
Season information
Dates	9 August 2019–26 July 2020
Winners	Porto 29th title
Relegated	Vitória de Setubal Desportivo das Aves
Continental cup qualifiers
Champions League	Porto Benfica
Europa League	Braga Sporting CP Rio Ave
Season statistics
Matches played	306
Goals scored	763
Average	2.49 (per match)
Top goalscorer	Carlos Vinícius Mehdi Taremi Pizzi (18 goals each)
Biggest home win	Benfica 5–0 Paços de Ferreira (10 August 2019) Vitória de Guimarães 5–0 Belenenses (30 October 2019) Porto 5–0 Belenenses (5 July 2020)
Biggest away win	Famalicão 0–7 Vitória de Guimarães (8 February 2020)
Highest scoring	Belenenses 1–7 Braga (4 January 2020)
← 2018–19	2020–21 →

The 2019–20 Primeira Liga (also known as Liga NOS for sponsorship reasons) was the 86th season of the Primeira Liga, the top professional league for Portuguese association football clubs. The season started on 9 August 2019 and was finished on 26 July 2020.

Benfica were the defending champions, after winning their 37th league title in the previous season. Paços de Ferreira and Famalicão were promoted from the second-tier 2018–19 LigaPro, while Gil Vicente were promoted directly from the third-tier 2018–19 Campeonato de Portugal by court decision. They replaced Chaves, Nacional and Feirense, who were relegated to the 2019–20 LigaPro.

On 12 March 2020, the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) suspended the Primeira Liga due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal. Following the government's approval, the league resumed play on 3 June, with matches of the remaining ten matchdays taking place behind closed doors.

On 15 July 2020, Porto secured their 29th league title with two matches remaining after defeating Sporting CP 2–0 at home.

After the end of the season, on 26 July, Desportivo das Aves and Portimonense were relegated to the 2020–21 LigaPro. However, two days later, Desportivo das Aves and Vitória de Setubal were relegated to the 2020–21 Campeonato de Portugal by decision of the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional ("LPFP") after both clubs failed to meet the necessary requirements to obtain a licence for registration to participate in professional domestic competitions.

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal, on 10 March 2020, the LPFP announced that all fixtures on matchday 24 (6–8 March) would be played behind closed doors following the Portuguese government to suspend events in open spaces with more than 5,000 people, as well as events behind closed doors with more than 1,000 participants, until 3 April. Two days later, the LPFP suspended the Primeira Liga and LigaPro until further notice because of effects of the coronavirus pandemic in Portugal. The decision was taken following the Portuguese Football Federation ("FPF")'s announcement of suspending their own non-professional football and futsal competitions and also due to an emergency meeting between the Sindicato dos Jogadores Profissionais de Futebol ("SJPF"), the LPFP and the FPF to monitor the situation, in view of the proposal to suspend all sports competitions, which the SJPF added that in case of infection, there would be an aggravated loss. Shortly after, LPFP president Pedro Proença met with several presidents of Primeira Liga's clubs to assess the impact of the stoppage of professional championships due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He revealed a COVID-19 economic support plan to support the treasury of various clubs in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro. Afterwards, the LPFP announced the creation of an Economic Impact Monitoring Group that would be responsible for presenting measures to support the clubs that competed in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro. The FPF also opened a credit line to support the finances of non-professional football and futsal clubs in the amount of one million euros to minimize the effects of the pandemic on their finances.

On 28 April, Prime Minister of Portugal António Costa reunited with the presidents of the "Big Three" clubs in Portugal (S.L. Benfica, Sporting CP and FC Porto), the president of the FPF and the president of the LPFP to discuss the conditions of the return of football in Portugal. The reunion caused some controversy for some Primeira Liga clubs such as Braga and Vitória de Guimarães, who were not satisfied that only the "Big Three" clubs were the only ones invited to the discussion, and instead believed all Primeira Liga clubs should have been invited. Two days later, António Costa approved the return of the league, with all matches being resumed behind closed doors following the consent of the Portuguese Ministry of Health.

