2020–21 Dhivehi Premier League

The 2020–21 Dhivehi Premier League is the sixth season of the Premier League, the top Maldivian professional league for association football clubs since its establishment in 2015. Maziya are the defending champions, having won their third league title the previous season, their second in the Premier League era, having last won in 2016. The season was initially scheduled to start in June,^[1] but this was delayed until December as a consequence of the delay of the 2020 AFC Cup and 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in Asia and in the Maldives.^[2]

Dhivehi Premier League

Season	2020–21
Dates	13 December 2020 – 2 May 2021
Champions	Maziya
Relegated	no relegation
AFC Cup	Maziya Valencia
Matches played	56
Goals scored	140 (2.5 per match)
Top goalscorer	Cornelius Stewart (11 goals)
← 2019–20 2022 →

Teams

Eagles, Da Grande, Green Streets, Maziya, SUS, TC, UV, Valencia

Location football club of Dhivehi Premier League

Initially, ten teams were set to compete in the league – the top eight teams from the previous season and the two teams promoted from the Second Division. The promoted teams are Club Valencia and Super United Sports.^[3] On 22 July 2020, Football Association of Maldives announced that this season will be held with eight teams. This is due to temporarily holding off the Premier League slots for the teams promoting from the Jazeera Championship as the 2020 edition was called off due to COVID-19 pandemic in the Maldives, meaning Foakaidhoo FC and Nilandhoo Sports Club are forced to play in the 2021 Jazeera Championship even though they survived relegation.^[4]

Valencia is returning after a season's absence in the first division (three seasons in Premier League). This is the first season in the Premier League for Super United Sports. They replaced Victory Sports Club and New Radiant (both teams relegated after suspension due to financial reasons).^[3]

Teams and their divisions

Note: Table lists clubs in alphabetical order.

Team	Division	Stadium	Capacity
Eagles	Maafannu	National Football Stadium (Maldives)	11,850
Green Streets	Machchangolhi	National Football Stadium (Maldives)	11,850
Valencia	Machchangolhi	National Football Stadium (Maldives)	11,850
Da Grande	Maafannu	National Football Stadium (Maldives)	11,850
Maziya	West Maafannu	National Football Stadium (Maldives)	11,850
Super United	Machchangolhi	National Football Stadium (Maldives)	11,850
TC Sports Club	Henveiru	National Football Stadium (Maldives)	11,850
United Victory	Galolhu	National Football Stadium (Maldives)	11,850

Personnel

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Head Coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor (chest)	Shirt sponsor (back)	Shirt sponsor (sleeve)	Short
Club Eagles	Mohamed Shiyaz	Hussain Sifaau	Jerzia
Green Streets	Ali Nisthar Mohamed	Rilwan Waheed	Captain Maldives
Valencia	Mohamed Athif	Ali Ashfaq	Jerzia
Da Grande	Ismail Mahfooz	Yasfaadh Habeeb	Malhi MV
Maziya	Risto Vidaković	Asadhulla Abdulla	SE - Sports Emporium	Ooredoo Maldives
TC Sports	Mohamed Shazly	Mohamed Azzam
Super United	Ahmed Nashid	Ahmed Farhan	SE - Sports Emporium	Fathaha Mall (main) Heena Mobiles	SJ Group (top) Maldives Wave (bottom)	Albion Store	LITUS
United Victory	Ihsan Abdul Ghanee (interim)	Mohamed Arif	Jerzia

Coaching changes

Team	Outgoing Head Coach	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming Head Coach	Date of appointment
Maziya	Marjan Sekulovski[5]	End of contract	2 July 2020	Pre-season	Mohamed Nizam[6]	21 July 2020
Super United	Ibrahim Shafiu		20 February 2020		Ahmed Nashid[7]	13 September 2020
Valencia	Ilmau Hussain Ibrahim		20 February 2020		Mohamed Athif[8]	16 October 2020
Maziya	Mohamed Nizam[9]	Resigned	27 December 2020	1st	Ahmed Suzayr (interim)	27 December 2020
Maziya	Ahmed Suzayr (interim)	Arrival of new coach	3 January 2021	2nd	Risto Vidaković[10]	3 January 2021
Club Eagles	Mohamed Shiyaz	Mutual consent	16 January 2021	7th	Vaccent	TBA
United Victory	Mohamed Adam	Resigned	16 January 2021	8th	Ihsan Abdul Ghanee (interim)	16 January 2021

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Asian Player	Former Players 1
Club Eagles	Osama Elshihy	Elsayed Mahmoud		Mohammad Taha	Ismaël Yanogo Milan Jelovac Osama Anbar
Green Streets	Khalil Elbezawy	Angel Carrasco Muñoz	Mahmoud Sayed	Saqib Hanif	Elsayed Mahmoud
Valencia	Jose Dominguez	Toni Soler		Vladislav Nuriev
Da Grande	Otabek Khaydarov		Abdurasal Komilov	Akhror Umarjonov
Maziya	Cornelius Stewart	Petar Planić	Nikola Vujanac	Takashi Odawara
TC Sports	Malcolm Stewart	Elmaddin Mammadov		Duckson Puslas
Super United	Víctor Rodríguez Muñoz	Mirzokhid Mamatkhonov	Atsushi Yonezawa	Eisuke Mohri
United Victory	Kyrylo Silich	Anatoliy Vlasichev	Marat Ajiniyazov	Ruslan Amirov

• Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window.
• ^1 Foreign players who left their clubs or were de-registered from playing squad due to medical issues or other matters.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Maziya (C)	14	10	4	0	34	6	+28	34	Qualification for 2022 AFC Cup group stage
2	Valencia	14	7	4	3	21	9	+12	25	Qualification for 2022 AFC Cup preliminary round 2
3	Green Streets	14	5	4	5	13	16	−3	19
4	Eagles	14	4	5	5	15	21	−6	17
5	Da Grande	14	4	4	6	17	25	−8	16
6	Super United	14	3	6	5	9	18	−9	15
7	TC Sports	14	3	4	7	11	19	−8	13
8	United Victory	14	3	3	8	20	26	−6	12

Source: Dhivehi Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference; 6) Goals scored.
(C) Champions