2019–20 Kategoria e Parë

Kategoria e Parë
Season	2019–20
Champions	Apolonia; 5th title
Promoted	Apolonia; Kastrioti
Relegated	Devolli; Iliria; Shënkolli; Shkumbini; Tërbuni
Matches played	241
Goals scored	604 (2.51 per match)
Top goalscorer	Klodian Nuri; (17 goals)
Biggest home win	Apolonia 7−0 Elbasani; (7 December 2019)
Biggest away win	Iliria 0−3 Turbina; (29 July 2020); Shënkolli 0−3 Turbina; (21 June 2020); Tërbuni 0−3 Dinamo Tirana; (29 July 2020); Tërbuni 1−4 Veleçiku; (7 March 2020); Veleçiku 0−3 Dinamo Tirana; (20 June 2020); Veleçiku 0−3 Erzeni; (14 September 2019)
Highest scoring	Apolonia 8−5 Besa; (28 June 2020)
Longest winning run	6 matches; Pogradeci
Longest unbeaten run	13 matches; Apolonia
Longest winless run	10 matches; Shënkolli
Longest losing run	8 matches; Shënkolli
	← 2018–19 2020–21 →

The 2019–20 Kategoria e Parë was the 72nd official season of the Albanian football second-tier since its establishment. The season began on 14 September 2019 and ended on 29 July 2020. There were 20 teams competing this season, split in 2 groups, each with 10 teams. The 2 winners of each group gained promotion to the 2020-21 Kategoria Superiore, and played the division's final against each other. The runners-up of each group played a play-off match between them. The winners of the play-off played another promotion play-off match against the 8th ranked team of the 2019–20 Kategoria Superiore.^[1] Apolonia and Kastrioti were promoted to the 2020–21 Kategoria Superiore. Devolli, Iliria, Shënkolli, Shkumbini and Tërbuni were relegated to the 2020–21 Kategoria e Dytë. Apolonia won their fifth Kategoria e Parë title on 22 July 2020 after beating Kastrioti in the final match. The competition was completely suspended from 12 March to 7 June 2020, due to a pandemic of COVID-19 in Albania.

Changes from last season

Team changes

From Kategoria e Parë

Promoted to Kategoria Superiore:

Relegated to Kategoria e Dytë:

Tomori
Vora

To Kategoria e Parë

Relegated from Kategoria Superiore:

Kastrioti

Promoted from Kategoria e Dytë:

Locations

2019–20 Kategoria e Parë Group A teams.

2019–20 Kategoria e Parë Group B teams.

Stadia by capacity and locations

Group A

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Besëlidhja	Lezhë	Brian Filipi Stadium	5,000
Burreli	Burrel	Liri Ballabani Stadium	2,500
Dinamo Tirana	Tirana	Internacional Complex	1,000
Egnatia	Rrogozhinë	Egnatia Stadium	4,000
Erzeni	Shijak	Tofik Jashari Stadium	4,000
Kastrioti	Krujë	Kastrioti Stadium	8,400
Korabi	Peshkopi	Korabi Stadium	6,000
Shkumbini	Peqin	Shkumbini Stadium	5,000
Tërbuni	Pukë	Ismail Xhemali Stadium	1,950
Veleçiku	Koplik	Kompleksi Vellezërit Duli	2,000

Group B

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Apolonia	Fier	Loni Papuçiu Stadium	6,800
Besa	Kavajë	Besa Stadium	8,000
Devolli	Bilisht	Bilisht Stadium	1,050
Elbasani	Elbasan	Elbasan Arena	12,800
Iliria	Fushë-Krujë	Redi Maloku Stadium	3,000
Lushnja	Lushnjë	Abdurrahman Roza Haxhiu Stadium	8,500
Oriku	Orikum	Petro Ruci Stadium	2,000
Pogradeci	Pogradec	Gjorgji Kyçyku Stadium	10,700
Shënkolli	Shënkoll	Shënkoll Stadium	500
Turbina	Cërrik	Nexhip Trungu Stadium	6,600

