2009–10 Belgian Pro League
The 2009–10 season of the Belgian Pro League (also known as Jupiler Pro League for sponsorship reasons) was the 107th season of top-tier football in Belgium.
The season began on 31 July 2009 with the first matches of the regular season, and ended in May 2010 with the last matches of the playoff round. Standard Liège were the defending champions.
| Season | 2009–10 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Anderlecht (30th title) |
| Relegated | Mouscron Roeselare |
| Champions League | Anderlecht Gent |
| Europa League | Club Brugge Racing Genk Cercle Brugge |
| Matches played | 268 |
| Goals scored | 614 (2.29 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Romelu Lukaku (15 goals) |
| Biggest home win | Anderlecht 6-0 Zulte-Waregem (28 March 2010) |
| Biggest away win | Mouscron 0–5 Lokeren (12 December 2009) Germinal Beerschot 0-5 Anderlecht (29 January 2010) |
| Highest scoring | Lokeren 5–3 Cercle (31 March 2010) AA Gent 6-2 Club Brugge (8 May 2010) |
| Longest winning run | Anderlecht (9 games) ended 27 December 2010 |
| Longest unbeaten run | Anderlecht (13 games) ended 6 February 2010 |
| Longest losing run | K. Sint-Truidense V.V. (7 games) ended 21 November 2009 |
← 2008–09 2010–11 → | |
The competition underwent a significant overhaul for this season by reducing the number of teams and, for the first time in the history of the league, introducing a playoff system to determine the Belgian champions.
On April 18, 2010, Anderlecht became champions as a result of a 1–2 victory in Bruges against one of their main rivals, Club Brugge.
Changes from 2008–09
Structural changes
The league size has been reduced from eighteen to sixteen teams. Further, the competition has been split into two stages, a conventional season and playoffs.
The participating clubs will first play a conventional round-robin schedule for a total of 30 matches. After the conclusion of those matches, the team ranked 16th will be directly relegated to the Belgian Second Division, while every other team will play in a playoff round according to its league table position.
The first six teams will play in the Championship playoff. Points earned during the regular season are halved with an odd number of points being rounded up. The round will be played on a round-robin schedule. The winner of this round has won the Belgian championship and will participate in the third qualifying round of the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League. The runners-up will also play in the third qualifying round of the Champions League, while the third-placed team will enter the third qualifying round of the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League. Finally, the fourth-placed team will have to compete in a single match (called Testmatch) against the winner of the Europa League playoff (see below) for one spot in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.
The teams finishing seventh through fourteenth will play in the Europa League playoff and start with zero points. The round will be played in two groups, with teams in positions 7, 9, 12 and 14 comprising Group A, and the remaining teams comprising Group B. Each group will be played on a round-robin schedule. The winners of these groups will then compete in a two-legged series to earn the right to play against the fourth-placed team of the Championship playoff for one spot in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.
The 15th-placed team will participate in the Relegation playoff, along with the teams ranked second through fifth in the Belgian Second Division. The winners of the playoff will earn a place in the 2010–11 Belgian First Division.
