Belgian Football Season 2016-2017

Domestic league and cup football
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Gorandinho
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Belgian Football Season 2016-2017

Post by Gorandinho »

The '16-'17 season officially starts tonight with the Supercup hosted by champions Club Brugge. They will play cup winners Standard Liège.

There have been made some big changes in the league structure, especially in the lower divisons.

For example the second division:
This season is the first under the name First Division B as a result of reforms in the Belgian football league system. The format of the league has been completely overhauled, with the season now consisting of two separate tournaments. The first tournament will be held from August to December, the second from January until April. The two tournament winners will play a two legged playoff to determine who is promoted to the 2016–17 Belgian First Division A. The top three teams in the aggregate table besides the promoted team will take part in the Europa League playoffs together with the teams in the 2017–18 Belgian First Division A finishing in positions 7 through 15. The remaining four teams will play a relegation playoff to determine the one team that will drop into the 2017–18 Belgian Amateur First Division.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016%E2%8 ... Division_A
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016%E2%8 ... Division_B
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016%E2%8 ... r_Division
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016%E2%8 ... r_Division
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016%E2%8 ... r_Division
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Forza AZ
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Post by Forza AZ »

What happens when the same team wins both tournaments in 2nd level? Are they promoted without a play-off or not?
Gorandinho
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Post by Gorandinho »

Yes there will be no play off in that case.
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Post by Gorandinho »

Club Brugge won the supercup. They beat Standard 2-1 despite an early red card and an early goal for Standard.

Club has now won 14 supercups (in 17 games!)
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Post by Gorandinho »

2016-2017 season preview.

1.Club Brugge: Budget € 38M
Strength: After winning the first title in 11 years Brugge has lost only one key player from last years squad. Thomas Meunier went to PSG. Thomas Pina, Ricardo van Rhijn & Anthony Limbombe seem good additions to the team.
Weakness: Key players Refaelov & Bjorn Engels are often injured. No decent back up at left back is also a concern.

2.Anderlecht: Budget € 40M
Strength: The departure of coach Besnik Hasi. Idrissa Doumbia is very exciting prospect.
Weakness: This is one the weakest squads since the late 90's. Anderlecht badly needs a cental defender, creative winger & a striker to be competitive.

3.AA Gent: Budget € 30M
Strength: Coach Hein Vanhaezebrouck is the real star of this team. More options up front this year with Perbet, Kujovic & Ndongala.
Weakness: Central defenders are not the best. The team is also dependent on Sven Kums his form.

4.KV Oostende: Budget € 15M
Strength: Interesting newcomers like Proto, Tomasevic, Bossaerts, Dimata give the team much more options than last year. Also the stadium being renovated and modernised should be a boost.
Weakness: Expectations are high and no one will underestimate them anymore. I'm not impressed with any of their strikers.

5. KRC Genk: Budget € 25M
Strength: Lost only one key player. Exciting young players like Bailey, Ndidi, Trossard should keep getting better.
Weakness: Defense and Keeper are a big concern. Genk must sign at least 2 defenders to be competitive in the play offs.

6. Zulte Waregem: Budget € 13M
Strength: They already managed to qualify for the PO's with an imbalanced squad and a leaky defense. Now they have improved the defense a lot with de Fauw, DeRijck, Hamalainen. Also Vetokele, Meite, Coopman give this team a quality injection in midfield and attack.
Weakness: A lot of newcomers at once raises the question how long it will take for the team to gel.

7. Standard Liège: Budget € 30M
Strength: No key players left. JF Gillet, Birama Toure, Farouk Miya, Laifis are decent transfers on paper.
Weakness: The team looks only marginally better than last years squad that underwhelmed. Coach Ferrera isnt supported by the board. Especially Daniel Van Buyten wants to bring in Marc Wilmots to remplace Ferrera.

8. KV Kortrijk: Budget € 12M
Strength: Kortrijk did duprisingly well last season and with Saadi and Thomas Kaminski they improve on 2 key positions.
Weakness: They were known for their good defense but they lost Chanot, Tomasevic, Marusic & Poulain. Newcomers Barbaric, Joaozinho, De Smul have huge shoes to fill.

9. Sporting Charleroi: Budget € 10M
Strength: Coach Felice Mazzu decided to stay.
Weakness: The departure of topscorer Perbet & winger Ndongola to Gent are a big blow.