On 11 May, it was announced that several teams in the Primeira Liga had players tested positive for COVID-19, with Benfica having a player from its reserve team to be infected, followed by three players from Famalicão, Moreirense and Vitória de Guimarães that were sent home and were isolated from the rest of their respective teams. On 20 May, LPFP president Pedro Proença president proposed that following the restart of the league, the matches played should be shown on the free-to-air television station RTP in Portugal instead of the pay TV subscriptions, with the backing of the Portuguese government. However, this proposal caused some controversy with the league's main sponsor, NOS, and several other sponsors, as well as various other clubs in the league, most notably Benfica and Porto. This prompted rumours that Proença could be forced to end his term prematurely, rumours Proença later dismissed. Later that month, Benfica left the board of LPFP due to the controversy.

On 14 May, after a meeting of all clubs, five substitutions will be permitted, which was temporarily allowed by IFAB following a proposal by FIFA to lessen the impact of fixture congestion. On 22 May, the LPFP announced that the league would be resumed on 3 June. On 27 May, it was announced that one of the assistant referees for a league match between Benfica and Marítimo had tested positive for COVID-19, leading him to be replaced by another referee for the scheduled league match.

On 30 May, the LPFP approved a plan to resume the league, but during the reunion between all clubs of the league, Marítimo refused to accept the five substitutions rules, leading the rule to be accepted on 8 June by the LPFP despite Marítimo's refusal.

Teams

• Gil Vicente was granted a place in the 2019–20 Primeira Liga season by court decision.
• Paços de Ferreira is promoted from 2018-19 LigaPro, 1 year after the last participation in Primeira Liga.
• Famalicão is promoted from 2018-19 LigaPro, 25 years after the last participation in Primeira Liga.

Stadia and locations

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity	2018–19 finish
Belenenses SAD	Oeiras	Estádio Nacional	32,000	9th
Benfica	Lisbon	Estádio da Luz	64,160	1st
Boavista	Porto	Estádio do Bessa	27,370	8th
Braga	Braga	Estádio Municipal de Braga	30,280	4th
Desportivo das Aves	Vila das Aves	Estádio do CD Aves	6,230	14th
Famalicão	Vila Nova de Famalicão	Estádio Municipal 22 de Junho	5,300	312nd (LP)
Gil Vicente	Barcelos	Estádio Cidade de Barcelos	12,035	32 *(CP)
Marítimo	Funchal	Estádio do Marítimo	10,600	12th
Moreirense	Moreira de Cónegos	Parque de Jogos Comendador Joaquim de Almeida Freitas	6,150	6th
Paços de Ferreira	Paços de Ferreira	Estádio da Mata Real	9,280	311st (LP)
Portimonense	Portimão	Estádio Municipal de Portimão	5,870	11th
Porto	Porto	Estádio do Dragão	50,030	2nd
Rio Ave	Vila do Conde	Estádio dos Arcos	9,065	7th
Santa Clara	Ponta Delgada	Estádio de São Miguel	10,000	10th
Sporting CP	Lisbon	Estádio José Alvalade	50,485	3rd
Tondela	Tondela	Estádio João Cardoso	5,000	15th
Vitória de Guimarães	Guimarães	Estádio D. Afonso Henriques	30,000	5th
Vitória de Setúbal	Setúbal	Estádio do Bonfim	15,720	13th

Personnel and sponsors

Team	Manager(s)	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Sponsors
Belenenses SAD	Petit	Gonçalo Silva	Lacatoni	Kia Motors
Benfica	Bruno Lage	Jardel	Adidas	Fly Emirates
Boavista	Daniel Ramos	Idris Mandiang	PlayGround Stars	VITO Tools
Braga	Custódio	Fransérgio	Hummel	Betano
Desportivo das Aves	Nuno Manta Santos	Afonso Figueiredo	Lacatoni	AMCO Credit
Famalicão	João Pedro Sousa	Rafael Defendi	Macron	Porminho
Gil Vicente	Vítor Oliveira	Rúben Fernandes	Lacatoni	Las Kasas
Marítimo	José Gomes	Edgar Costa	Nike	-
Moreirense	Ricardo Soares	João Aurélio	CDT	-
Paços de Ferreira	Pepa	Pedrinho	Joma	Aldro Energy
Portimonense	Paulo Sérgio	Jadson	Mizuno	Ceremony
Porto	Sérgio Conceição	Danilo Pereira	New Balance	MEO
Rio Ave	Carlos Carvalhal	Tarantini	Nike	MEO
Santa Clara	João Henriques	Osama Rashid	Nike	Santander
Sporting CP	Rúben Amorim	Sebastián Coates	Macron	NOS
Tondela	Natxo González	Cláudio Ramos	CDT	Cabriz Wines
Vitória de Guimarães	Ivo Vieira	Pedro Henrique	Macron	-
Vitória de Setúbal	Julio Velázquez	Vasco Fernandes	Hummel	SGS Car

