"Other" European Leagues

PhilliyK wrote: Can anyone tell me, is the Waregem v Anderlecht match tonight the last game of the season and is it for the automatic champions league spot/championship?  Also just who the feck has qualified for the europa league spots in that league?  Was looking on soccerway there at todays match's and cant work out who is playing for what as it has Gent (finished 12th) and Charleroi(11) down as playing for a europa league spot despite finishing well down the table. The play off (1) looks to have the top 6 from the regular season but if that is correct then Club Brugge(finished 4th) are missing out on a play off for a europa league spot all together - fukin mad league

A playoff phase is then played from March to May. The point system in the playoffs is the same as during the regular season, except that each team starts with half of the points they won in the regular season, rounded up to the nearest integer. The points gained by rounding are deducted in the case of a tie.

The top 6 teams from the regular season enter the playoffs 1, with the first-placed team winning the championship of Belgium. Each team plays their opponents twice, and the teams are ranked by points, points from rounding, wins, etc. as in the regular season.

Teams ranked 7 to 14 after the regular season enter the playoffs 2, with teams ranked 7th, 9th, 12th and 14th entering the group A and teams ranked 8th, 10th, 11th and 13th entering the group B. In each group, each team plays each of its 3 opponents twice. The winner of each group plays the final game in two legs, to determine the winner of the playoffs 2. The winner of the playoffs 2 then plays a home and away game against either the fourth-placed or fifth-placed team from the playoffs 1 for the final Europa League ticket, with the opponent depending on the fact if the Belgian Cup winner ended in the top four of the playoff 1 or not.

Teams ranked 15th and 16th after the regular season enter the relegation playoff. It consists of 5 games between the 2 teams. The 15th-placed team starts the playoffs with 3 points whereas the 16th-placed team starts from zero. The loser of the relegation playoff is relegated to the second division. The winner of that playoff enters the Belgian Second Division Final Round with 3 teams from the second division. The winner of this Final Round plays in the First Division the season thereafter.

Matches are usually played on Saturdays at 20.00. Some matchdays are played on Wednesdays, however. Furthermore, in recent years, some games are played either on Fridays or during the weekend at different times (e.g. Saturday at 18.00 or Sunday at 13.00 or 20.00), as decided by the owner of television rights. Each team playing the Pro League must have been granted the Belgian professional football license guaranteeing the club has no excessive debts, has a secure stadium, etc. This was introduced in season 2001-02 to decrease the number of teams in the division and ensure a higher level of professionalism in the clubs playing in the top flight of Belgian football. Originally, clubs that could not get the license were supposed not to be replaced (and sent to the third division). However, it is still not effective as, for example, KSK Beveren finished 18th (last) in 2001-2002 but were saved as KSC Eendracht Aalst (17th) and RWD Molenbeek (10th) were refused their license.