2016–17 Belgian First Division B

Belgian First Division B

Season	2016–17
← 2015–16 2017–18 →

The 2016–17 season of the Belgian First Division B is scheduled to begin in August 2016 and will endsin April 2017. It will be the inaugural season of the First Division B following a change in league format from the old Belgian Second Division.

Structural changes

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. Both tournament winners will play a two legged playoff to determine who will promote 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.

Team changes

Due to the reformation, only 7 teams of the previous season remained in the league, with 1 other being replaced. As a result the league moved from 17 to 8 teams.

Out

• WS Brussels were promoted as champions of the previous season.
• All teams finishing below 8th place were relegated into the 2016–17 Belgian First Amateur Division, which (starting from 9th place) included Roeselare, Dessel Sport, Seraing United, Virton, ASV Geel, Deinze, Patro Eisden Maasmechelen, Heist and Coxyde.

In

• OH Leuven were relegated from the Belgian Pro League after finishing in last place.

Team information

Antwerp

Tubize

Lommel

Cercle Brugge

Eupen

Lierse

Union SG

OH Leuven

Locations of the 2016–17 Belgian First Division B teams

Club	City	First season of current spell at second level	Coming from	2015-16 result	Stadium	Capacity
Royal Antwerp F.C.	Antwerp	2004–05	Belgian Pro League	2033rd (D2)	Bosuilstadion	16,649
Cercle Brugge K.S.V.	Brugge	2015–16	Belgian Pro League	2055th (D2)	Jan Breydel Stadium	29,945
K.A.S. Eupen	Eupen	2011–12	Belgian Pro League	2022nd (D2)	Kehrweg Stadion	8,000
Oud-Heverlee Leuven	Leuven	2016–17	Belgian Pro League	11616th (D1)	Den Dreef	10,000
Lierse S.K.	Lier	2015–16	Belgian Pro League	2077th (D2)	Herman Vanderpoortenstadion	14,538
Lommel United	Lommel	2005–06	Belgian Third Division	2088th (D2)	Soevereinstadion	12,500
A.F.C. Tubize	Tubize	2009–10	Belgian Pro League	2044th (D2)	Stade Leburton	9,000
R. Union Saint-Gilloise	Saint-Gilles, Brussels	2015–16	Belgian Third Division	2066th (D2)	Stade Joseph Marien	6,000

Personnel and kits

Club	Manager	Captain	Kit Manufacturer	Sponsors
Antwerp	David Gevaert		Kappa	ONE Antwerp
Cercle Brugge	Frederik Vanderbiest		Masita	ADMB
Eupen	Jordi Condom Auli		Burrda	Aspire Academy
OH Leuven	Emilio Ferrera		Vermarc	Just Eat
Lierse	Eric Van Meir		Jako	Wadi Degla
Lommel United	Karel Fraeye		Legea	Belien Auto Derdaele+
Union SG	Marc Grosjean		Patrick	Culture et Formation
Tubize	Colbert Marlot		Kappa	No sponsor

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	OH Leuven	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	Eupen	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Antwerp	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Tubize	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	Cercle Brugge	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
6	Union SG	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
7	Lierse	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
8	Lommel	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Source:
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

References