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54-728: The Challenger Pro League , previously known as 1B Pro League is the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system , one level below the Belgian Pro League . It was created by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 2016, replacing the Belgian Second Division . From the season 2016–17 until 2019–20, the competition was named Proximus League , after the main sponsor Proximus . The Belgian First Division B

108-426: A ( PVR ) HD IPTV set-top box , models support as of June 2015 are made by Cisco & Scientific-Atlanta (now a Cisco owned company). Also necessary is a subscription to Proximus TV, which is only available in a pack with internet and/or telephone. Proximus TV uses Jinni 's technology to offer personalized taste channels and the ability to automatically search for content which is airing now and should suit

162-755: A Brabant "provincial" league for Francophone clubs (including all Francophone clubs from Brussels, Flemish Brabant and Walloon Brabant). The majority of the clubs from the Brussels capital region are Francophone, de facto resulting in two provincial leagues roughly corresponding to Flemish Brabant on one hand; and Walloon Brabant and Brussels on the other hand. Reaching quarter-finals onwards: UEFA Cup Winners' Cup UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League Inter-Cities Fairs Cup UEFA Conference League UEFA Super Cup UEFA Cup Winners' Cup UEFA Super Cup UEFA Cup Winners' Cup UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League UEFA Conference League Proximus TV Proximus TV

216-447: A club dissolves, the matricule number of this club is removed permanently and lost forever as numbers are never reused. In case of mergers, the new club must decide which matricule number to keep, it normally begins the championship at the level where the former club with the same matricule number should have begun the season. Typically, mergers result in the most famous club's matricule being kept alive. However, it has often occurred that

270-513: A club with a glorious past or even (multiple) championship titles had to merge with another less successful club in order to survive, often due to financial difficulties. In this case, the matricule number of the club, and the honours linked to it, were lost with the merger. As an examples, in the late 1990s, seven-time champion K. Beerschot VAC was struggling with financial difficulties in the third division and merged with then first division neighbour club KFC Germinal Ekeren to survive. The new club

324-482: A new Brussels-based club ( Royale Union Saint-Gilloise ), which would become a dominant force in Belgian football during the following seasons, winning seven titles between 1903 and 1913. The club originally shared a rivalry with Racing Club and later Daring Club , which would go on and win the title in 1912. Later, Anderlecht became their biggest rival for citywide bragging rights. After World War I , Belgian football

378-482: A new rule in 2016, stating that after a takeover, a club cannot move more than 30 kilometres from its original location. From 2017, the Belgian FA enforced another rule, which allows clubs to buy back their old defunct matricule, which was first done by Lyra (matricule 7776) who acquired the matricule 52 of the old defunct Lyra . In 2018, Oud-Heverlee Leuven , which is the result of a merger of three clubs around

432-665: Is currently competing in the First Amateur Division . Currently, two clubs from the province are competing in First Division A, Standard Liège and KAS Eupen . The latter is the only club from the German-speaking Community of Belgium (based on an administrative area in east of Liège Province) ever to have competed in the top flight. They first played at the top level in 2010–11 but were relegated after that season, before returning after

486-556: Is distributed using ADSL / VDSL solution. This IPTV service was originally distributed over ADSL which later evolved to ADSL2+ . More recently, the Broadway Project started providing fiber to the street cabinets and VDSL2 from the street cabinets to the home. By increasing bandwidth and evolving from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 AVC compression, Proximus TV currently offers high-definition television to many Belgian households. Like satellite broadcasts, and unlike cable distributors,

540-531: Is not a province but rather an region akin to Flanders and Wallonia . Two currently active clubs from Brussels play in First Division A, Anderlecht , the country's most successful club to date, and Union Saint-Gilloise , 11 time champion of Belgium, which acquired place in Division A after a 49-year absence by winning the First Division B in 2020-21 season. The first-ever Belgian League Championship

594-640: Is slowly starting to change, with Belgium producing such offensive talents as Romelu Lukaku , Eden Hazard , Mousa Dembélé , Christian Benteke , Kevin Mirallas , Marouane Fellaini , Kevin De Bruyne and Dries Mertens , among others. With football's rapid growth in popularity in the late 19th century, several football clubs came into existence in Belgium. In 1926, the Royal Belgian Football Association decided to introduce matricule numbers to tell

