The 2020 Liga Profesional de Primera División season, also known as the Campeonato Uruguayo de Primera División 2020, was the 117th season of the Uruguayan Primera División, Uruguay's top-flight football league, and the 90th in which it is professional. The season, named as "Néstor "Tito" Gonçalves", began on 15 February 2020 and ended on 7 April 2021. Nacional were the defending champions, having won the title in the previous season and successfully defended their title in this season by defeating Rentistas in the finals by a 4–0 score on aggregate, thus claiming their 48th Primera División title.
The competition was suspended from 13 March to 8 August 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Teams
The three lowest placed teams in the relegation table of the 2019 season, Racing, Rampla Juniors, and Juventud, were relegated to the Segunda División for the 2020 season. They were replaced by Montevideo City Torque, Deportivo Maldonado, and Rentistas, who were promoted from the Segunda División.
Managerial changes
Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
On 12 March 2020, Uruguayan Football Association president Ignacio Alonso announced that the fourth round of the Torneo Apertura, scheduled for the weekend of 14–15 March, would be played behind closed doors. In his statement through social media, Alonso said that the decision had been made in conjunction with the Uruguayan government in conversations with President Luis Lacalle Pou and National Secretary for Sport Sebastián Bauzá. However, the next day, following the suspension of all public events until further notice ordered by the Uruguayan government due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the AUF announced the indefinite suspension of all of its tournaments, including the Primera División.
On 22 May, the health protocol elaborated by the AUF in conjunction with four physicians was approved by 13 out of the 16 Primera División clubs. On 4 June, Uruguay's Ministry of Public Health approved the health protocol submitted by AUF on 26 May for the return of activity. The protocol contemplated the application of COVID-19 tests in every club from 8 to 10 June, and the start of individual training on 15 June, with the competition being set to resume between 1 and 15 August, pending final approval from the Uruguayan government.
Despite the AUF's efforts to resume competition on 1 August, on 15 July, following a meeting between representatives from the Uruguayan government and the governing body, it was confirmed that the tournament would resume on 8 August 2020.
On 26 September, the match between Liverpool and Nacional scheduled for that same day was suspended due to the presence of one positive COVID-19 case in Nacional's squad, which prompted the Ministry of Public Health to decree a mandatory quarantine for the entire team. The match was eventually rescheduled by AUF to 3 October.
The fifth round of the Torneo Intermedio, originally scheduled to be held in the weekend of 14–15 November, was postponed after the entire squads of Danubio and Boston River were forced to isolate by health authorities due to Danubio footballer Rodrigo Piñeiro testing positive for COVID-19. Further Torneo Intermedio matches involving Danubio, Defensor Sporting, and Rentistas, as well as the tournament's final between Nacional and Montevideo Wanderers were also postponed due to the confirmation of COVID-19 cases in those teams.
With the repeated suspensions and postponements of matches and rounds of the tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic causing the extension of the 2020 season to April 2021, meaning that the league would not be concluded before the start of the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana qualifying stages, on 14 January 2021 the League Council of the Uruguayan Football Association approved a temporary modification to the method of qualification to CONMEBOL competitions of Uruguayan clubs. Since associations must formally inform CONMEBOL of the clubs that will take part in international competition in advance to the start of competition, some international berths were decided based on deadlines set according to the dates the respective Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana rounds were scheduled to be held on as well as the placements of clubs in the aggregate table at the time of those deadlines.