Team changes
Team information
Stadia and locations
| Club | Location | Venue | Capacity[citation needed] |
|---|---|---|---|
| R.S.C. Anderlecht | Anderlecht | Constant Vanden Stock Stadium | 28,063 |
| Cercle Brugge K.S.V. | Bruges | Jan Breydel Stadium | 29,415 |
| R. Charleroi S.C. | Charleroi | Stade du Pays de Charleroi | 24,891 |
| Club Brugge K.V. | Bruges | Jan Breydel Stadium | 29,415 |
| K.R.C. Genk | Genk | Cristal Arena | 24,900 |
| K.A.A. Gent | Ghent | Jules Ottenstadion | 12,919 |
| K.F.C. Germinal Beerschot | Antwerp | Olympisch Stadion | 12,771 |
| K.V. Kortrijk | Kortrijk | Guldensporen Stadion | 9,500 |
| K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen | Lokeren | Daknamstadion | 10,000 |
| KV Mechelen | Mechelen | Veolia Stadium Achter de Kazerne | 13,123 |
| R.E. Mouscron | Mouscron | Stade Le Canonnier | 11,300 |
| Roeselare | Roeselare | Schiervelde Stadion | 9,036 |
| K. Sint-Truidense V.V. | Sint-Truiden | Staaienveld | 11,250 |
| Standard Liège | Liège | Stade Maurice Dufrasne | 30,000 |
| K.V.C. Westerlo | Westerlo | Het Kuipje | 8,200 |
| S.V. Zulte-Waregem | Waregem | Regenboogstadion | 8,500 |
Personnel and sponsoring
Managerial changes
During summer break
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Position in table |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genk |  Pierre Denier Hans Visser (caretakers) | Caretakers replaced | 5 March 2009 | Hein Vanhaezebrouck | 17 May 2009 | Pre-Season |
| Club Brugge | Jacky Mathijssen | Mutual consent | 17 May 2009 | Adrie Koster | 17 May 2009 | Pre-Season |
| Kortrijk | Hein Vanhaezebrouck | Signed at Genk on 30 March 2009. | 17 May 2009 | Georges Leekens | 28 May 2009 | Pre-Season |
| Charleroi |  John Collins | End of contract | 17 May 2009 | Stéphane Demol | 2 June 2009 | Pre-Season |
| Mouscron | Enzo Scifo | Resigned | 6 June 2009 |  Miroslav Đukić | 10 June 2009 | Pre-Season |
During the season
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Position in table |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germinal Beerschot | Aimé Anthuenis | Sacked | 31 August 2009 | Jos Daerden | 3 September 2009 | 14th |
| Lokeren | Aleksandar Janković | Sacked | 25 October 2009 | Jacky Mathijssen | 25 October 2009 | 14th |
| Mouscron | Miroslav Đukić | Resigned | 30 October 2009 | Hans Galjé | 2 November 2009 | 15th |
| Charleroi | Stéphane Demol | Resigned | 31 October 2009 | Tommy Craig | 20 November 2009 | 13th |
| Genk | Hein Vanhaezebrouck | Sacked | 29 November 2009 | Franky Vercauteren | 6 December 2009 | 12th |
| Mouscron | Hans Galjé | Contract annulled by bankruptcy | 28 December 2009 | 10th | ||
| Lokeren | Jacky Mathijssen | Mutual consent | 25 January 2010 | Emilio Ferrera | 28 January 2010 | 15th |
| Standard Liège |  László Bölöni | Resigned | 10 February 2010 | Dominique D'Onofrio | 10 February 2010 | 6th |
| Charleroi | Tommy Craig | Sacked | 14 April 2010 | Jacky Mathijssen | 4 June 2010 | 13th (4th in Playoff) |
Regular season
Financial troubles of Mouscron
During the season, Mouscron got into financial trouble. This caused months of debate and several law procedures, with the fate of Mouscron changing from week to week. The board of Mouscron finally accepted the bankruptcy of Mouscron on 28 December 2009. At that point, the last two matches of Mouscron had already been forfeited as many players refused to play due to wages from November and December not being paid; three forfeits in a row would have also caused immediate elimination and relegation to the Belgian Third Division.
As a result of the bankruptcy and relegation, Mouscron's record was expunged.