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648-562: The Belgian FA and the courts did not award them a licence to practice professional football. As a result, the club were relegated to the First Amateur Division and were ultimately wound up in October 2017. Only one club from the province of Flemish Brabant is currently active in the top two divisions of Belgian football, Oud-Heverlee Leuven , playing in the First Division A. After the 2018-19 season , AFC Tubize were relegation to

702-554: The Belgian First Division A for a place in the top division. The team finishing in last place was relegated to the Belgian National Division 1 (renamed from Belgian First Amateur Division ). From the 2022–23 season, the league was expanded to 12 teams, as from this season U23-teams no longer play in separate competitions but rather join the regular competition. To accommodate this expansion,

756-507: The First Amateur Division and as a result, no club from the province of Walloon Brabant plays in the top two divisions of Belgian football in 2019-20. Two teams from Hainaut Province are currently playing in First Division A: Excel Mouscron and Charleroi SC . Namur Province is, along with that of Luxembourg, the province with the least prestigious football history in Belgium. Currently, no clubs from

810-596: The 15th of September 2020 Disney+ is available from the menu of the STB. Classic movies and movies from European and other independent publishers Including latest cinematic and same day DVD releases All the matches of the Jupiler Pro League on Proximus 11 and on Proximus 11+ the entire UEFA Champions League and its Multi Live, the best of the English League Cup, the best of Iberian football with

864-448: The 2010s, matricules have been sold and traded, with clubs wanting to take over the position in a (higher) series of another club acquiring these matricules in order to quickly move up one or more divisions. Examples include BX Brussels , which acquired the matricule of Bleid-Gaume in 2013, with the intent to transform and move the club from Bleid to Brussels, over 200 kilometres away. The Royal Belgian Football Association therefore enforced

918-399: The 2016–17 season. No team from the province is currently in the First Division B. Historically, RFC Liège (five titles between 1895 and 1953) and Standard Liège (ten titles between 1958 and 2009) are the province's most successful, well-known and popular clubs. Only one club from Luxembourg Province plays near the top level of Belgian football: Excelsior Virton , who won promotion to

972-401: The 2022–23 season, five clubs from the province of West Flanders play in the First Division A ( Club Brugge , Cercle Brugge , KV Kortrijk , KV Oostende and SV Zulte-Waregem ), and one club plays in the First Division B ( Club NXT ). As of the 2022–23 season, only one club from the province of East Flanders play in the First Division A ( KAA Gent ), but there are three clubs who plays in

1026-623: The 2024–25 season the following clubs will take part. Proximus broadcasts every game whilst it sponsored the league, Telenet broadcasts one random game every week. As of the 2020–21 season, Eleven Sports acquired the broadcasting rights to all professional league games (1A, 1B and the Super Cup ) in Belgium. Football in Belgium Association football is the most popular sport in Belgium , which has been played since

1080-451: The First Division B ( KMSK Deinze , FCV Dender EH and SK Beveren ). Antwerp Province has a long tradition of football. The first Belgian clubs were established in the city of Antwerp (Antwerp Lyon's Club, A.S. Anvers-Borgerhout, and most notably Royal Antwerp , which is the country's oldest club and which is affectionately referred to as the "Great Old" by its supporters and the media). Three clubs from this province currently play in

1134-420: The First Division B after the 2018-19 season . No club from this province has ever played in the top flight. Former Belgian international Philippe Albert ( Bouillon ) and current international Thomas Meunier ( Sainte-Ode ) were born in the province. As of the 2016–17 season, the Belgian football league pyramid has nine levels. The FA dramatically overhauled the league system after the 2015–16 season, reducing

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1188-648: The Spanish League, the Copa del Rey (final not included) and the Portuguese League. Unlimited access to favorite movies and series (more than 500) in a secure and child-friendly environment. Unlimited access to more than 200 clips for adults Customers with the Comfort or Maxi pack have free access to TV Partout / TV Overal to watch on a PC , Smartphone or tablet up to 40 channels and can use

1242-427: The basic (Classic+) package and Toon Disney was available as an additional channel. The agreement between the two entities was also part of an agreement aimed at improving children's safety online. In June 2009, Belgacom TV lost the rights to air Standard Liège and Anderlecht preseason matches, potentially depriving some Division 1 teams from having enough revenue. BeTV was interested in holding rights, but its coverage

