# 2020–21 Gibraltar National League

The 2020–21 Gibraltar National League season is the second season of the new Gibraltar National League in Gibraltar, and the 122nd season of football on the territory overall. There are no reigning champions this season, as the previous season was declared abandoned as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The league is due to kick off on 16 October 2020. Instead of qualifying for the 2021–22 UEFA Europa League, teams placed 2nd, 3rd and the 2021 Rock Cup winners will qualify for the inaugural UEFA Europa Conference League.

## Format

The structure of the league will follow that of the previous season. Teams will play one round of games as a single league, before splitting into two groups: the Championship Group contested by the top 6 sides, and the Challenge Group between the bottom 6 sides. The winners of the Challenge Group will receive the GFA Challenge Trophy and receive a bye to the second round of the next season's Rock Cup. The league paused after the game on 20 December between Bruno's Magpies and St Joseph's, but resumed on 22 February 2021 with Lions Gibraltar defeating College 1975 3-2.

## Teams

The following 12 teams began the 2020–21 Gibraltar National League. League positions from the previous season represent where teams stood when the season was abandoned.
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Club sponsor | 2019–20 |
| Boca Gibraltar | Aaron Edwards | Lennie Armstrong | Forever 17 | Plug-N-Go | 10th |
| Bruno's Magpies | Johnny Parrado | Rubén Díaz | Joma | GVC Holdings Chestertons | 5th |
| College 1975 | Ángel Espinosa | Nazim Hughes | Joma | | 12th |
| Europa | Rafa Escobar | Liam Walker | Kappa | La Parrilla Betfred | 1st |
| Europa Point | Craig Cowell | Kailan Perez | Hope + Glory | Marbella Ketones (front) Eco Wave Power (back) AKHS Management (sleeve) | 8th |
| Glacis United | Javier Sánchez Alfaro | Miguel Londero | Nike | | 11th |
| Lincoln Red Imps | Mick McElwee | Roy Chipolina | adidas | Mansion.com | 3rd |
| Lions Gibraltar | Alberto Ferri | Jay Bosio | Macron | | 6th |
| Lynx | Albert Parody | Chuky González | Givova | Grupo Casais | 4th |
| Manchester 62 | David Wilson | Robert Montovio | Joma | CEPSA GIB | 9th |
| Mons Calpe | César Vega | Christian Fraiz | Givova | FanPlay 365 | 7th |
| St Joseph's | Raúl Procopio Baizán | Boro | Hope + Glory | | 2nd |

