# 2020–21 K.A.A. Gent season

The 2020–21 K.A.A. Gent season was the club's 118th season in existence and the 32nd consecutive season in the top flight of Belgian football. In addition to the domestic league, Gent participated in this season's editions of the Belgian Cup, the UEFA Champions League, and the UEFA Europa League. The season covered the period from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021.

## Players
### First-team squad

    As of 27 February 2021
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | TUR | Sinan Bolat |
| 5 | DF | CMR | Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui |
| 6 | MF | FRA | Elisha Owusu |
| 7 | FW | UKR | Roman Yaremchuk |
| 8 | MF | BEL | Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe (captain) |
| 9 | MF | UKR | Roman Bezus |
| 10 | MF | GEO | Giorgi Chakvetadze |
| 11 | FW | CIV | Anderson Niangbo |
| 12 | MF | BEL | Alexandre De Bruyn |
| 14 | DF | BEL | Alessio Castro-Montes |
| 15 | DF | IRN | Milad Mohammadi |
| 18 | FW | BEL | Dylan Mbayo |
| 20 | FW | GHA | Osman Bukari |
| 21 | DF | NOR | Andreas Hanche-Olsen |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 22 | MF | GAM | Sulayman Marreh |
| 23 | FW | ISR | Yonas Malede |
| 24 | MF | BEL | Sven Kums (vice-captain) |
| 25 | DF | ANG | Núrio Fortuna |
| 26 | GK | BEL | Colin Coosemans |
| 27 | MF | BEL | Mathéo Parmentier |
| 28 | MF | BEL | Wouter George |
| 29 | FW | BEL | Laurent Depoitre |
| 30 | MF | GER | Niklas Dorsch |
| 31 | DF | BEL | Bruno Godeau |
| 32 | DF | UKR | Ihor Plastun |
| 33 | GK | BEL | Davy Roef |
| 36 | DF | BEL | Dino Arslanagić |
| — | FW | MAR | Tarik Tissoudali |

#### Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 17 | DF | COD | Jordan Botaka (at R. Charleroi S.C.) |
| 13 | FW | GEO | Giorgi Kvilitaia (at Anorthosis Famagusta FC) |
| 19 | MF | BEL | Brecht Dejaegere (at Toulouse FC) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| – | MF | CRO | Franko Andrijašević (at HNK Rijeka) |
| – | MF | SWE | Eric Smith (at FC St. Pauli) |
| 34 | FW | GER | Tim Kleindienst (at 1. FC Heidenheim) |

## Transfers
### In

| No. | Pos | Player | Transferred from | Fee | Date | Source |

### Out

| No. | Pos | Player | Transferred to | Fee | Date | Source |
| 16 | FW | Jonathan David | Lille | €30,000,000 | 11 August 2020 | |
| 1 | GK | Thomas Kaminski | Blackburn Rovers | €500,000 | 26 August 2020 | |

## Pre-season and friendlies

Win  Draw  Loss  Fixtures

## Competitions
### Overview

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Belgian First Division A | 9 August 2020 | 22 May 2021 | Matchday 1 | 7th | 40 | 18 | 8 | 14 | 68 | 48 | +20 | 045.00 |
| Belgian Cup | 3 February 2021 | 3 March 2021 | Sixth round | Quarter-finals | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 2 | +6 | 066.67 |
| UEFA Champions League | 15 September 2020 | 29 September 2020 | Third qualifying round | Play-off round | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 033.33 |
| UEFA Europa League | 22 October 2020 | 10 December 2020 | Group stage | Group stage | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 15 | −11 | 000.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 52 | 21 | 8 | 23 | 83 | 71 | +12 | 040.38 |
Last updated: 22 May 2021 Source: Soccerway