10. KV Mechelen: Budget € 10M
Strength: Croizet, Kolovos & Fillipovic seem good transfers. The stadium was renovated and modernised.
Weakness: The loss of Sofiane Hanni & JF Gillet could hurt a lot.

11. KSC Lokeren: Budget € 10M
Strength: 2 key players who left are well replaced by Icelandic hero Skulason & Tom De Sutter
Weakness: 2 like for like replacements means the team isnt better nor worse than last year. A lack of creativity and pace on the wings hurt this team.

12. Waasland Beveren: Budget € 8.5M
Strength: Coach Stijn Vreven agreed to stay. They keep their policy of signing young Belgian players.
Weakness: Lack of creativity and experience are the biggest issues. Thibault Moulin's departure is a big loss.

13. Sint-Truiden: Budget € 7.5M
Strength: The return of the wealthy Roland Duchatelet gives the team a financial boost. Ivan Leko seems like a young promising coach. Roman Bezus, Jorge Pulido, Dakonam, Pierrick Valdivia are big signings for a small club.
Weakness: Almost no wingers in the squad means Duchatelet needs to sign at least 2-3 more players.

14. Royal Excel Mouscron: Budget € 6M
Strength: Got their license despite financial issues. Much more stable mercato than usual.
Weakness: Agent Pino Zahavi owning 90% of shares leads to a lot of silly transfers, with lots of loan deals and lack of Belgians.

15. KVC Westerlo: Budget € 6.5M
Strength: Some more financial capabilities thanks to the new president.
Weakness: Striker Fred Gounongbe will be sorely missed.

16. KAS Eupen: Budget € 9M
Strength: Lots of technically strong players and positive football thanks to Spanish coach Jordi Condom. Luis Garcia, Jeffren have experience at a very high level.
Weakness: A lot of young players so overall very little experience at the highest level in this squad. The fact that the wealthy Qatari owners havent spent more money this summer is disappointing.
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Post by Gorandinho »

Round 1:

KV Mechelen - Club Brugge 0-2 (Izquierdo, Cools)
Mouscron - Anderlecht 1-2 (Markovic - Acheampong, Sylla)
STVV - Lokeren 1-0 (Proschwitz)
Zulte Waregem - Eupen 3-0 (Leye, Derijck, Lepoint)
Charleroi - Waasland-Beveren 1-0 (Willems)
Westerlo - Standard 2-2 (Acolatse, Ganvoula - Santini, Legear)
Genk - Oostende 2-1 (Karelis, Samatta - Musona)
Kortrijk - Gent 1-1 (Ouali - Neto)
Leeuw
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Post by Leeuw »

This weekend the first round of the second liga has been played. All 8 teams have 1 point. 6 teams lead because they played 2 - 2 and the others drew 1 - 1. Have you seen something like that in another competition?
Gorandinho
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Post by Gorandinho »

Leeuw wrote:This weekend the first round of the second liga has been played. All 8 teams have 1 point. 6 teams lead because they played 2 - 2 and the others drew 1 - 1. Have you seen something like that in another competition?
Havent seen it before, but obviously with only 8 teams this is not that crazy I guess.
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Post by Gorandinho »

Round 2:

Oostende - Club Brugge 1-0 (El Ghanassy)
Mouscron - Charleroi 0-1 (Tainmont)
Eupen - KV Mechelen 0-2 (Verdier, Matthys)
Waasland-Beveren - Zulte waregem 0-2 (Lepoint, Kaya)
Standard - STVV 2-0 (Pulido OG, Edmilson)
Lokeren - Westerlo 3-0 (De Sutter, Maric, Bolbat)
Anderlecht - Kortrijk 5-1 (Hanni, Teodorczyk, Chipciu, Defour, Sylla - Kagé)
Gent - Genk 1-0 (Perbet)

Standings:

1 Anderlecht 6
2 Zulte Waregem 6
3 Charleroi 6
4 Standard 4
5 AA Gent 4
6 Lokeren 3

7 Club Brugge 3
8 KV Mechelen 3
9 Oostende 3
10 Racing Genk 3
11 STVV 3
12 Westerlo 1
13 Kortrijk 1
14 Excel Moeskroen 0
15 Waasland-Beveren 0
16 Eupen 0

1B round 1:

Roeselare - Lierse 2-2
Tubeke - Union 2-2
Lommel Utd - OH Leuven 2-2
Cercle Brugge - Antwerp 1-1
Gorandinho
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Post by Gorandinho »