### Managerial Changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| Lincoln Red Imps | Germán Crespo | Mutual consent | 20 May 2020 | Pre-season | William | 28 May 2020 |
| Bruno's Magpies | Juan Maria Sánchez | Mutual consent | 31 May 2020 | Pre-season | Johnny Parrado | 23 July 2020 |
| Boca Gibraltar | Craig Cowell | Moved to U23 Manager | 1 June 2020 | Pre-season | Stephen Vaughan Jr. | 1 June 2020 |
| Boca Gibraltar | Stephen Vaughan Jr. | Denied license by GFA | 9 August 2020 | Pre-season | Aaron Edwards | 9 August 2020 |
| Glacis United | Michele Di Piedi | Promoted to Director of Football | 1 September 2020 | Pre-season | Paul Aigbogun | 1 September 2020 |
| Mons Calpe | Luis Manuel Blanco | Mutual consent | 16 September 2020 | Pre-season | César Vega | 16 September 2020 |
| Europa Point | Ian Hendon | Mutual consent | 1 October 2020 | Pre-season | Dani Amaya | 1 October 2020 |
| Lincoln Red Imps | William | Mutual consent | 5 October 2020 | Pre-season | Mick McElwee | 5 October 2020 |
| Glacis United | Paul Aigbogun | Signed by Nigeria Football Federation | 23 October 2020 | 7th | Javier Sánchez Alfaro | 25 October 2020 |
| Europa Point | Dani Amaya | Mutual consent | 2 November 2020 | 11th | Steve Cummings | 2 November 2020 |
| Europa Point | Steve Cummings | Sacked | 19 March 2021 | 12th | Craig Cowell | 19 March 2021 |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Europa | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 44 | 5 | +39 | 28 | Qualification for the Championship Group |
| 2 | Lincoln Red Imps | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 33 | 7 | +26 | 25 | Qualification for the Championship Group |
| 3 | St Joseph's | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 49 | 11 | +38 | 22 | Qualification for the Championship Group |
| 4 | Lynx | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 26 | 10 | +16 | 19 | Qualification for the Championship Group |
| 5 | Mons Calpe | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 21 | 13 | +8 | 19 | Qualification for the Championship Group |
| 6 | Lions Gibraltar | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 10 | +2 | 15 | Qualification for the Championship Group |
| 7 | Bruno's Magpies | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 14 | 16 | −2 | 14 | Qualification for the Challenge Group |
| 8 | Glacis United | 10 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 10 | 18 | −8 | 9 | Qualification for the Challenge Group |
| 9 | Manchester 62 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 44 | −36 | 6 | Qualification for the Challenge Group |
| 10 | Europa Point | 10 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 7 | 38 | −31 | 3 | Qualification for the Challenge Group |
| 11 | College 1975 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 8 | 60 | −52 | 0 | Qualification for the Challenge Group |
| 12 | Boca Gibraltar (E) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Club expelled, record expunged |
* ↑ Teams play each other once (10 matches), before the league splits into two groups (the top six and the bottom five) for the last 10 respectively 8 matches.

## Results

| Home \ Away | BRU | COL | EFC | EPO | GLA | LIN | LGI | LYN | MAN | MON | SJO |
| Boca Gibraltar | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Bruno's Magpies | | | 1–3 | 4–0 | | | 0–0 | | 3–2 | | 0–3 |
| College 1975 | 0–3 | | | 1–3 | 1–5 | 0–8 | | 1–7 | | 0–6 | |
| Europa | | 9–0 | | | 1–0 | 2–2 | | 3–1 | | 3–0 | |
| Europa Point | | | 0–9 | | | 1–6 | 0–1 | | | 2–4 | |
| Glacis United | 0–1 | | | 3–0 | | 0–3 | | 0–3 | | 0–1 | 0–5 |
| Lincoln Red Imps | 3–0 | | | | | | 3–0 | | 2–0 | | 4–2 |
| Lions Gibraltar | | 3–2 | 0–1 | | 3–0 | | | 0–3 | | | |
| Lynx | 1–1 | | | 3–0 | | 2–0 | | | 5–0 | 0–1 | 1–4 |
| Manchester 62 | | 3–2 | 0–9 | 3–1 | 0–2 | | 0–4 | | | | |
| Mons Calpe | 4–1 | | | | | 0–2 | 0–0 | | 5–0 | | 0–5 |
| St Joseph's | | 13–1 | 1–4 | 4–0 | | | 1–1 | | 11–0 | | |

### Forfeits for Home Grown Player violations

The season suffered early controversy when several teams were forced to forfeit games for violations of the Home Grown Player rule, due to confusion over the new rules regarding time limits for changes if a Home Grown Player is sent off. Below are the games that have been forfeited for rule breaches.
| Date | Original score | GFA decision |
| 31 October 2020 | Bruno's Magpies 1–0 Boca Gibraltar | 3-0 win to Bruno's Magpies |
| 1 November 2020 | Glacis United 1–1 Lynx | 3-0 win to Lynx |
| 21 November 2020 | Glacis United 1–1 Europa Point | 3-0 win to Glacis United |
| 28 November 2020 | Europa Point 1–2 Boca Gibraltar | 3-0 win to Europa Point |
Additionally, Boca Gibraltar failed to field a team on 5 December 2020 against Mons Calpe, subsequently forfeiting the tie. After doing so again on 9 December, they were expelled from the league.