1296-753: The basis for their names. For historical reasons, many Flemish clubs changed their names from French to Dutch between the beginning of the 20th century and the late 1960s. Additionally, many clubs have experienced frequent name changes. Reasons for these include a language change, a merger, an anniversary, etc. Because of the numerous mergers between Belgian clubs, team names sometimes combine several town names (such as K. Beringen-Heusden-Zolder or Sporting West Ingelmunster-Harelbeke ) which reflect mergers. In recent history, clubs representing immigrant communities have come into existence and sometimes use names that are in neither of Belgium's official languages (the now defunct clubs Türkgucun Ozburun and Türkiyemspor Zaventem, or

1350-464: The capital region of Brussels (which is not a province by itself and also does not belong to a province), teams from Brussels, Flemish Brabant and Walloon Brabant are split into two similar leagues based on their language. As a result there are two "provincial" leagues corresponding to the former Province of Brabant : one Brabant "provincial" league for Flemish clubs (including all Flemish clubs from Brussels, Flemish Brabant and Walloon Brabant) and

1404-564: The championships it held the rights to) and Belgacom 5 (Ethias League) and educational story apps developed by Chocolapps, available in French, Dutch, German and English. ARD and ZDF were removed on 14 March 2013, receiving criticism from the Germanophone community. A petition was created in the wake of the removals. A new agreement was reached at the end of February 2014, with the channels being restored. Customers must purchase or rent

1458-448: The city of Leuven , changed its matricule number 6142 back to number 18 to honour the glorious past of its eldest predecessor. The first few matricule numbers are: A Belgian club's name usually includes the name of the town where the club plays as well as a prefix and/or suffix. Since Belgians speak three languages, French and Dutch being the main ones and German being the third official language, Belgian teams may use either language as

1512-578: The clubs apart and assigned a matricule to each existing club by order of registration. In this manner, Antwerp was awarded matricule number 1 as the first to register. As such, the oldest clubs in Belgium typically have the lowest matricule numbers, although there are clubs which registered many years after their origination and as a result have a much higher matricule than would be expected. Many clubs, especially those with very low numbers, consider their matricule number part of their heritage and past and prominently feature it in their logo or even name. In case

1566-546: The competition is organized by the Provinces of Belgium , with the notable exception of the three entities that were created from the 1995 breakup of the former Province of Brabant  – Flemish Brabant , Walloon Brabant and the Brussels Capital Region  – whose clubs are split into two former Province of Brabant wide leagues, one Flemish-speaking and one French-speaking. As of

1620-551: The distribution of Proximus TV is not limited to a certain municipality or province. In December 2008, coverage of Proximus TV was 86.6% of all Belgian households, and High Definition TV was available to 64%. At the end of March 2013, there were 1,412,000 Proximus TV subscribers, including the so-called "dual stream" subscribers. By end 2014, Proximus’ TV customer base counted 1,288,000 TV households, or 1,593,000 subscriptions when including multiple set-top boxes. In September 2014, Belgacom TV became Proximus TV. A few months before

1674-420: The dominant team in Brussels. Its cross-city rivals at the time were, in succession, Union, Daring and Racing White, later renamed R.W.D.M. , still later named FC Brussels . The latter were liquidated in 2014 and revived a year later as RWDM47 . White Star Bruxelles , a club from the Brussels suburban region, technically won promotion to the top flight after the 2015-16 season but due to the club's debts, both

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1728-463: The end of the 19th century. The national association was founded in 1895 with the intention of bringing some order and organization to the sport. The first match of the Belgium national team was played on 1 May 1904, a 3–3 draw against France . Traditionally, the clubs Anderlecht , Club Brugge and Standard Liège are the three most dominant domestic teams, all of them also having played and/or won one or more UEFA competitions final(s). Both

1782-418: The final. From its inception in 2016 until 2020, the season consisted of two separate competitions in which all 8 teams played each other twice. The winners of both competitions faced each other in a two-legged playoff with the winner crowned champions and promoted to the Belgian First Division A . For the remaining teams, until 2019, the top three teams (excluding the promoted team), played together with

