# 2020–21 Liga Primera de Nicaragua

The 2020–21 Liga Primera de Nicaragua season was divided into two tournaments, Apertura and Clausura. The season determined the 75th and 76th champions in the history of the Liga Primera de Nicaragua, the top division of football in Nicaragua. The Apertura tournament was played in the second half of 2020, while the Clausura was played in the first half of 2021.

## Format

The Apertura playoff format was changed from previous years, while the Clausura used the same 4-team playoff format. For the Apertura, the top four teams from the regular stage advanced to a "quadrangular" double-round robin instead of a playoff stage. The regular stage and quadrangular winners played to decide the tournament's champion, but ultimately the same team won both and the final was not necessary. The same format was recently adopted by the Costa Rican Primera División, but for both half seasons.

## Team information

A total of ten teams contested the league, including nine sides from the 2019–20 Primera División, and one side from the 2019–20 Segunda División.
UNAN Managua finished last in the aggregate table and were relegated to the Segunda División. The champions from the Segunda División, Deportivo Las Sabanas, were promoted in their place.
The 9th place team in the aggregate table, ART Jalapa, faced the second-place team from the Segunda División, Deportivo Masaya, in a playoff for a spot in the Primera División. ART Jalapa won 4–3 over two legs, meaning ART Jalapa remained in Primera División.

### Promotion and relegation

Promoted from Segunda División
* Champions: Junior de Managua
Relegated to Segunda División
* Last Place: Deportivo Las Sabanas

## Other news
### New ball provider

VOIT will be providing and major ball sponsor for 2020-2021

## Managerial changes
### Pre-season Apertura 2020

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Position in table |
| Juventus Managua | Jaime Ruiz | Interimship ended | May 2020 | Oscar Blanco | May 2020 | TBD (Apertura 2019) |
| Junior de Managua | | Sacked | May 2020 | Tyrone Acevedo | May 2020 | TBD (Apertura 2019) |
| Real Madriz | Juan Ramirez | Contract finished | May 2020 | Carlos Matamoros | May 2020 | TBD (Apertura 2019) |
| ART Jalapa | Angel Orellana | Contract finished | May 2020 | Carlos Javier Martino | May 2020 | TBD (Apertura 2019) |
| Deportivo Ocotal | Reynaldo Clavasquín | Sacked | May 2020 | Elvin Díaz | May 2020 | TBD (Apertura 2019) |

### During the Apertura season

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Position in table |
| Deportivo Ocotal | Elvin Diaz | TBD | Oct 2020 | Marcos Rivera | Oct 2020 | TBD (Apertura 2020) |

### Pre-season Apertura 2020

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Position in table |
| Real Madriz | Carlos Matamoros | Contract finished | 2020 | Ronaldo Alvarado | 2021 | TBD (Apertura 2021) |
| Deportivo Ocotal | Marcos Rivera | Contract finished | December 2020 | Mario Alfaro | January 2021 | TBD (Apertura 2021) |

### Clausura 2021

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Position in table |
| Real Madriz | Ronaldo Alvarado | Contract finished | March 2021 | Hector Medina | March 2021 | TBD (Clausura 2021) |

## Apertura
### Personnel and sponsoring

| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Kit sponsors |
| ART Municipal Jalapa | Carlos Javier Martino | | Joma | Alcadia de Jalapa |
| Chinandega | Reyna Espinoza | Lester Espinoza | Nil | Nil |
| Diriangén FC | Flavio da Silva | Ereck Tellez | Joma | Claro, Victoria frost,Cafe Ox, Flor de Cana, Electrolit |
| Junior Managua | Tyrone Acevedo | Carlos Membreno | Joma | Oceanica, MT-MultiTrans |
| Juventus Managua | Oscar Blanco | | Nil | Nil |
| Managua | Emilio Aburto | Nahum Peralta | Joma | Alcadia de Managua, Ravoline |
| Ocotal | Elvin Díaz | Guillermo Espino | Nil | Alcadia de Ocotal |
| Real Estelí | Holver Flores | Manual Rosas | Kappa | Beco, Movi star, La Curaçao, Banpro, Vitalsis |
| Real Madriz | Carlos Matamoros | | Joma | Alcadia de Somoto |
| Walter Ferretti | Henry Urbina | Denis Espinoza | Joma | Claro, MC |

### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Real Estelí (C) | 18 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 32 | 13 | +19 | 38 | Advance to Playoffs (Semifinals) |
| 2 | Walter Ferretti | 18 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 29 | 17 | +12 | 32 | Advance to Playoffs (Semifinals) |
| 3 | Municipal Jalapa | 18 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 20 | 15 | +5 | 30 | Advance to Playoffs (Quarterfinals) |
| 4 | Diriangén (A) | 18 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 29 | 21 | +8 | 29 | Advance to Playoffs (Quarterfinals) |
| 5 | Juventus Managua | 18 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 23 | 25 | −2 | 23 | Advance to Playoffs (Quarterfinals) |
| 6 | Chinandega | 18 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 21 | 35 | −14 | 21 | Advance to Playoffs (Quarterfinals) |
| 7 | Managua | 18 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 24 | 30 | −6 | 19 | |
| 8 | Deportivo Ocotal | 18 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 20 | 25 | −5 | 19 | |
| 9 | Real Madriz | 18 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 17 | 24 | −7 | 16 | |
| 10 | Junior | 18 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 16 | 26 | −10 | 15 | |

### Results

| Home \ Away | REE | WAF | MCJ | DRI | JVM | CHI | MAN | DPO | RMA | JUN |
| Real Estelí | — | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 | | 2–1 | 2–0 | |
| Walter Ferretti | 0–0 | — | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | | 4–2 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 |
| Municipal Jalapa | 1–0 | 3–0 | — | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | | 1–0 |
| Diriangén | 2–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | — | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | | 3–1 | 3–2 |
| Juventus Managua | 1–4 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 3–1 | — | 5–1 | 2–3 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 |
| Chinandega | 1–5 | 2–2 | | 1–3 | 3–2 | — | 0–0 | 4–2 | 1–1 | 2–2 |
| Managua | 3–4 | 1–2 | 3–1 | | 0–1 | 1–0 | — | 2–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 |
| Deportivo Ocotal | 0–1 | | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 5–0 | — | 1–1 | 3–1 |
| Real Madriz | 1–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 1–1 | | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | — | 1–1 |
| Junior | 0–0 | 0–4 | 1–0 | 1–1 | | 0–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 2–2 | — |

### Finals
#### Quarterfinals

Chinandega progressed.
Diriangen progressed.

#### Semi-finals

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Walter Ferretti | 3–6 | Diriangén | 2–3 | 1–3 |
| Real Estelí | 3–2 | Chinandega | 2–2 | 1–0 |
Diriagen won 6-3 on aggregate.
Real Esteli won 3–2 on aggregate.

#### Final

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Diriangén | 0–1 | Real Estelí | 0–0 | 0–1 |

## Clausura
### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Diriangén (Q) | 18 | 13 | 1 | 4 | 36 | 16 | +20 | 40 | Advance to Playoffs (Semifinals) |
| 2 | Real Estelí (Q) | 18 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 34 | 13 | +21 | 38 | Advance to Playoffs (Semifinals) |
| 3 | Managua (Q) | 18 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 41 | 23 | +18 | 33 | Advance to Playoffs (Quarterfinals) |
| 4 | Walter Ferretti (Q) | 18 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 29 | 17 | +12 | 33 | Advance to Playoffs (Quarterfinals) |
| 5 | Deportivo Ocotal (Q) | 18 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 22 | 21 | +1 | 26 | Advance to Playoffs (Quarterfinals) |
| 6 | Real Madriz | 18 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 18 | 26 | −8 | 21 | Advance to Playoffs (Quarterfinals) |
| 7 | Municipal Jalapa | 18 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 21 | 32 | −11 | 17 | |
| 8 | Junior | 18 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 16 | 33 | −17 | 16 | |
| 9 | Juventus Managua | 18 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 17 | 33 | −16 | 15 | |
| 10 | Chinandega | 18 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 17 | 37 | −20 | 14 | |

### Finals
#### Quarterfinals

Walter Ferretti progressed 3-0.
Managua progressed 1-0.

#### Semi-finals

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Walter Ferretti | 1–3 | Diriangén | 1–0 | 0–3 |
| Real Estelí | 5–5(a) | Managua | 3–1 | 2–4 |
Diriagen won 3-1 on aggregate.
5-5. Managua won 5-5 on aggregate away goal(s).

#### Final

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Diriangén | 3 – 1 | Managua | 2 – 0 | 1 – 1 |

## List of foreign players in the league

This is a list of foreign players in the 2020–21 season. The following players:
* Have played at least one game for the respective club.
* Have not been capped for the Nicaragua national football team on any level, independently from the birthplace
A new rule was introduced this season, that clubs can have four foreign players per club and can only add a new player if there is an injury or a player/s is released, and it is before the closing of the season transfer window.
(player released during the Apertura season) (player released between the Apertura and Clausura seasons) (player released during the Clausura season)