League table
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anderlecht (C, O) | 28 | 22 | 3 | 3 | 62 | 20 | +42 | 69 | Qualification to Championship play-offs |
| 2 | Club Brugge | 28 | 17 | 6 | 5 | 52 | 33 | +19 | 57 | |
| 3 | Gent | 28 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 49 | 30 | +19 | 49 | |
| 4 | Kortrijk | 28 | 12 | 9 | 7 | 39 | 30 | +9 | 45 | |
| 5 | Sint-Truiden | 28 | 12 | 6 | 10 | 35 | 35 | 0 | 42 | |
| 6 | Zulte Waregem | 28 | 10 | 11 | 7 | 39 | 32 | +7 | 41 | |
| 7 | Mechelen | 28 | 12 | 3 | 13 | 36 | 46 | −10 | 39 | Qualification to Europa League play-offs |
| 8 | Standard Liège | 28 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 38 | 34 | +4 | 39 | |
| 9 | Cercle Brugge | 28 | 11 | 5 | 12 | 45 | 40 | +5 | 38 | |
| 10 | Germinal Beerschot | 28 | 9 | 8 | 11 | 30 | 43 | −13 | 35 | |
| 11 | Genk (O) | 28 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 33 | 31 | +2 | 34 | |
| 12 | Westerlo | 28 | 8 | 8 | 12 | 28 | 34 | −6 | 32 | |
| 13 | Charleroi | 28 | 5 | 8 | 15 | 28 | 45 | −17 | 23 | |
| 14 | Lokeren | 28 | 5 | 3 | 20 | 22 | 54 | −32 | 18 | |
| 15 | Roeselare (R, Q) | 28 | 4 | 6 | 18 | 29 | 58 | −29 | 18 | Qualification to the Relegation play-offs |
| 16 | Mouscron (R) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Relegation to 2010–11 Belgian Third Division |
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) number of matches won; if teams are still tied a playoff is organised.
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (Q) Qualified for the phase indicated; (R) Relegated
Notes:
Positions by round
Note: The classification was made after the weekend (or midweek) of each matchday, so postponed matches were only processed at the time they were played to represent the real evolution in standings. The postponed matches are:
- Matchday 19: Mechelen vs. Germinal Beerschot of 18 December, Charleroi vs. Standard and Anderlecht vs. Club Brugge of 20 December. The matches will be played in the beginning of February, between the 24th and 25th matchday.
- Matchday 22: Club Brugge vs. Westerlo of 16 January which was played during the 24th matchday on 30 January.
- Matchday 23: Cercle Brugge vs. Charleroi of 23 January (as a result of the first leg of the quarter final of the Belgian Cup between Anderlecht and Cercle Brugge being played on this date). The new date for this match is 24 February, between matchdays 27 and 28.
- Matchday 24: Sint-Truiden vs. Westerlo of 30 January (as a result of the postponement of the match Club Brugge vs. Westerlo to this date) is postponed to 3 February, which is between matchdays 24 and 25. Because of snowfall, both Roeselare vs. Genk and Charleroi vs. Lokeren were postponed. The match Charleroi vs. Lokeren was originally scheduled to be played on February 10 between matchdays 25 and 26, but was postponed again because of more snow and will now be played on March 10 between matchdays 28 and 29. Roeselare vs. Genk was rescheduled to 24 February, between matchdays 27 and 28.
- Matchday 26: Yet again snow caused several matches to be postponed, in this case Mechelen-Genk, Cercle Brugge-Lokeren, Charleroi-Anderlecht and Germinal Beerschot-Zulte-Waregem. All matches were rescheduled to be played during the weekend of the 29th matchday, on March 6 and 7.
- Matchday 29: Due to the rescheduling of several matches to the first weekend of March, when this matchday was to be played, the whole matchday was postponed one week. With both Anderlecht and Standard Liège still playing in the UEFA Europa League on Thursdays, all matches will be played on Sunday 14 March at 20:00.
- Matchday 30: With matchday 29 moved to 14 March, matchday 30 was also rescheduled, to Sunday 21 March.
On top of that, the results of Mouscron were annulled between matchdays 20 and 21, causing many shifts between those matchdays. Also, for the rest of the season, there will be no point at which all teams have played the same number of matches, until at the end.
Results
Note: All Mouscron results listed below were expunged after the club had to declare bankruptcy during the season. They are listed here for information purposes. Matches which were to be competed after Mouscron's exemption have been shaded.
