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The 2020–21 Championnat National season was the 28th season since the establishment of the Championnat National, and the 22nd in its current format, which serves as the third division of the French football league system.

Team changes

Team changes from the 2019–20 Championnat National were confirmed by the FFF on 17 July 2020.

Stadia and locations

1. Parc des Sports was unavailable until 31 October 2020 due to structural concerns. Annecy played their first two home games at Stade des Grangettes in Rumilly.
2. Boulogne played their first home game at Stade de l'Epopée in Calais due to a new pitch being prepared at Stade de la Libération.
3. Sporting Club Lyon played their first home game at Stade Jacques Joly in Saint-Priest, due to work taking place on the pitch at Stade de Balmont.

Number of teams by regions

Teams	Region	Team(s)
4	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes	Annecy, Bourg-Péronnas, SC Lyon and Villefranche
3	Pays de la Loire	Cholet, Laval and Le Mans
2	Brittany	Concarneau and Stade Briochin
	Corsica	Bastia and Bastia-Borgo
	Île-de-France	Créteil and Red Star
	Normandy	Avranches and Quevilly-Rouen
1	Centre-Val de Loire	Orléans
	Hauts-de-France	Boulogne
	Occitanie	Sète

Impact of COVID-19 on the season

The start of the season was impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 situation. The game-week two match between Bourg-Péronnas and Annecy was postponed due to the visiting team having confirmed cases of COVID-19. Game-week three matches between Annecy and Villefranche, and Quevilly-Rouen and Bourg-Péronnas were both postponed due to COVID-19 cases at Annecy and Bourg-Péronnas, as was the match between Bourg-Péronnas and Red Star in game-week four, due to Bourg-Péronnas players still isolating. The game-week four match between Concarneau and Cholet was postponed an hour before kick-off due to positive tests for the Concarneau trainer and captain. There was a follow-on postponement for Concarneau's match with Annecy in game-week 5, Annecy's third postponement of the season.

The game-week four and five matches for Orléans, against Avranches and Stade Briochin, were both postponed when Orléans were given an eight-day suspension from official matches due to positive COVID-19 cases. The cases at Orléans also prompted the late postponement of the game-week 4 match between Bastia-Borgo and Boulogne, in accordance with local Corsican rules, due to Bastia-Borgo having played Orléans the previous Thursday.

Positive cases at Sète caused the postponement of their game-week 5 match at Quevilly-Rouen, and their game-week 6 match against Red Star, whilst a local decree in Haute-Corse caused the postponement of their game-week 7 tie at SC Bastia.

Laval's trip to SC Bastia in game-week 9 was postponed due to the squad isolating after a positive diagnosis. Further positive tests caused the cancellation of Laval's game-week 10 match against Boulogne. The match between SC Lyon and Cholet in the same round was postponed due to positive cases at Cholet.

Game-week 11 saw the postponements of Annecy v SC Lyon, Quevilly-Rouen v Stade Briochin and Villefranche v Sète due to Covid cases.

Four matches were rearranged for the catch-up week of 28 to 30 October; Quevilly-Rouen v Bourg-Péronnas, Sète v Red Star, Annecy v Villefranche, and SC Lyon v Cholet, but postponed for a second time due to Covid cases.

Game-week 12 ties between Cholet and Annecy, SC Lyon and Quevilly-Rouen, and Orléans and Boulogne were postponed. Game-week 13 ties between Boulogne and Avranches, and between Le Mans and Orléans were postponed.

All of the postponed matches were caught up by 15 December 2020.

In February 2021, Red Star had two matches postponed due to Covid cases.

In March 2021, the games between Laval and Bastia, and Concarneau and Boulogne, scheduled for 13 March, were both postponed due to Covid cases in the Laval and Boulogne squads. Boulogne's next scheduled match, against Laval, was also postponed. Positive cases at Créteil caused the postponement of their matches with Boulogne (27 March) and Le Mans (2 April). The rescheduled date for Créteil's match with Le Mans, 14 April, was also postponed, along with their match against Villefranche, scheduled for 17 April, as the outbreak continued.

In April, the game between Orléans and Le Mans, scheduled for 9 April, was postponed due to Covid cases in the Orléans squad. On 21 April, Orléans announced further postponements due to Covid cases: the game against Le Mans, which had been rearranged for 21 April, and the game against Villefranche, which was scheduled for 24 April. The game between Cholet and Bastia, scheduled for 23 April, was postponed on 22 April.

League table

Due to the 2020–21 Championnat National 2 season being declared void, the normal relegation rules did not fully apply, as there was no balancing promotion from that division. However, the regulations of the Championnat National state that the team classified in last position is relegated without the possibility of repechage. On 13 July 2021 the FFF Comex (executive committee) confirmed the relegation of SC Lyon.

Promotion play-offs

A promotion play-off was held at the end of the season between the 18th-placed team of the 2020–21 Ligue 2 and the 3rd-placed team of the 2020–21 Championnat National. This was played over two legs on 19 and 22 May.