Round 3:

KV Mechelen - Kortrijk 0-0
Oostende - Mouscron 2-1 (Musona, Marusic - Markovic)
Charleroi - Gent 1-1 (Pollet - Neto)
Westerlo - Eupen 1-2 (Manias - Taulemesse, Onyekuru)
Zulte Waregem - Standard 1-0 (Derijck)
Club Brugge - Lokeren 1-0 (Refaelov)
STVV - Anderlecht 0-0
Genk - Waasland-Beveren 2-2 (Karelis, Jans OG - Seck, Buatu)

Standings:

1 Zulte Waregem 9
2 Anderlecht 7
3 Charleroi 7
4 Club Brugge 6
5 Oostende 6
6 AA Gent 5

7 Standard 4
8 RC Genk 4
9 KV Mechelen 4
10 STVV 4
11 Lokeren 3
12 Eupen 3
13 Kortrijk 2
14 Waasland-Beveren 1
15 Westerlo 1
16 Mouscron 0

1B round 2:

OH Leuven - Union 0-3
Antwerp - Roeselare 1-0
Lierse - Cercle Brugge 2-0
Tubeke - Lommel Utd 0-4

Standings:

1. Lommel United 4
2. Union 4
3. Lierse 4
4. Antwerp 4
5. Roeselare 1
6. Cercle Brugge 1
7. OH Leuven 1
8. Tubize 1
HibeeJibee
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Post by HibeeJibee »

Four questions about the new Belgian league model, which seems to be even stranger than before...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016%E2%8 ... Division_A

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016%E2%8 ... Division_B


(1) now there is a 'Middle 12' in two pools of six, not a 'Middle 8' in two pools of four, these clubs will also play 40 league games like 'Top 6' (30+10)?


(2) the First Division B contains 8 clubs who play 14-game half seasons; the winners play-off for promotion; and the top 3 based on a aggregate 28-game table go into the 'Middle 12' while the lowest 4 go into a 'Bottom 4'.

Do those 'Bottom 4' clubs play each other twice - six times overall - totalling 34 games (14+14+6); or four times - eight times overall - to also total 40 games (14+14+12)?


(3) what happens if a club win one of the 14-game half seasons, then the promotion play-off; but finish 5th or below in the aggregate table, then last in the 'Bottom 4', and simultaneously get relegated to the Second Division?


(4) what does 16th in First Division A and 4th in First Division B do after the regular season ends in March?


I find it all quite confusing. I'm impressed fans in Belgium can understand it!
Gorandinho
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Post by Gorandinho »

HibeeJibee wrote:Four questions about the new Belgian league model, which seems to be even stranger than before...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016%E2%8 ... Division_A

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016%E2%8 ... Division_B


(1) now there is a 'Middle 12' in two pools of six, not a 'Middle 8' in two pools of four, these clubs will also play 40 league games like 'Top 6' (30+10)?


(2) the First Division B contains 8 clubs who play 14-game half seasons; the winners play-off for promotion; and the top 3 based on a aggregate 28-game table go into the 'Middle 12' while the lowest 4 go into a 'Bottom 4'.

Do those 'Bottom 4' clubs play each other twice - six times overall - totalling 34 games (14+14+6); or four times - eight times overall - to also total 40 games (14+14+12)?


(3) what happens if a club win one of the 14-game half seasons, then the promotion play-off; but finish 5th or below in the aggregate table, then last in the 'Bottom 4', and simultaneously get relegated to the Second Division?


(4) what does 16th in First Division A and 4th in First Division B do after the regular season ends in March?


I find it all quite confusing. I'm impressed fans in Belgium can understand it!
(1): YES

(2): They play 6 games. They also start with 50% of the points they earned in the regular season.

(3): The team that wins the promotion play off will earn promotion to 1A, and won't have to play in the relegation play offs.

(4): They have to play some friendlies I guess lol. Note that the promotion play off winner is the one that doesnt qualify for the play offs.
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Forza AZ
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Post by Forza AZ »

One Addition to this all, in case you wonder. If the same team wins both 14-game half seasons in 1B, they will be promoted directly and there will not be a promotion-play-off.
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Post by Gorandinho »

The 2 teams that finish their season in march will get €500.000 compensation.
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jmf
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Post by jmf »

Today at 2.30 CET, the Derby of Flanders : Bruges VS Gent.
At 6.00 CET, the belgian "Classico": Standard-Anderlecht.
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