| Competition: | Thai League 1 |
| Season: | 2020–21 |
| Dates: | 14 February 2020 – 28 March 2021 |
| Winners: | BG Pathum United |
| Relegated: | Rayong Sukhothai Trat |
| Continentalcup1: | 2021 AFC Champions League |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | BG Pathum United Port Chiangrai United Ratchaburi Mitr Phol |
| Continentalcup2: | 2022 AFC Champions League |
| Continentalcup2 Qualifiers: | BG Pathum United Buriram United Chiangrai United Port |
| Matches: | 240 |
| Total Goals: | 703 |
| League Topscorer: | Barros Tardeli (25 goals) |
| Biggest Home Win: | 5 goals difference (30 October 2020) (10 March 2021) |
| Biggest Away Win: | 6 goals difference (28 February 2021) |
| Highest Scoring: | 9 goals (18 October 2020) (18 October 2020) (27 December 2020) |
| Longest Wins: | 11 matches BG Pathum United |
| Longest Unbeaten: | 29 matches BG Pathum United |
| Longest Winless: | 12 matches Rayong |
| Longest Losses: | 9 matches Rayong |
| Highest Attendance: | 15,590 (22 February 2020) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 0 |
| Attendance: | 582,639 |
| Average Attendance: | 3,310 |
| Prevseason: | 2019 |
| Nextseason: | 2021–22 |
| Updated: | 28 March 2021 |
The 2020–21 Thai League 1 is the 24th season of the Thai League 1, the top Thai professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1996, also known as Toyota Thai League due to the sponsorship deal with Toyota Motor Thailand. A total of 16 teams will compete in the league. The season began on 14 February 2020 and is scheduled to conclude in October 2020.[1]
The 1st transfer window is from 11 November 2019 to 3 February 2020 while the 2nd transfer window is from 15 June 2020 to 12 July 2020.
Chiangrai United are the defending champions, while BG Pathum United, Police Tero and Rayong have entered as the promoted teams from the 2019 Thai League 2.
On March 1, all of Thai League 1 matches between 7 and 31 March will be played behind closed doors as broadcast only events.[2] However, on March 4, the decision changed to postpone all of matches prior to 18 April due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand.[3]
In April 2020, the Football Association of Thailand announced that the season would restart in September 2020 and end in May 2021, with the top four teams after the first half of the season qualifying for the 2021 AFC Champions League.[4] [5] For the 2022 AFC Champions League, the same criteria as applied in previous years will be followed, with the league and Thai FA Cup winners qualifying for the group stage, and the league runners-up and 3rd place qualifying for the play-offs.
There are 16 clubs in the league, with three promoted teams from Thai League 2 replacing the two teams that were relegated from the 2019 season along with PTT Rayong who folded at the end of the campaign. All clubs that secured Thai League status for the season were subject to approval by the AFC Club Licensing before becoming eligible to participate.
Chainat Hornbill and Chiangmai were relegated at the end of the 2019 season after finishing in the bottom two places of the table. PTT Rayong withdrew from the league after the season, sparing Suphanburi from relegation.[6] [7] They were replaced by 2019 Thai League 2 champions BG Pathum United, whom played under the name Bangkok Glass in the 2018 Thai League 1 campaign. They were joined by runners up Police Tero, who also got promoted at the first time of asking and 3rd place Rayong. Rayong was founded in 2009 and earned promotion to the Thai League 1 for the first time in their history.
Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Week | Table | Incoming manager |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ratchaburi Mitr Phol |  Somchai Maiwilai | End of caretaker role | 20 October 2019 | Pre-season | Nuengrutai Srathongvian | |
| Sukhothai | Pairoj Borwonwatanadilok | End of contract | 27 October 2019 | Surapong Kongthep[8] | ||
| Nakhon Ratchasima | Chalermwoot Sa-ngapol | Teerasak Po-on[9] | ||||
| Chiangrai United |  Ailton Silva[10] | 12 November 2019 |  Masami Taki | |||
| Samut Prakan City | Tetsuya Murayama | 23 December 2019 | Masatada Ishii[11] | |||
| Ratchaburi Mitr Phol | Nuengrutai Srathongvian | 10 November 2019 | End of season | Chaitud Uamtham | ||
| Rayong | Chusak Sriphum | Resigned | 28 February 2020 | 3 | 15 | Arthur Bernardes |
| Ratchaburi Mitr Phol | Chaitud Uamtham | Released by club | 2 March 2020 | 4 | 2 | Somchai Maiwilai (caretaker) |
| Port | Choketawee Promrut | Mutual consent | 28 March 2020 | 4 | 3 | Jadet Meelarp |
| Port | Jadet Meelarp | Promoted to Technical director | 21 September 2020 | 6 | 4 | Sarawut Treephan[12] |
| Muangthong United | Alexandre Gama[13] | Resigned | 17 October 2020 | 9 | 10 | Mario Gjurovski[14] |
The FIFA Transfer Window Period for Thailand was 19 November 2019 to 10 February 2020, and 15 June to 12 July 2020.