1836-600: The launch of Belgacom TV, on 9 May 2005, Belgacom Group took the whole market by surprise when it acquired the broadcasting rights for the Jupiler Pro League (Belgian Football League). For this end, it announced the creation of Belgacom 11 (now Pickx Sports) to air these broadcasts and use this agreement to lure more subscribers. The French Disney channels were added to the platform in Brussels and Wallonia on 1 December 2006 to mass customer demand. Disney Channel, its timeshift feed and Playhouse Disney were carried in

1890-547: The league format was changed again. Now all teams play a regular round-robin round (22 matches), after which the league splits into two halves, with the top 6 teams battling for promotion to the Belgian First Division A which only goes to the top team at the end of the season after 32 matches, while the bottom 6 also meet each other but with the goal of avoiding finishing last as this team will be relegated. Promotion/relegation playoffs are no longer organized, only

1944-585: The national football team and the top Belgium division have a reputation for physical play. This came as a result of a lack of technically skilled foreign players allowed to play in Belgium due to legal restrictions. This changed after the Bosman ruling which forced the liberalization of the football player market in Europe. In response, Belgian clubs began to buy unknown players from Eastern Europe, South America and Africa. This had two contradictory consequences. On

1998-450: The number of professional teams to 24 and introducing a nationwide amateur league for the first time. Nationwide leagues: Regional leagues: Provincial leagues: Each provincial subdivision of the FA runs its own 4-division league. Only teams that are geographically located in a certain province are allowed to compete in the corresponding provincial league. To include as well teams from

2052-1320: The one hand, the national team was weakened by the reduced opportunity for native Belgium players to gain a spot on domestic teams. On the other hand, the Jupiler League reinforced its status as an entry league for players who then move on to some of the greatest European clubs. Indeed, some of the most talented players in Europe have played in Belgian clubs, including Yaya Touré , Jean-Pierre Papin , Daniel Amokachi , Antolín Alcaraz and David Rozehnal were discovered at Club Brugge ; Sunday Oliseh and Victor Ikpeba at RFC Liège ; Jan Koller , Nii Lamptey and Aruna Dindane at Anderlecht ; and Mido at Gent . Others who began or launched their professional careers in Belgium include William Carvalho , Emmanuel Eboué , Romaric , Gervinho , Didier Zokora , Arthur Boka , Ivica Dragutinović , Mario Stanić , Morten Olsen , Dorinel Munteanu , André Cruz , Seol Ki-hyeon , Kennet Andersson , Klas Ingesson , Aaron Mokoena , Michaël Ciani , Nicolás Pareja , Oguchi Onyewu , Rabiu Afolabi , Cheick Tioté , Peter Odemwingie , Joseph Yobo , Ouwo Moussa Maazou , Milan Jovanović , Ognjen Vukojević , Ivan Perišić , Nikica Jelavić , Demba Ba , Dante , Bryan Ruiz and Rob Rensenbrink . Because of

2106-494: The physical nature of Belgian football, it has tended to primarily produce talented defensive players. These include Jean-Marie Pfaff , Eric Gerets , Leo Clijsters , Michel Preud'homme , Georges Grün , Philippe Albert , Franky Van Der Elst , Vincent Kompany and Thomas Vermaelen . In comparison, only few attacking Belgian footballers have received international recognition: Enzo Scifo , Jan Ceulemans , Marc Degryse , Luc Nilis and Émile Mpenza . However, this latter trend

2160-410: The province of Namur are playing in the top two levels of Belgian football. Furthermore, no club from this province has ever played in the top flight. Liège Province also has a long history in Belgian football. RFC Liège won the first-ever Belgian title in 1896. The club struggled financially during the early years of the 21st century and was eventually dissolved in 2011. A new club was formed, which

2214-478: The regular competition. After the end of the season, two teams will be directly promoted to Belgian Pro League, four teams will battle in the promotion play-off round with 6 matches. The team that finishes in top position at Play-off round will battle against the 2nd of the relegation play-offs in the Belgian Pro League. The two bottom teams will be directly relegated to Belgian National Division 1. For

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2268-421: The relegation playoff in which they play each other five times. The 2020–21 and 2021–22 seasons no longer involved two separate competitions, but rather one quadruple round-robin league in which all teams play each other four times. At the end of the season, the top-ranked team was crowned champions and promoted, while the second-placed team earned a two-legged promotion playoff against the 17th-place finisher from

