Jupiler Pro League
At the general meeting, eight top clubs expressed a joint position on the competition format. The small teams choked, because the big ones are now also publicly thinking about a first division with only fourteen participants.
One month ago, representatives of Union, Anderlecht, Club Brugge, AA Gent, Antwerp, Racing Genk, Standard and Charleroi gathered at Bart Verhaeghe’s castle to debate the future of Belgian football. The competition format from the 2025-2026 season, when a new media contract comes into effect, was also discussed. Then there were several disagreements – 14, 16 or 18 teams, halving the points or not? –, but in the meantime there is a uniform position. This was expressed on Tuesday at the general meeting of the Pro League.
The Big Eight, as they are called in our football, want Pro League CEO Lorin Parys to investigate a competition with barely fourteen first division teams. That is two fewer than now, so that the calendar would become less busy and there would be a greater chance of European success. The play-offs with six participants would be retained. There is support for no longer dividing the points by two.
What the eight also insist on is that there will be a stricter separation between the first and second division and that Belgian professional football will become healthier. In the 2022-2023 season there was a cumulative loss of 193 million euros – one does not want to see this repeated. How the clubs want to achieve this “livability” in concrete terms was not specified, but they expect the management of the Pro League to now come up with a plan.
As far as the format is concerned, the small clubs are of course not eager to slim down again. Discussions are planned in small groups in the coming months, but it already looks like several small clubs will unite to certainly not go to fourteen first division teams.
A new general meeting is scheduled for early June, and in an ideal world the decision will be made then. A two-thirds majority is needed during the vote to change the competition formula. There is still a lot of water to reach the sea, but the rearguard action is already in full swing.
