# 2020–21 Moldovan National Division

The 2020–21 Moldovan National Division (Romanian: Divizia Națională) was the 30th season of top-tier football in Moldova. The season started on 3 July 2020 and ended on 26 May 2021. Sheriff Tiraspol were the defending champions. The winners of the league this season earned a spot in the first qualifying round of the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League, and the second, third and fourth placed clubs earned a place in the first qualifying round of the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League.

## Teams

A total of 10 teams competing in the league. These include 8 teams from the 2019 season and two promoted teams from the "A" Division: Florești and Dacia Buiucani, both making their debut in the top flight.
| Team | Place | Ground | Capacity | Coach |
| Codru | Lozova | Nicolae Simatoc Stadium | 1,100 | Alexei Savinov |
| Dacia Buiucani | Chișinău | Zimbru-2 Stadium | 2,000 | Andrei Martin |
| Dinamo-Auto | Tiraspol | Dinamo-Auto Stadium | 1,300 | Igor Dobrovolski |
| Florești | Florești | Bender Stadium | 5,000 | Iurie Groșev |
| Milsami | Orhei | CSR Orhei | 3,000 | Serghei Dubrovin |
| Petrocub | Hîncești | Hîncești Stadium | 1,200 | Lilian Popescu |
| Sfîntul Gheorghe | Suruceni | Suruceni Stadium | 1,500 | Serghei Cebotari |
| Sheriff | Tiraspol | Sheriff Stadium | 12,726 | Yuriy Vernydub |
| Speranța | Nisporeni | CSR Orhei | 3,000 | Volodymyr Prokopynenko |
| Zimbru | Chișinău | Zimbru Stadium | 10,400 | Vlad Goian |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Replaced by | Date of appointment |
| Zimbru | Veaceslav Sofroni | End of caretaker spell | 11 December 2019 | Pre-season | Sandro Pochesci | 11 December 2019 |
| Codru | Valeriu Andronic | Signed by Moldova U15/U16 | 24 December 2019 | Pre-season | Simeon Bulgaru | 23 January 2020 |
| Milsami | Veaceslav Rusnac | Signed by Kyzylzhar | 9 January 2020 | Pre-season | Serghei Dubrovin | 11 March 2020 |
| Speranța | Cristian Efros | Resigned | 1 February 2020 | Pre-season | Iurie Osipenco | 4 February 2020 |
| Florești | Oleg Șișchin | Demoted to assistant coach | 6 February 2020 | Pre-season | Iurie Groșev | 6 February 2020 |
| Zimbru | Sandro Pochesci | Resigned | 7 February 2020 | Pre-season | Giovanni Scanu | 7 February 2020 |
| Zimbru | Giovanni Scanu | Released | 4 March 2020 | Pre-season | Vlad Goian | 10 June 2020 |
| Codru | Simeon Bulgaru | Resigned | 2 June 2020 | Pre-season | Sergiu Chirilov | 4 July 2020 |
| Zimbru | Vlad Goian | Promoted to academy technical director | 16 October 2020 | 9th | Simeon Bulgaru (interim) | 16 October 2020 |
| Sheriff | Zoran Zekić | Resigned | 21 October 2020 | 1st | Victor Mihailov (interim) | 21 October 2020 |
| Sheriff | Victor Mihailov | End of caretaker spell | 14 January 2021 | 1st | Yuriy Vernydub | 14 January 2021 |
| Zimbru | Simeon Bulgaru | Resigned | 17 January 2021 | 9th | Vlad Goian | 18 January 2021 |
| Codru | Sergiu Chirilov | Released | 18 January 2021 | 10th | Alexei Savinov | 18 January 2021 |
| Speranța | Iurie Osipenco | Released | 24 February 2021 | 7th | Volodymyr Prokopynenko | 24 February 2021 |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Sheriff Tiraspol (C) | 36 | 32 | 3 | 1 | 116 | 7 | +109 | 99 | Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | Petrocub Hîncești | 36 | 25 | 8 | 3 | 82 | 18 | +64 | 83 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round |
| 3 | Milsami Orhei | 36 | 22 | 7 | 7 | 71 | 37 | +34 | 73 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round |
| 4 | Sfîntul Gheorghe | 36 | 21 | 4 | 11 | 65 | 43 | +22 | 67 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round |
| 5 | Dacia Buiucani (R) | 36 | 13 | 9 | 14 | 44 | 45 | −1 | 48 | Relegation to Division "A" |
| 6 | Dinamo-Auto | 36 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 53 | 58 | −5 | 48 | |
| 7 | Florești | 36 | 9 | 5 | 22 | 37 | 85 | −48 | 32 | |
| 8 | Zimbru Chișinău | 36 | 6 | 7 | 23 | 39 | 63 | −24 | 25 | |
| 9 | Speranța Nisporeni | 36 | 5 | 8 | 23 | 29 | 87 | −58 | 23 | Expelled |
| 10 | Codru Lozova | 36 | 2 | 3 | 31 | 26 | 119 | −93 | 9 | Withdrew |
* ↑ Sfîntul Gheorghe qualified for the Europa Conference League by winning the 2020–21 Moldovan Cup
* 1 2 Dacia Buiucani ahead of Dinamo-Auto on head-to-head points:Dacia Buiucani : 7p, Dinamo-Auto : 4p.
* ↑ Dacia Buiucani have been relegated voluntarily due to financial reasons and will be taking part in the second tier league next season.
* ↑ Speranța Nisporeni failed to arrive for their 33rd and 34th Round games and subsequently were expelled from the competition. All remaining fixtures are awarded 0–3 against them.
* ↑ As per regulations, the tenth placed team Codru Lozova was to be relegated to Divizia A, but the club withdrew before the start of the next season.