2322-412: The second division winner is no longer guaranteed promotion. The league is divided in two periods of 15 games. The winners of a period compete each other in a final. If a team wins both periods, no final is played and it automatically rises to the highest level. In 2017, Lierse became champion of the league, but no promotion was allowed because they did not win a period. Antwerp and SV Roeselare played

2376-471: The still-existing Agrupación Oviedo-Asturiana, existing only in a league outside the Belgian FA now, from Brussels, being examples). Finally, a team which exists for at least 50 years may add the prefix "Royal" to its name (either in English or in the team's language). Before 1958, this right was given to any team that celebrated its 25th year of existence. Between 1958 and 1968, the rule was changed to grant

2430-456: The taste of the observer. Catch Up TV services known as TV Replay and TV Replay + are offered for the following television channels As of 1 June 2015 TV Replay will now be included - at no extra charge - in Packs with Internet Everywhere. Unlimited access to a whole range of top movies and series As of the 16th of December 2014 Netflix is available from the menu of the STB. As of

2484-627: The teams finishing in the positions 7 through 15 of the Belgian First Division A in a playoff for a ticket into the UEFA Europa League . The remaining four teams played a relegation playoff, with the last team relegating into the Belgian First Amateur Division . From 2019, the top six teams all took part in the Europa League playoffs (including the promoted team), with only the bottom two teams playing

2538-415: The title to any team with at least 35 years of existence. Since 1968, the time limit has increased to 50 years. The following is a partial list of common football club name prefixes and suffixes in Belgium's three official languages. Anderlecht and KV Mechelen have won a European competition. Here is a list of the winners and runners-up by competition: Under the first four levels in the league system ,

2592-462: The top and the bottom team at the end of the season change leagues. Furthermore, U23 teams will be able to be relegated from or promoted into the Belgian First Division B, but cannot earn promotion to the Belgian First Division A. The league was renamed to Challenger Pro League . From the 2023–24 season onwards, the league was expanded again to 16 teams, as from this season 4 teams U23 from top tier club will play in separate competitions but rather join

2646-638: The top flight: Royal Antwerp , KV Mechelen and K Beerschot VA while KVC Westerlo and Lierse Kempenzonen play in the First Division B. Two clubs from Limburg Province currently play in the First Division A: KRC Genk and Sint-Truiden . Additionally, one club represents the province in First Division B: Lommel SK . Technically-speaking, greater Brussels (the City of Brussels and surrounding communities)

2700-575: Was a competition amongst seven teams, four of which were based in Brussels: Racing Club , Léopold Club Uccle , Sporting Club and Union d'Ixelles . Léopold Club was a club for the nobility and bourgeoisie in Brussels and is still active after no less than four mergers between 1982 and 2001 (they are currently playing in the Fourth Division ). The latter two clubs ceased to exist in 1897 and 1901 respectively and were replaced by

2754-414: Was created in 2016 as the successor of the Belgian Second Division following an overhaul of the Belgian football league system which saw the number of professional clubs reduced to 24 and the number of teams at the second level of the football pyramid to 8. During Belgian Second Division era from 1973 to 2016, the second division winner and the play-off winner promote to the first division. From 2016 on,

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2808-563: Was dominated by clubs from the cities of Antwerp and Bruges . From the early 1930s, however, the Brussels-based clubs Union and Daring divided five titles between themselves. The rivalry between the two clubs has inspired a stage play named Bossemans et Coppenolle ("Bossemans" was the name of the Union head coach in those years, "Coppenolle" his counterpart at Daring). Shortly after World War II , Anderlecht replaced Union and Daring as

2862-539: Was limited to Brussels and Wallonia, making it impossible to do nationwide negotiations. Belgacom TV defended itself by saying that its subscriber base of 633,000 was enough to continue without its rights to the Jupiler Pro League, while Telenet had 857,000 customers even without Belgian football rights. Apps were added to Belgacom TV in December 2012. The apps were TV Maps, using Google Maps ' technology, official applications for Belgacom 11 (with news and statistics from

2916-497: Was named KFC Germinal Beerschot Antwerpen and started in the first division with the matricule number of KFC Germinal Ekeren, but lost the honours of K Beerschot VAC. The new club did keep playing in the Beerschot stadium and wore the purple shirt for which Beerschot was famously known. Another famous example is that of five-time champion Daring Club de Bruxelles ' merger with RR White into R White Daring Molenbeek in 1973. From

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