### Belgian First Division A
#### Regular season

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 5 | Oostende | 34 | 15 | 8 | 11 | 49 | 41 | +8 | 53 | Qualification for the Play-offs II |
| 6 | Standard Liège | 34 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 52 | 41 | +11 | 50 | Qualification for the Play-offs II |
| 7 | Gent | 34 | 14 | 7 | 13 | 55 | 42 | +13 | 49 | Qualification for the Play-offs II |
| 8 | Mechelen | 34 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 54 | 54 | 0 | 48 | Qualification for the Play-offs II |
| 9 | Beerschot | 34 | 14 | 5 | 15 | 58 | 64 | −6 | 47 | |
* ↑ On 14 April 2021 news was released that both Excel Mouscron and Oostende had not received a Belgian professional football license for the coming season, a requirement to play at the top two levels of Belgian football. For Oostende, a lack of financial transparency, together with generally poor quality and incompleteness of the submitted report, was given as the main reason by the committee for not awarding a license, while Excel Mouscron was refused a license as besides insufficient transparency, the committee also questioned several cash flows and whether the club was creditworthy in general, also due to the fact that the wages for the months of February and March had not yet been paid at that point. For Excel Mouscron, it was already the sixth year running the license was (initially) refused, however, the club has appealed the decision with the Belgian Court for Sports Arbitrage (BAS) successfully on each occasion and intended to do so again. Oostende was planning to launch an appeal as well, with the BAS to rule on the matter for both clubs before the 10th of May. Both clubs were allowed to add new documents to their case, but in case they however still did not receive a license after appeal, knew they would have been forced to relegate to the 2021–22 Belgian Division 2 and start the season with a 3-point penalty. Both Excel Mouscron and Oostende were however eventually awarded a license after appeal, meaning Oostende remained at the top level, while Excel Mouscron only dropped one level.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 18 April 2021. Source: Jupiler Pro League

#### Results by round

| 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 |
| Ground | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | H | H | A | H | A |
| Result | L | L | L | W | L | W | L | W | L | L | W | D | W | L | L | W | W | W | L | D | L | D | W | D | D | D | W | D | L | W | W | L | W | W |
| Position1 | 13 | 16 | 18 | 14 | 16 | 13 | 15 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 7 |

#### Matches

The league fixtures were announced on 8 July 2020.

#### Play-Off II

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation | GNT | MEC | OOS | STA |
| 1 | Gent | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 6 | +7 | 38 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League second qualifying round | — | 2–2 | 2–1 | 2–0 |
| 2 | Mechelen | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 11 | +4 | 35 | | 1–2 | — | 5–3 | 3–1 |
| 3 | Oostende | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 16 | −1 | 34 | | 0–4 | 2–2 | — | 6–2 |
| 4 | Standard Liège | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 17 | −10 | 28 | | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–3 | — |

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 22 May 2021. Source: Jupiler Pro League

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Ground | H | A | H | A | H | A |
| Result | D | L | W | W | W | W |
| Position | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 |

#### Matches
### UEFA Europa League
#### Group stage

The group stage draw was held on 2 October 2020.
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | HOF | ZVE | LIB | GNT |
| 1 | TSG Hoffenheim | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 2 | +15 | 16 | Advance to knockout phase | — | 2–0 | 5–0 | 4–1 |
| 2 | Red Star Belgrade | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 4 | +5 | 11 | Advance to knockout phase | 0–0 | — | 5–1 | 2–1 |
| 3 | Slovan Liberec | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 13 | −9 | 7 | | 0–2 | 0–0 | — | 1–0 |
| 4 | Gent | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 15 | −11 | 0 | | 1–4 | 0–2 | 1–2 | — |

