2019–20 in Belgian football


The following article is a summary of the 2019–20 football season in Belgium, which is the 117th season of competitive football in the country and runs from July 2019 until June 2020.

National teams

Belgium national football team

After starting with four wins out of four during the previous season, Belgium continued its stroll through UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying Group I, also winning all remaining six matches and thereby qualifying for UEFA Euro 2020 with a perfect record.

[UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying]

[UEFA Euro 2020]

Already prior to the draw, Belgium was allocated to Group B due to the many constraints of organising countries where they will meet Denmark and Russia.

Friendlies

Four friendlies will be played in preparation for the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament, two of which will be played in March in Qatar, while the two others will be player in June.

Belgium women's national football team

[UEFA Women's Euro 2021 qualifying]

Friendlies

Belgium national under-21 football team

The U21 started their 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying campaign, playing the first five matches.

[2021 [UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification]]

Belgium national under-19 football team

The U19 are taking part in the 2020 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualifying campaign. The team easily passed the qualifying round, moving into the elite round.

[2020 [UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification]]

Qualifying Round
Elite Round

Friendlies

Men's football

League season

Promotion and relegation

The following teams had achieved promotion or suffered relegation going into the 2019–20 season.

Coronavirus impact & License troubles

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium, all professional matches were postponed mid-March. A few weeks later the board of directors of the Belgian Pro League proposed to cancel permanently all remaining matches, take the standings as of March 12th counting as final and award the title to Club Brugge, with the proposal to be accepted at the general meeting on 15 May 2020. UEFA criticized the decision to stop the competition early, threatening to not allow any Belgian clubs to take part in the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League and 2020–21 UEFA Europa League unless they tried everything possible to complete as many matches as possible before the extended deadline of early August. In the amateur leagues, all remaining matches were canceled as well, and points of teams that had played fewer matches were scaled up before completing the final standings, while all playoff matches were canceled and only direct promotions and relegations were carried out.
Despite stopping all matches in both the 2019–20 Belgian First Division A and 2019–20 Belgian First Division B, several unresolved issues remain, which were to be solved by a group of experts to come with a proposal by mid-May:
The easiest solution would involve having no relegation and allowing both Oud-Heverlee Leuven and Beerschot to be promoted, playing one season with 18 teams without playoffs. Meanwhile, the 2020 Belgian Super Cup could be canceled, with the cup final to be played on that date instead. While many clubs seemed to support this proposal, no final consensus was reached in the months of March and April, as the general meeting was postponed several times.
To complicate matters further, on 8 April 2020, the license commission decided not to award a professional football license to no less than seven professional clubs, nearly always for insufficient proof of financial solvency. This included three teams from the 2019–20 Belgian First Division A and four from the 2019–20 Belgian First Division B. All seven clubs appealed the decision at the Belgian Court for Sports Arbitrage, but only Standard Liège, Excel Mouscron, Oostende, and Lommel were awarded a license while Lokeren went bankrupt and ceased to exist and both Roeselare and Virton were refused a license and thereby forced to relegate. As a result, there are only 21 professional teams left, meaning more than just one team will need to be promoted from the 2019–20 Belgian First Amateur Division. In that division, only had two teams received a professional football license at first instance, but eventually, the appeals of Seraing and Lierse Kempenzonen were upheld, meaning there are four eligible teams.
In the days before the decision by the general meeting, several clubs sent around their proposal with their vision on how the season should come to an end, with opinions differing hugely:
Regular Season