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner	Date of vacancy	Pos in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Paços de Ferreira	Filó	Sacked	2 September 2019	18th	Pepa	2 September 2019
Sporting CP	Marcel Keizer	Mutual consent	3 September 2019	7th	Leonel Pontes (caretaker)	3 September 2019
Belenenses SAD	Silas	Sacked	5 September 2019	17th	Pedro Ribeiro	13 September 2019
Sporting CP	Leonel Pontes (caretaker)	End of caretaker role	25 September 2019	9th	Silas	26 September 2019
Aves	Augusto Inácio	Sacked	21 October 2019	18th	Leandro Pires (caretaker)	21 October 2019
Vitória de Setúbal	Sandro Mendes	Sacked	27 October 2019	14th	Albert Meyong (caretaker)	30 October 2019
Vitória de Setúbal	Albert Meyong (caretaker)	End of caretaker role	11 November 2019	12th	Julio Velázquez	11 November 2019
Marítimo	Nuno Manta Santos	Mutual consent	11 November 2019	14th	José Gomes	14 November 2019
Aves	Leandro Pires (caretaker)	End of caretaker role	13 November 2019	18th	Nuno Manta Santos	13 November 2019
Moreirense	Vítor Campelos	Mutual consent	16 December 2019	11th	Ricardo Soares	18 December 2019
Boavista	Lito Vidigal	Sacked	17 December 2019	8th	Daniel Ramos	18 December 2019
Braga	Ricardo Sá Pinto	Sacked	23 December 2019	10th	Rúben Amorim	27 December 2019
Belenenses SAD	Pedro Ribeiro	Resigned	12 January 2020	17th	Petit	15 January 2020
Portimonense	António Folha	Resigned	18 January 2020	17th	Bruno Lopes Joaquim Rolão Preto	19 January 2020 6 February 2020
Portimonense	Bruno Lopes Joaquim Rolão Preto	End of caretaker role	10 February 2020	17th	Paulo Sérgio	10 February 2020
Sporting CP	Silas	Mutual consent	3 March 2020	4th	Rúben Amorim	5 March 2020
Braga	Rúben Amorim	Signed by Sporting CP	5 March 2020	3rd	Custódio	5 March 2020

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Porto  (C)	34	26	4	4	74	22	+52	82	Qualification to Champions League group stage
2	Benfica	34	24	5	5	71	26	+45	77	Qualification to Champions League third qualifying round
3	Braga	34	18	6	10	61	40	+21	60	Qualification to Europa League group stage
4	Sporting CP	34	18	6	10	49	34	+15	60	Qualification to Europa League third qualifying round
5	Rio Ave	34	15	10	9	48	36	+12	55	Qualification to Europa League second qualifying round
6	Famalicão	34	14	12	8	53	51	+2	54
7	Vitória de Guimarães	34	13	11	10	53	38	+15	50
8	Moreirense	34	10	13	11	42	44	−2	43
9	Santa Clara	34	11	10	13	36	41	−5	43
10	Gil Vicente	34	11	10	13	39	43	−4	43
11	Marítimo	34	9	12	13	34	42	−8	39
12	Boavista	34	10	9	15	28	39	−11	39
13	Paços de Ferreira	34	11	6	17	35	51	−16	39
14	Tondela	34	9	9	16	30	44	−14	36
15	Belenenses SAD	34	9	8	17	27	54	−27	35
16	Vitória de Setúbal  (R)	34	7	13	14	27	43	−16	34	Relegation to LigaPro
17	Portimonense	34	7	12	15	30	45	−15	33
18	Desportivo das Aves  (R)	34	5	2	27	24	68	−44	17	Relegation to LigaPro

Updated to games played on 15 June 2020
Source: Liga Portugal
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd number of goals scored.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round; (Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament

Results

Home \ Away	BEL	BEN	BOA	BRA	DAV	FAM	GVI	MAR	MOR	PAÇ	PRT	POR	RAV	STC	SCP	TON	VGU	VSE
Belenenses	—	0–2	0–1	1–7	3–2	0–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	0–2	0–2	1–3	1–1	1–1	0–1
Benfica	3–2	—	3–1	0–1	2–1	4–0	2–0	4–0	1–1	5–0	4–0	0–2	2–0	3–4	2–1	0–0	2–0	1–0
Boavista	1–2	1–4	—	2–0	2–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	1–1	1–1	0–1	0–2	1–0	1–1	0–0	2–0	3–1
Braga	1–1	0–4	0–1	—	4–0	2–2	2–2	2–2	3–1	0–1	3–1	2–1	2–0	2–0	1–0	2–1	3–2	3–1
Desportivo das Aves	0–2	0–4	0–1	1–0	—	2–3	1–2	3–1	0–1	1–3	3–0	0–0	0–4	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–2	1–0
Famalicão	3–1	1–1	2–2	0–0	1–1	—	2–1	1–1	3–3	4–2	0–1	2–1	1–0	0–1	3–1	2–3	0–7	3–0
Gil Vicente	2–0	0–1	0–0	1–1	3–0	1–3	—	2–0	1–5	3–3	1–1	2–1	1–0	1–1	3–1	3–2	2–2	0–0
Marítimo	1–3	2–0	1–0	1–2	1–2	3–3	2–1	—	2–1	3–0	1–1	1–1	0–0	2–2	1–1	2–3	0–0	1–1
Moreirense	2–1	1–2	1–1	1–2	3–2	1–1	3–0	2–0	—	1–1	1–0	2–4	0–1	2–1	0–0	1–2	1–1	1–1
Paços de Ferreira	2–1	0–2	0–1	1–5	2–1	2–1	0–0	0–1	1–0	—	2–1	0–1	0–0	0–1	1–2	1–0	1–2	2–3
Portimonense	0–0	2–2	2–1	0–1	2–0	2–1	1–0	3–2	1–1	0–0	—	2–3	1–1	1–1	1–3	0–1	0–1	0–0
Porto	5–0	3–2	4–0	1–2	1–0	3–0	2–1	1–0	6–1	2–0	1–0	—	1–1	2–0	2–0	3–0	3–0	4–0
Rio Ave	0–0	1–2	2–0	4–3	5–1	2–2	1–0	0–1	1–1	2–3	2–1	0–1	—	2–2	1–1	2–4	1–1	1–0
Santa Clara	0–0	1–2	1–2	3–2	3–0	0–2	1–0	0–1	2–0	2–1	1–1	0–2	0–1	—	0–4	1–0	2–2	1–1
Sporting CP	2–0	0–2	2–0	2–1	2–0	1–2	2–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	2–1	1–2	2–3	1–0	—	2–0	3–1	0–0
Tondela	0–1	0–1	1–1	1–0	2–0	0–1	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–3	1–2	1–3	1–2	0–0	1–0	—	1–3	0–3
Vitória de Guimarães	5–0	0–1	1–1	0–2	5–1	1–1	1–2	1–0	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–2	1–2	1–0	2–2	2–0	—	2–0
Vitória de Setúbal	2–0	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–2	1–2	0–0	0–0	2–3	0–0	0–4	1–2	2–2	1–3	0–0	1–1	—

Source: Liga Portugal
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.

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Mehdi Taremi	Rio Ave	18
	Carlos Vinícius	Benfica
	Pizzi	Benfica
4	Paulinho	Braga	17
5	Fábio Abreu	Moreirense	13
6	Moussa Marega	Porto	12
	Fábio Martins	Famalicão
	Ricardo Horta	Braga
9	Alex Telles	Porto	11
	Douglas Tanque	Paços de Ferreira

Hat-tricks

Main article:List of Primeira Liga hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Zé Luís	Porto	Vitória de Setúbal	4–0 (H)	17 August 2019
Mehdi Taremi	Rio Ave	Aves	5–1 (H)	24 August 2019
Paulinho	Braga	Paços de Ferreira	5–1 (A)	10 July 2020

Notes

(H) – Home team
(A) – Away team

Top assists

Rank	Player	Club	Assists
1	Pizzi	Benfica	14
2	Jesús Corona	Porto	11
3	Otávio	Porto	9
4	Alex Telles	Porto	8
	Bruno Tabata	Portimonense
6	Bruno Fernandes	Sporting CP	7
	Paulinho	Braga
8	Álex Grimaldo	Benfica	6
	Lincoln	Santa Clara
	Carlos Mané	Rio Ave
	Carlos Vinícius	Benfica
	Fábio Martins	Famalicão
	Ricardo Esgaio	Braga