First phase

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Kastrioti	16	11	4	1	19	4	+15	37	Qualification to the Promotion round
2	Besëlidhja	16	8	4	4	19	12	+7	28
3	Korabi	16	8	1	7	16	15	+1	25
4	Erzeni	16	7	4	5	18	10	+8	25
5	Burreli	16	6	6	4	17	16	+1	24	Qualification to the Relegation round
6	Egnatia	16	4	7	5	14	13	+1	19
7	Tërbuni	16	3	6	7	11	16	−5	15
8	Veleçiku	16	3	4	9	11	22	−11	13
9	Dinamo Tirana	16	3	2	11	9	26	−17	11
10	Shkumbini^[a] (R, D)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	−3	Excluded from the league

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) head-to-head points; 5) head-to-head goal difference; 6) draw. (Head-to-head record is applied for clubs with the same number of points only once all matches between said clubs have been played.)
(D) Disqualified; (R) Relegated
Notes:

^ Shkumbini was excluded from the league and relegated to the Kategoria e Dytë for the next season, after a violent incident during a match against Dinamo Tirana in the 11th round. They were also deducted 3 points.

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Pogradeci	18	12	3	3	30	15	+15	39	Qualification to the Promotion round
2	Apolonia	18	11	4	3	36	14	+22	37
3	Lushnja	18	11	2	5	30	18	+12	35
4	Besa	18	8	3	7	28	24	+4	27
5	Oriku	18	6	6	6	12	15	−3	24	Qualification to the Relegation round
6	Devolli	18	7	3	8	29	30	−1	24
7	Iliria	18	4	6	8	18	23	−5	18
8	Shënkolli	18	3	8	7	17	28	−11	17
9	Turbina	18	4	4	10	14	26	−12	16
10	Elbasani	18	4	1	13	14	35	−21	13

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) head-to-head points; 5) head-to-head goal difference; 6) draw. (Head-to-head record is applied for clubs with the same number of points only once all matches between said clubs have been played.)

Second phase

Promotion round

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion
1	Kastrioti (P)	22	14	5	3	29	13	+16	47	Promotion to 2020–21 Kategoria Superiore
2	Besëlidhja	22	11	6	5	30	19	+11	39	Play-off promotion to 2020–21 Kategoria Superiore
3	Korabi	22	11	3	8	26	22	+4	36
4	Erzeni	22	7	5	10	25	25	0	26

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) head-to-head points; 5) head-to-head goal difference; 6) draw. (Head-to-head record is applied for clubs with the same number of points only once all matches between said clubs have been played.)
(P) Promoted

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion
1	Apolonia (C, P)	24	15	6	3	55	26	+29	51	Promotion to 2020–21 Kategoria Superiore
2	Pogradeci	24	14	4	6	39	24	+15	46	Play-off promotion to 2020–21 Kategoria Superiore
3	Lushnja	24	14	2	8	42	29	+13	44
4	Besa	24	9	4	11	42	46	−4	31

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) head-to-head points; 5) head-to-head goal difference; 6) draw. (Head-to-head record is applied for clubs with the same number of points only once all matches between said clubs have been played.)
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted

Relegation round

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Relegation
5	Egnatia	24	7	10	7	21	19	+2	31
6	Burreli	24	8	7	9	23	25	−2	31
7	Dinamo Tirana	24	8	3	13	20	29	−9	27
8	Veleçiku (O)	24	6	7	11	21	30	−9	25	Play-out relegation to 2020–21 Kategoria e Dytë
9	Tërbuni^[a] (R, D)	24	5	8	11	20	33	−13	23	Excluded from the league

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) head-to-head points; 5) head-to-head goal difference; 6) draw. (Head-to-head record is applied for clubs with the same number of points only once all matches between said clubs have been played.)
(D) Disqualified; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

^ Tërbuni was excluded from the league and relegated to the Kategoria e Dytë for the next season, after a violent incident during a match against Egnatia in the 22nd round.

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Relegation
5	Oriku	28	11	7	10	22	25	−3	40
6	Turbina	28	11	5	12	39	35	+4	38
7	Elbasani	28	12	1	15	42	50	−8	37
8	Devolli (R)	28	10	4	14	39	43	−4	34	Play-out relegation to 2020–21 Kategoria e Dytë
9	Iliria (R)	28	9	6	13	35	44	−9	33	Relegation to 2020–21 Kategoria e Dytë
10	Shënkolli (R)	28	3	9	16	31	64	−33	18	Relegation to 2020–21 Kategoria e Dytë

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) head-to-head points; 5) head-to-head goal difference; 6) draw. (Head-to-head record is applied for clubs with the same number of points only once all matches between said clubs have been played.)
(R) Relegated