Villefranche	3–1	Niort
Blanc 54' Dauchy 84' Garita 90+3'	Report	Bâ 45+2'

Niort	2–0	Villefranche
Lebeau 78' Kemen 81'	Report

Niort won 3–3 on away goals

Top scorers

As of games played on 15 May 2021.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Andrew Jung	Quevilly-Rouen	21
2	Wilson Isidor	Bastia-Borgo	15
3	Ottman Dadoune	Quevilly-Rouen	13
	Gaëtan Perrin	Orléans
5	Thomas Robinet	Laval	12
	Sébastian Da Silva	SC Bastia
	Billal Brahimi	Le Mans
	Antony Robic	SC Bastia
9	Carnegy Antoine	Orléans	11
10	Geoffray Durbant	Bastia-Borgo	10
	Romain Spano	Annecy

References

1. ^ "Le calendrier du National 2020-2021" (in French). FFF.fr. 17 July 2020.
2. "National. Le FC Annecy privé de son stade en début de saison" (in French). footamateur.fr. 11 August 2020.
3. "Annecy : Le choix du stade de repli révélé !" (in French). foot-national.com. 17 August 2020.
4. "National : Une rencontre délocalisée pour la 2ème journée" (in French). foot-national.com. 21 July 2020.
5. "National | La première journée au Stade Jacques Joly" (in French). Sporting Club Lyon. 27 July 2020.
6. "National : une nouvelle rencontre reportée en raison du Covid (off)" (in French). foot-national.com. 28 August 2020.
7. "National: two matches postponed for the third day" (in French). foot-national.com. 31 August 2020.
8. "National : Une nouvelle rencontre reportée" (in French). foot-national.com. 2 September 2020.
9. "National. Le match Concarneau – Cholet reporté pour cause de Covid-19" (in French). footamateur.fr. 4 September 2020.
10. "National : une nouvelle rencontre reportée (off)" (in French). foot-national.com. 8 September 2020.
11. "National : Deux matchs reportés" (in French). foot-national.com. 6 September 2020.
12. "National : Encore un match reporté à la dernière minute" (in French). foot-national.com. 7 September 2020.
13. "Covid-19 : deux rencontres de N3 et une de National reportées" (in French). foot-national.com. 10 September 2020.
14. "La recontre Sète - Red Star reportée" (in French). actufoot.com. 16 September 2020.
15. "Bastia-Sète : La rencontre reportée" (in French). foot-national.com. 25 September 2020.
16. "National : un choc du haut de tableau reporté (off)" (in French). foot-national.com. 8 October 2020.
17. "Foot (National) – Le match Laval – Boulogne reporté" (in French). La Voix du Nord. 13 October 2020.
18. "National : Encore un match reporté mardi" (in French). foot-national.com. 12 October 2020.
19. "National : nouveau report en raison du Covid-19 (off)" (in French). foot-national.com. 22 October 2020.
20. "National : plusieurs cas de Covid dans un club, sa rencontre reportée" (in French). foot-national.com. 22 October 2020.
21. "N1 : Une rencontre reportée à son tour (off)" (in French). foot-national.com. 21 October 2020.
22. "National : une première rencontre de reportée cette semaine (off)" (in French). foot-national.com. 26 October 2020.
23. "National : encore une rencontre reportée en raison du Covid (off)" (in French). foot-national.com. 27 October 2020.
24. "National : deux autres rencontres également reportées (off)" (in French). foot-national.com. 26 October 2020.
25. "N1 : Déjà un report pour cette 12ème journée ! (off)" (in French). foot-national.com. 3 November 2020.
26. "National : une rencontre déjà reportée (off)" (in French). foot-national.com. 5 November 2020.
27. "N1 : Nouvelle rencontre reportée à cause du Covid !" (in French). foot-national.com. 4 November 2020.
28. "National : une première rencontre de reportée ce vendredi (off)" (in French). foot-national.com. 12 November 2020.
29. "National : une deuxième rencontre reportée ce vendredi (off)" (in French). foot-national.com. 12 November 2020.
30. "N1 : Le calendrier enfin remis à jour après le match entre Annecy et Concarneau ce soir !" (in French). foot-national.com. 15 December 2020.
31. "National : un match en retard reporté demain soir (off)" (in French). foot-national.com. 22 February 2021.
32. "Concarneau - Boulogne à son tour reporté en raison de cas positifs au Covid-19" (in French). actufoot.com. 12 March 2021.
33. "National : une rencontre reportée en raison du Covid (off)" (in French). foot-national.com. 12 March 2021.
34. "National : un nouveau match reporté". 16 March 2021.
35. "National : une rencontre reportée en raison du Covid (off)" (in French). foot-national.com. 26 March 2021.
36. "National. Les joueurs de Créteil à l'isolement. Le match au Mans reporté" (in French). footamateur.fr. 29 March 2021.
37. "Le Mans - Créteil reporté" (in French). foot-national.com. 13 April 2021.
38. "N1 : encore une rencontre reportée pour ce week-end" (in French). foot-national.com. 14 April 2021.
39. "La rencontre entre Orléans et Le Mans officiellement reportée !" (in French). foot-national.com. 7 April 2021.
40. "N1 : un match de la J31 déjà reporté" (in French). foot-national.com. 21 April 2021.
41. "Cholet - Bastia reporté (off)" (in French). foot-national.com. 22 April 2021.
42. "National. Une ou zéro descente en fin de saison ?" (in French). footamateur.fr. 25 April 2021.
43. "Le CS Sedan-Ardennes repêché en National, Saint-Etienne en D1 Féminine" (in French). footamateur.fr. 13 July 2021.
44. "Le FC Villefranche affrontera les Chamois Niortais en barrage d'accession" (in French). footamateur.fr. 15 May 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
45. "National 1". Soccerway. Retrieved 16 May 2021.

• Championnat National seasons
• 2020–21 in French football
• 2020–21 in European third tier association football leagues