## Statistics
### Squad appearances and goals

    Last updated on 22 May 2021.
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Belgian Division | Belgian Division | Belgian Cup | Belgian Cup | UEFA Champions League | UEFA Champions League | UEFA Europa League | UEFA Europa League |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||||||||
| 1 | GK | TUR | Sinan Bolat | 37 | 0 | 33 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 26 | GK | BEL | Colin Coosemans | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 33 | GK | BEL | Davy Roef | 13 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Defenders ||||||||||||||
| 5 | DF | CMR | Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui | 34 | 1 | 26+1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 14 | DF | BEL | Alessio Castro-Montes | 48 | 7 | 37 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5+1 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | IRN | Milad Mohammadi | 41 | 1 | 27+5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 21 | DF | NOR | Andreas Hanche-Olsen | 39 | 1 | 31 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 25 | DF | ANG | Núrio Fortuna | 36 | 2 | 24+2 | 1 | 1+1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4+1 | 1 |
| 31 | DF | BEL | Bruno Godeau | 20 | 1 | 13+4 | 1 | 2+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | DF | UKR | Ihor Plastun | 18 | 2 | 9+5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 36 | DF | BEL | Dino Arslanagić | 22 | 0 | 12+4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Midfielders ||||||||||||||
| 6 | MF | FRA | Elisha Owusu | 35 | 0 | 19+6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | BEL | Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe | 33 | 4 | 19+6 | 2 | 1+1 | 1 | 1+1 | 0 | 1+3 | 1 |
| 9 | MF | UKR | Roman Bezus | 37 | 7 | 20+8 | 6 | 2+1 | 1 | 1+1 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | GEO | Giorgi Chakvetadze | 4 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | MF | BEL | Alexandre De Bruyn | 5 | 2 | 0+5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | MF | NGA | Adewale Oladoye | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | MF | BEL | Matisse Samoise | 7 | 2 | 0+5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | MF | GAM | Sulayman Marreh | 18 | 0 | 9+5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 |
| 24 | MF | BEL | Sven Kums | 45 | 3 | 32+4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4+2 | 0 |
| 27 | MF | BEL | Mathéo Parmentier | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | MF | BEL | Wouter George | 3 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 30 | MF | GER | Niklas Dorsch | 43 | 4 | 23+10 | 3 | 1+1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Forwards ||||||||||||||
| 7 | FW | UKR | Roman Yaremchuk | 43 | 23 | 34 | 20 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4+1 | 1 |
| 11 | FW | CIV | Anderson Niangbo | 25 | 2 | 11+7 | 1 | 0+2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0+4 | 0 |
| 16 | FW | NGA | Chinonso Emeka | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | FW | BEL | Dylan Mbayo | 5 | 1 | 0+4 | 0 | 0+1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | FW | GHA | Osman Bukari | 35 | 4 | 18+8 | 4 | 1+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 23 | FW | ISR | Yonas Malede | 11 | 1 | 4+7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | FW | BEL | Laurent Depoitre | 28 | 2 | 11+12 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 34 | FW | MAR | Tarik Tissoudali | 22 | 7 | 7+7 | 5 | 2+1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2+3 | 1 |
| Players who have made an appearance this season but have left the club ||||||||||||||
| 17 | DF | COD | Jordan Botaka | 15 | 0 | 4+4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 3+2 | 0 |
| 19 | MF | BEL | Brecht Dejaegere | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | FW | GER | Tim Kleindienst | 23 | 3 | 4+11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1+2 | 1 | 2+3 | 1 |

### Goalscorers

    As of 8 March 2021
| Rank | No. | Pos | Nat | Name | Pro League | Belgian Cup | Champions League | Europa League | Total |
| 1 | 7 | FW | | Roman Yaremchuk | 15 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 18 |
| 2 | 35 | FW | | Tarik Tissoudali | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 3 | 20 | FW | | Osman Bukari | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 3 | 30 | MF | | Niklas Dorsch | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 | 24 | MF | | Sven Kums | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | 34 | FW | | Tim Kleindienst | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 7 | 8 | MF | | Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 7 | 11 | FW | | Anderson Niangbo | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | 14 | DF | | Alessio Castro-Montes | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | 19 | MF | | Matisse Samoise | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | 25 | DF | | Núrio Fortuna | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 7 | 29 | FW | | Laurent Depoitre | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | 32 | DF | | Ihor Plastun | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 14 | 9 | MF | | Roman Bezus | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | 18 | FW | | Dylan Mbayo | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | 21 | DF | | Andreas Hanche-Olsen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Own goals | Own goals | Own goals | Own goals | Own goals | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | 42 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 57 |