## Championship and Challenge groups

After 11 games (reduced to 10 after Boca Gibraltar were expelled) the league splits into two groups: the top 6 into the Championship Group, and the bottom 6 (later reduced to 5) into the Challenge Group. The Championship Group will compete for the league title and European qualification places, while the Challenge Group will compete for the GFA Challenge Trophy.

### Championship Group

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Lincoln Red Imps (C) | 20 | 15 | 3 | 2 | 62 | 13 | +49 | 48 | Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | Europa | 20 | 15 | 2 | 3 | 66 | 14 | +52 | 47 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round |
| 3 | St Joseph's | 20 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 71 | 20 | +51 | 45 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round |
| 4 | Mons Calpe | 20 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 36 | 35 | +1 | 32 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round |
| 5 | Lynx | 20 | 8 | 2 | 10 | 36 | 40 | −4 | 26 | |
| 6 | Lions Gibraltar | 20 | 4 | 4 | 12 | 13 | 33 | −20 | 16 | |
* ↑ Since the winners of the 2021 Rock Cup, Lincoln Red Imps, qualified for the Champions League based on league position, the Europa Conference League berth awarded to the Cup winners was transferred to the fourth-placed team.

### Championship Group results

| Home \ Away | EFC | LIN | LGI | LYN | MON | SJO |
| Europa | | 0–3 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 |
| Lincoln Red Imps | 3–1 | | 3–0 | 1–0 | 5–1 | 0–1 |
| Lions Gibraltar | 0–2 | 1–1 | | 0–1 | 0–4 | 0–2 |
| Lynx | 0–6 | 0–7 | 4–0 | | 2–2 | 0–5 |
| Mons Calpe | 0–3 | 0–4 | 1–0 | 3–1 | | 0–4 |
| St Joseph's | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 1–4 | |

### Challenge Group

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Bruno's Magpies | 18 | 10 | 2 | 6 | 46 | 27 | +19 | 32 | GFA Challenge Trophy and bye in 2021–22 Rock Cup |
| 2 | Glacis United | 18 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 35 | 27 | +8 | 30 | |
| 3 | Manchester 62 | 18 | 5 | 2 | 11 | 25 | 60 | −35 | 17 | |
| 4 | College 1975 | 18 | 2 | 2 | 14 | 23 | 81 | −58 | 8 | |
| 5 | Europa Point | 18 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 10 | 73 | −63 | 3 | |

### Challenge Group results

| Home \ Away | BRU | COL | EPO | GLA | MAN |
| Bruno's Magpies | | 3–0 | 7–0 | 1–5 | 4–0 |
| College 1975 | 1–8 | | 4–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 |
| Europa Point | 0–4 | 0–6 | | 0–3 | 1–4 |
| Glacis United | 4–1 | 4–1 | 3–1 | | 4–1 |
| Manchester 62 | 1–4 | 3–3 | 4–0 | 4–0 | |

## Season statistics
### Scoring
#### Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Kike Gómez | Lincoln Red Imps | 24 |
| 2 | Juanfri | St Joseph's | 22 |
| 3 | Rubo Blanco | Bruno's Magpies | 19 |
| 4 | Adrián Gallardo | Europa | 14 |
| 5 | Boro | St Joseph's | 13 |
| 6 | Dylan Borge | Europa | 11 |
| 6 | Aritz Hernández | Lynx | 11 |
| 6 | Diego Díaz | Mons Calpe | 11 |
| 9 | Luisma Gallardo | College 1975 | 9 |
| 9 | Liam Walker | Europa | 9 |

#### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| Kike Gómez$^4$ | Lincoln Red Imps | College 1975 | 8–0 (A) | 19 October 2020 |
| Alberto Caravaca | Lions Gibraltar | Glacis United | 3–0 (H) | 24 October 2020 |
| Liam Walker | Europa | Europa Point | 9–0 (A) | 25 October 2020 |
| Luke Wall | Boca Gibraltar | College 1975 | 6–1 (H) | 25 October 2020 |
| Aritz Hernández | Lynx | Manchester 62 | 5–0 (H) | 27 October 2020 |
| Diego Díaz$^4$ | Mons Calpe | College 1975 | 6–0 (A) | 2 November 2020 |
| Juanfri$^4$ | St Joseph's | Manchester 62 | 11–0 (H) | 21 November 2020 |
| Ángel Guirado$^4$ | St Joseph's | College 1975 | 13–1 (H) | 12 December 2020 |
| Boro | St Joseph's | College 1975 | 13–1 (H) | 12 December 2020 |
| Adrián Gallardo$^4$ | Europa | Manchester 62 | 9–0 (A) | 13 December 2020 |
| Andre Dos Santos$^4$ | Mons Calpe | Europa Point | 4–2 (A) | 14 December 2020 |
| Kelvin Morgan | Bruno's Magpies | Europa Point | 4–0 (H) | 6 March 2021 |
| Darlington Nwosu | Glacis United | College 1975 | 4–1 (H) | 20 March 2021 |
| Rubo Blanco | Bruno's Magpies | College 1975 | 8–1 (A) | 9 April 2021 |
| Elyakim Musoni | Mons Calpe | Lions Gibraltar | 4–0 (A) | 11 April 2021 |
| Adam Gracia$^4$ | College 1975 | Europa Point | 6–0 (A) | 18 April 2021 |
| Juanfri$^4$ | St Joseph's | Lynx | 5–0 (A) | 27 April 2021 |
| Rubo Blanco$^4$ | Bruno's Magpies | Europa Point | 7–0 (H) | 30 April 2021 |
| Adrián Gallardo | Europa | Mons Calpe | 3–0 (A) | 15 May 2021 |

#### Clean Sheets

| Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets |
| 1 | Christian Lopez | Europa | 11 |
| 2 | Jamie Robba | St Joseph's | 9 |
| 3 | Kyle Goldwin | Lincoln Red Imps | 8 |
| 4 | Christian Fraiz | Mons Calpe | 7 |
| 5 | Bradley Banda | Lynx | 6 |
| 6 | Borja Valadés | Lions Gibraltar | 5 |
| 7 | Alan Martin | Bruno's Magpies | 4 |
| 7 | Marcos Zappacosta | Glacis United | 4 |
| 9 | Jordan Perez | Bruno's Magpies | 3 |
| 9 | Manuel Soler | Lincoln Red Imps | 3 |
| 9 | Ayden Viñales | Manchester 62 | 3 |

## Awards
### Player of the week

| Week | Player | Club | Reference |
| 1 | Kike Gómez | Lincoln Red Imps | |
| 2 | Dylan Peacock | Boca Gibraltar | |
| 3 | Borja Valadés | Lions Gibraltar | |
| 4 | Not awarded | Not awarded | Not awarded |
| 5 | Kieren Proctor | Boca Gibraltar | |
| 6 | Boro | St Joseph's | |
| 7 | Dylan Borge | Europa | |
| 8 | Bauti | Lynx | |
| 9 | Nano | St Joseph's | |
| 10 | Iván Ruiz | Lions Gibraltar | |
| 11 | Carra | Lincoln Red Imps | |
| 12 | Mustapha Yahaya | Lincoln Red Imps | |

### Monthly awards

| Month | Player of the Month | Player of the Month | Manager of the Month | Manager of the Month | Reference |
| Month | Manager | Club | Player | Club | Reference |
| October | Albert Ferri | Lions Gibraltar | Kike Gómez | Lincoln Red Imps | |
| November | Juanfri | St Joseph's | Rafa Escobar | Europa | |
| December | League paused 20 December–22 February | League paused 20 December–22 February | League paused 20 December–22 February | League paused 20 December–22 February | League paused 20 December–22 February |
| January | League paused 20 December–22 February | League paused 20 December–22 February | League paused 20 December–22 February | League paused 20 December–22 February | League paused 20 December–22 February |
| February | League paused 20 December–22 February | League paused 20 December–22 February | League paused 20 December–22 February | League paused 20 December–22 February | League paused 20 December–22 February |
| March | | | | | |