Belgian First Division B

Belgian First Amateur Division

Belgian Second Amateur Division

Division A
Division B
Division C

Belgian Third Amateur Division

Division A
Division B
Division C
Division D

Cup competitions

Transfers

UEFA competitions

Champions Genk qualified directly for the group stage of the Champions League, while runners-up Club Brugge started in the qualifying rounds. Cup winners KV Mechelen were banned from European football after being found guilty of match-fixing as part of the 2017–19 Belgian football fraud scandal, resulting in their place in the group stage of the Europa League being taken by Standard Liège for finishing third in the league. Finally Antwerp and Gent started in the UEFA Europa League qualifying rounds after respectively finishing fourth and fifth.
DateTeamCompetitionRoundLegOpponentLocationScoreBelgian Team Goalscorers
25 July 2019GentEuropa LeagueQual. Round 2Leg 1, Home Viitorul ConstanțaGhelamco Arena, GhentAsare, Dejaegere, Kubo, Yaremchuk
1 August 2019GentEuropa LeagueQual. Round 2Leg 2, Away Viitorul ConstanțaStadionul Viitorul, OvidiuYaremchuk
6 August 2019Club BruggeChampions LeagueQual. Round 3Leg 1, Home Dynamo KyivJan Breydel Stadium, BrugesVanaken
8 August 2019AntwerpEuropa LeagueQual. Round 3Leg 1, Home Viktoria PlzeňKing Baudouin Stadium, BrusselsRodrigues
8 August 2019GentEuropa LeagueQual. Round 3Leg 1, Away AEK LarnacaAEK Arena – Georgios Karapatakis, Larnaca1–1Yaremchuk
13 August 2019Club BruggeChampions LeagueQual. Round 3Leg 2, Away Dynamo KyivJan Breydel Stadium, Bruges3–3Deli, Vormer, Openda
15 August 2019AntwerpEuropa LeagueQual. Round 3Leg 2, Away Viktoria PlzeňDoosan Arena, PlzeňMbokani
15 August 2019GentEuropa LeagueQual. Round 3Leg 2, Home AEK LarnacaGhelamco Arena, GhentDepoitre, David
20 August 2019Club BruggeChampions LeaguePlay-off roundLeg 1, Away LASKLinzer Stadion, LinzVanaken
22 August 2019AntwerpEuropa LeaguePlay-off roundLeg 1, Away AZDe Grolsch Veste, Enschede1–1Batubinsika
22 August 2019GentEuropa LeaguePlay-off roundLeg 1, Home RijekaGhelamco Arena, GhentDepoitre
28 August 2019Club BruggeChampions LeaguePlay-off roundLeg 2, Home LASKJan Breydel Stadium, BrugesVanaken, Dennis
29 August 2019AntwerpEuropa LeaguePlay-off roundLeg 2, Home AZKing Baudouin Stadium, Brussels Lamkel Zé
29 August 2019GentEuropa LeaguePlay-off roundLeg 2, Away RijekaStadion Rujevica, Rijeka1–1Plastun
17 September 2019GenkChampions LeagueGroup StageMatchday 1, Away Red Bull SalzburgStadion Wals-Siezenheim, Wals-SiezenheimLucumí, Samatta
18 September 2019Club BruggeChampions LeagueGroup StageMatchday 1, Home GalatasarayJan Breydel Stadium, Bruges0–0
19 September 2019GentEuropa LeagueGroup StageMatchday 1, Home Saint-ÉtienneGhelamco Arena, GhentDavid, Perrin
19 September 2019Standard LiègeEuropa LeagueGroup StageMatchday 1, Home Vitória de GuimarãesStade Maurice Dufrasne, LiègeHanin, M'Poku
1 October 2019Club BruggeChampions LeagueGroup StageMatchday 2, Away Real MadridSantiago Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid2–2Dennis
2 October 2019GenkChampions LeagueGroup StageMatchday 2, Home NapoliLuminus Arena, Genk0–0
3 October 2019GentEuropa LeagueGroup StageMatchday 2, Away OleksandriyaArena Lviv, Lviv1–1Depoitre
3 October 2019Standard LiègeEuropa LeagueGroup StageMatchday 2, Away ArsenalEmirates Stadium, London
22 October 2019Club BruggeChampions LeagueGroup StageMatchday 3, Home Paris Saint-GermainJan Breydel Stadium, Bruges
23 October 2019GenkChampions LeagueGroup StageMatchday 3, Home LiverpoolLuminus Arena, GenkOdey
24 October 2019GentEuropa LeagueGroup StageMatchday 3, Home WolfsburgGhelamco Arena, Ghent2–2Yaremchuk
24 October 2019Standard LiègeEuropa LeagueGroup StageMatchday 3, Away Eintracht FrankfurtWaldstadion, FrankfurtAmallah
5 November 2019GenkChampions LeagueGroup StageMatchday 4, Away LiverpoolAnfield, LiverpoolSamatta
6 November 2019Club BruggeChampions LeagueGroup StageMatchday 4, Away Paris Saint-GermainParc des Princes, Paris
7 November 2019GentEuropa LeagueGroup StageMatchday 4, Away WolfsburgVolkswagen Arena, WolfsburgYaremchuk, Depoitre, Ngadeu-Ngadjui
7 November 2019Standard LiègeEuropa LeagueGroup StageMatchday 4, Home Eintracht FrankfurtStade Maurice Dufrasne, LiègeVanheusden, Lestienne
26 November 2019Club BruggeChampions LeagueGroup StageMatchday 5, Away GalatasarayTürk Telekom Stadium, Istanbul1–1Diatta
27 November 2019GenkChampions LeagueGroup StageMatchday 5, Home Red Bull SalzburgLuminus Arena, GenkSamatta
28 November 2019GentEuropa LeagueGroup StageMatchday 5, Away Saint-ÉtienneStade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne0–0
28 November 2019Standard LiègeEuropa LeagueGroup StageMatchday 5, Away Vitória de GuimarãesEstádio D. Afonso Henriques, Guimarães1–1Lestienne
10 December 2019GenkChampions LeagueGroup StageMatchday 6, Away NapoliStadio San Paolo, Naples
11 December 2019Club BruggeChampions LeagueGroup StageMatchday 6, Home Real MadridJan Breydel Stadium, BrugesVanaken
12 December 2019GentEuropa LeagueGroup StageMatchday 6, Home OleksandriyaGhelamco Arena, GhentDepoitre
12 December 2019Standard LiègeEuropa LeagueGroup StageMatchday 6, Home ArsenalStade Maurice Dufrasne, Liège2–2Bastien, Amallah
20 February 2020Club BruggeEuropa LeagueRound of 32Leg 1, Home Manchester UnitedJan Breydel Stadium, Bruges1–1Dennis
20 February 2020GentEuropa LeagueRound of 32Leg 1, Away RomaStadio Olimpico, Rome
27 February 2020Club BruggeEuropa LeagueRound of 32Leg 2, Away Manchester UnitedOld Trafford, Manchester
27 February 2020GentEuropa LeagueRound of 32Leg 2, Home RomaGhelamco Arena, Ghent1–1David

European qualification for 2020–21 summary

Managerial changes

This is a list of changes of managers within Belgian professional league football:

First Division A

First Division B