The top three teams at the end of the season qualify for the 2022 AFC Champions League.[5]
The top four teams after the first half of the season (Round 15) qualify for the 2021 AFC Champions League.[5] The Round 15 match between Chiangrai United and Port, originally scheduled to be played on 5 January 2021, was postponed along with all matches in January 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand, and could not be played before the 2021 AFC Champions League group stage draw on 27 January 2021, and thus this match would not be taken into account when ranking the third-placed and fourth-placed teams between Chiangrai United and Ratchaburi Mitr Phol.[15]
The top four teams after the first half of the season (Round 15) qualified for the 2021 AFC Champions League.[5]
As of 28 March 2021.[16]
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barros Tardeli | Samut Prakan City | 25 |
| 2 | Dennis Murillo | Nakhon Ratchasima | 21 |
| 3 | Bill | Chiangrai United | 18 |
| 4 | Heberty | Port (7 Goals) Bangkok United (9 Goals) | 16 |
| Willen Mota | PT Prachuap | ||
| John Baggio | Sukhothai | ||
| 7 | Victor Cardozo | BG Pathum United | 15 |
| 8 |  Sergio Suárez | Port | 14 |
| Philip Roller | Ratchaburi Mitr Phol | ||
| 10 |  Sardor Mirzaev | Muangthong United | 13 |
| Caion | Chonburi (6 Goals) Suphanburi (7 Goals) | ||
As of 28 March 2021.[17]
| Player | For ! | Against | Result | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chiangrai United | 4–0 (A) | |||
| Samut Prakan City | 4–1 (H) | |||
| Nakhon Ratchasima | 4–3 (A) | |||
| Nakhon Ratchasima | 4–0 (H) | |||
| John Baggio4 | Sukhothai | 4–3 (H) | ||
| Samut Prakan City | 4–2 (H) | |||
| Trat | 4–2 (A) | |||
| Muangthong United | 3–1 (A) | |||
| Buriram United | 3–2 (A) | |||
| Samut Prakan City | 4–0 (H) | |||
| BG Pathum United | 6–0 (A) | |||
| Dennis Murillo4 | Nakhon Ratchasima | 4–1 (H) | ||
| PT Prachuap | 3–1 (A) | |||
As of 28 March 2021.
| Month | Coach of the Month | Player of the Month | Goal of the Month | Reference | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coach | Club | Player | Club | Player | Club | ||
| February | Chaitud Uamtham | Ratchaburi Mitr Phol | Hajime Hosogai | Bangkok United | Dennis Murillo | Nakhon Ratchasima | |
| September | Dusit Chalermsan | BG Pathum United | Chatchai Budprom | BG Pathum United | Ibson Melo | Sukhothai | |
| October | Sarawut Treephan | Port |  Andrés Túñez | BG Pathum United | Willian Popp | Muangthong United | |
| November | Dusit Chalermsan | BG Pathum United | Sergio Suárez | Port | Sittichok Paso | Trat | |
| December | Masatada Ishii | Samut Prakan City | Jaroensak Wonggorn | Samut Prakan City | Derley | Muangthong United | |
| March | Alexandre Gama | Buriram United | Philip Roller | Ratchaburi Mitr Phol |  Yannick Boli | Port | |
| Award | Winner | Club | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thai League Manager of the Year | Surachai Jaturapattarapong | BG Pathum United | |
| Thai League Most Valuable Player | Sumanya Purisai | BG Pathum United | |
| Thai League Rookie of the Year | Jaroensak Wonggorn | Samut Prakan City |
| Team \ Match played | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,977 | 3,780 | 2,032 | 3,850 | 1,587 | 2,568 | 2,181 | 4,323 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,071 | 1,009 | 1,207 | 26,585 | ||
| 9,828 | 7,345 | 1,940 | 2,414 | 2,489 | 4,962 | 4,593 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,814 | 1,898 | 3,940 | 4,482 | 45,705 | ||
| 15,590 | 15,252 | 4,000 | 4,000 | 15,306 | 7,768 | 9,510 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5,510 | 6,465 | 8,028 | 7,188 | 9,729 | 108,346 | ||
| 2,896 | 2,517 | 3,062 | 3,062 | 2,538 | 5,470 | 4,299 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,676 | 1,512 | 1,736 | 3,533 | 32,301 | ||
| 5,245 | 4,216 | 2,147 | 2,147 | 2,147 | 3,247 | 4,295 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,150 | 2,619 | 2,908 | 31,121 | ||
| 9,214 | 7,642 | 2,956 | 2,942 | 2,738 | 4,732 | 5,342 | 2,948 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,945 | 3,250 | 2,952 | 5,695 | 55,642 | ||
| 3,033 | 2,940 | 3,873 | 3,724 | 4,281 | 3,277 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3,979 | 3,945 | 12,296 | 41,348 | ||
| 3,379 | 1,378 | 1,064 | 1,214 | 1,250 | 1,875 | 1,248 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,178 | 1,242 | 2,148 | 15,976 | ||
| 6,940 | 5,465 | 1,386 | 1,357 | 1,548 | 2,970 | 3,050 | 3,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,353 | 2,876 | 2,868 | 32,813 | ||
| 3,654 | 3,195 | 1,275 | 1,275 | 1,275 | 1,250 | 1,100 | 2,350 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,025 | 786 | 1,783 | 2,084 | 21,052 | ||
| 4,274 | 8,583 | 3,794 | 2,425 | 2,458 | 2,341 | 3,225 | 4,373 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,479 | 2,323 | 3,568 | 39,843 | ||
| 3,600 | 4,560 | 2,580 | 1,834 | 1,950 | 1,386 | 1,868 | 1,650 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 313 | 480 | 819 | 787 | 21,827 | ||
| 3,958 | 2,259 | 751 | 1,115 | 1,012 | 1,244 | 1,345 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 689 | 2,182 | 1,531 | 16,086 | ||
| 4,398 | 3,931 | 4,108 | 2,005 | 1,995 | 2,005 | 2,002 | 4,005 | 1,983 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,147 | 1,410 | 28,989 | ||
| 4,150 | 3,659 | 3,676 | 3,563 | 4,106 | 6,451 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,373 | 2,953 | 3,345 | 3,519 | 4,285 | 7,500 | 47,027 | ||
| 3,005 | 2,555 | 1,190 | 1,249 | 1,250 | 2,555 | 1,699 | 1,202 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,055 | 923 | 1,115 | 17,798 |