## Results

Teams will play each other four times (twice at home, twice away).

### Rounds 1−18

Matches 1−18 :
| Home \ Away | COD | DAC | DIN | FLO | MIL | PET | SFÎ | SHE | SPE | ZIM |
| Codru Lozova | — | 0–1 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 1–4 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–2 |
| Dacia Buiucani | 4–0 | — | 4–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–4 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 2–1 |
| Dinamo-Auto | 7–0 | 1–0 | — | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 3–3 | 1–1 |
| Florești | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–5 | — | 0–4 | 0–4 | 1–4 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Milsami Orhei | 3–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | — | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 |
| Petrocub Hîncești | 7–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 4–0 | 1–2 | — | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| Sfîntul Gheorghe | 5–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 0–4 | — | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 |
| Sheriff Tiraspol | 6–0 | 0–0 | 6–0 | 5–0 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 4–1 | — | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| Speranța Nisporeni | 3–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–4 | 0–2 | 1–2 | — | 2–2 |
| Zimbru Chișinău | 3–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 0–4 | 0–2 | — |

### Rounds 19−36

Matches 19−36 :
| Home \ Away | COD | DAC | DIN | FLO | MIL | PET | SFÎ | SHE | SPE | ZIM |
| Codru Lozova | — | 0–4 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 2–4 | 1–9 | 1–2 | 0–6 | 1–2 | 1–5 |
| Dacia Buiucani | 5–1 | — | 2–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–4 | 4–1 | 1–1 |
| Dinamo-Auto | 1–0 | 1–1 | — | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–7 | 0–0 | 3–0 |
| Florești | 2–1 | 2–0 | 4–1 | — | 2–5 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 0–3 | 4–4 | 3–1 |
| Milsami Orhei | 7–2 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 3–2 | — | 1–3 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 |
| Petrocub Hîncești | 1–0 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 1–1 | — | 2–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 |
| Sfîntul Gheorghe | 2–2 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 3–2 | 1–3 | 0–3 | — | 0–2 | 3–0 | 4–3 |
| Sheriff Tiraspol | 6–0 | 1–1 | 7–0 | 6–0 | 6–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | — | 3–0 | 4–0 |
| Speranța Nisporeni | 0–3 | 0–3 | 0–4 | 1–3 | 0–4 | 1–3 | 0–3 | 0–10 | — | 2–2 |
| Zimbru Chișinău | 2–1 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 6–0 | — |
* 1 2 3 4 Technical wins/losses

## Positions by round

| Team ╲ Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 |
| Codru Lozova | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Dacia Buiucani | 4 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Dinamo-Auto | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Florești | 8 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Milsami Orhei | 5 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Petrocub Hîncești | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Sfîntul Gheorghe | 1 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Sheriff Tiraspol | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Speranța Nisporeni | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Zimbru Chișinău | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |

## Results by round

The following table represents the teams game results in each round.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 |
| Codru Lozova | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | D | D | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | D | W | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | W | L |
| Dacia Buiucani | W | D | L | W | L | W | L | L | L | W | L | W | L | D | W | D | L | D | W | D | D | D | L | W | W | L | L | D | L | W | L | L | W | W | W | D |
| Dinamo-Auto | W | L | W | W | L | L | D | L | W | W | D | L | D | D | L | D | D | W | W | D | D | W | L | L | W | D | W | L | D | L | D | L | L | D | W | W |
| Florești | L | W | L | L | D | L | L | W | L | L | D | L | W | D | L | L | W | L | L | L | L | D | D | L | L | L | W | W | L | L | W | W | L | L | W | L |
| Milsami Orhei | D | D | W | L | L | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | D | L | W | W | D | W | L | D | W | W | L | W | W | D | W | D | W | W | W | L | W | W | L | W |
| Petrocub Hîncești | D | W | W | W | W | W | W | L | W | L | D | W | W | D | W | W | W | W | W | D | W | W | W | W | W | D | W | D | D | W | W | W | W | W | L | D |
| Sfîntul Gheorghe | W | L | W | W | W | W | L | W | W | D | W | D | D | W | L | W | W | D | L | W | L | L | W | W | L | W | W | W | L | W | L | W | W | L | L | W |
| Sheriff Tiraspol | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | L | D | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | D | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | D |
| Speranța Nisporeni | L | D | L | L | D | L | W | W | L | L | W | L | D | D | L | D | W | L | L | D | L | L | D | L | L | L | L | L | W | L | D | L | L | L | L | L |
| Zimbru Chișinău | L | D | L | L | W | L | D | L | L | L | L | L | L | W | L | D | L | L | L | D | L | L | W | L | L | L | D | W | W | L | L | W | L | D | L | D |

## Top goalscorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Frank Castañeda | Sheriff | 28 |
| 2 | Vladimir Ambros | Petrocub | 16 |
| 3 | Alexandru Antoniuc | Milsami | 15 |
| 4 | Roman Volkov | Sf. Gheorghe | 12 |
| 4 | Maxim Mihaliov | Dinamo-Auto | 12 |
| 6 | Andrei Cobeț | Florești | 11 |
| 6 | Sergiu Plătică | Petrocub | 11 |
| 8 | Artiom Puntus | Milsami | 10 |
| 8 | Dimitris Kolovos | Sheriff | 10 |
| 8 | Vadim Crîcimari | Buiucani | 10 |
| 8 | Artur Pătraș | Zimbru | 10 |

## Clean sheets

| Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets |
| 1 | Cristian Avram | Petrocub | 15 |
| 2 | Emil Tîmbur | Milsami | 14 |
| 3 | Dumitru Coval | Buiucani | 12 |
| 4 | Dušan Marković | Sheriff | 10 |
| 4 | Zvonimir Mikulić | Sheriff | 10 |
| 6 | Dumitru Celeadnic | Sheriff | 9 |
| 7 | Victor Străistari | Dinamo-Auto | 6 |
| 7 | Nicolai Calancea | Sf. Gheorghe | 6 |
| 9 | Vladislav Liharev | Florești | 5 |
| 10 | Mickaël Meira | Petrocub | 4 |
| 10 | Anatol Chirinciuc | Speranța | 4 |

## Hat-tricks

| Player | Home | Away | Result | Date |
| Vladimir Ambros | Petrocub | Codru | 7–0 | 17 July 2020 |
| Anatole Abang | Sheriff | Dinamo-Auto | 6–0 | 26 July 2020 |
| Maxim Mihaliov | Florești | Dinamo-Auto | 0–5 | 18 September 2020 |
| Andriy Bliznichenko | Sheriff | Florești | 5–0 | 24 October 2020 |
| Vladimir Ambros | Codru | Petrocub | 1–9 | 23 February 2021 |
| Alexandru Dedov | Milsami | Codru | 7–2 | 12 March 2021 |
| Shahrom Samiev | Dinamo-Auto | Zimbru | 3–0 | 12 March 2021 |
| Lovro Bizjak | Speranța | Sheriff | 0–10 | 16 April 2021 |
| Peter Banda | Codru | Sheriff | 0–6 | 29 April 2021 |
| Frank Castañeda | Dinamo-Auto | Sheriff | 0–7 | 15 May 2021 |
| Roman Volkov | Florești | Sf. Gheorghe | 0–4 | 16 May 2021 |