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Agustín Marchesín	Porto	18
2	Odysseas Vlachodimos	Benfica	16
3	Giorgi Makaridze	Vitória de Setúbal	13
4	Paweł Kieszek	Rio Ave	11
5	Douglas	Vitória de Guimarães	10
	Amir Abedzadeh	Marítimo
	Luís Maximiano	Sporting CP
8	Marco Pereira	Santa Clara	9
	Cláudio Ramos	Tondela
10	Denis	Gil Vicente	8
	Mateus Pasinato	Moreirense

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 14
  • José Semedo (Vitória de Setúbal)

• Most red cards: 2
  • João Afonso (Gil Vicente)
  • Sebastián Coates (Sporting CP)
  • José Semedo (Vitória de Setúbal)
  • Raul Silva (Braga)
  • Alex Telles (Porto)
  • Rafik Halliche (Moreirense)

Club

• Most yellow cards: 102
  • Paços de Ferreira

• Most red cards: 6
  • Famalicão

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month		Goalkeeper of the Month		Defender of the Month		Midfielder of the Month		Forward of the Month		Goal of the Month
	Name	Club	Name	Club	Name	Club	Name	Club	Name	Club	Name	Club	Name	Club	Against/Date
August	João Pedro Sousa	Famalicão	Pizzi	Benfica	Agustín Marchesín	Porto	Alex Telles	Porto	Bruno Fernandes	Sporting	Zé Luís	Porto	Davidson	Vitória Guimarães	Boavista 18 August
September			Fábio Martins	Famalicão			Nehuén Pérez	Famalicão			Fábio Martins	Famalicão	Rúben Lameiras	Famalicão	Sporting 19 September
October/November	Vítor Oliveira	Gil Vicente	Carlos Vinícius	Benfica			Rúben Dias	Benfica	Pizzi	Benfica	Carlos Vinícius	Benfica	Alex Telles	Porto	Boavista 10 November
December	Bruno Lage	Benfica	Pizzi				Alex Telles	Porto					Zé Luís	Porto	Paços de Ferreira 2 December
January			Ricardo Horta	Braga	Helton Leite	Boavista	Edmond Tapsoba	Vitória Guimarães	Bruno Fernandes	Sporting	Ricardo Horta	Braga	Jesus Corona		Moreirense 10 January
February	Sérgio Conceição	Porto	Alex Telles	Porto			Alex Telles	Porto	Sérgio Oliveira	Porto	Sandro Lima	Gil Vicente	Pedro Nuno	Moreirense	Gil Vicente 2 February
June	Paulo Sérgio	Portimonense	Jovane Cabral	Sporting	René Santos	Marítimo	Pedro Gonçalves	Famalicão	Douglas Tanque	Paços de Ferreira	Bruno Santos	Paços de Ferreira	Rio Ave 7 June
July	–		–		–		–		–		–		Soares	Porto	Moreirense 20 July

Annual awards

Annual awards were announced on 29 August 2020.

Award	Winner	Club
Player of the Season	Jesús Corona	Porto
Manager of the Season	Sérgio Conceição
Goal of the Season	Zé Luís
Young Player of the Season	Pedro Gonçalves	Famalicão
Top goalscorer	Carlos Vinícius	Benfica
	Mehdi Taremi	Rio Ave
	Pizzi	Benfica
Player Fair-Play Prize	Paweł Kieszek	Rio Ave
Club Fair-Play Prize	Gil Vicente
Turf of the Season	Portimonense

Team of the Year
Goalkeeper	Agustín Marchesín (Porto)
Defence	Ricardo Esgaio (Braga)	Pepe (Porto)		Rúben Dias (Benfica)		Alex Telles (Porto)
Midfield	Pizzi (Benfica)		Pedro Gonçalves (Famalicão)		Otávio (Porto)
Attack	Jesús Corona (Porto)		Paulinho (Braga)		Mehdi Taremi (Rio Ave)

2019–20 in Portuguese football
Domestic leagues
Primeira Liga (level 1) · LigaPro (level 2) · Campeonato de Portugal (level 3)
Domestic cups
Taça de Portugal (Final) · Taça da Liga (Final) · Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira
European competitions
Champions League (Final) · Europa League (Final)
2018–19                                                        2020–21