Belgian football/soccer : Belgian First Division 2011/2012 season preview

Genk clinch Belgian title

Genk won their third Belgian league title after holding closest challengers Standard Liege to a 1-1 draw in the last playoff match of last season. Both teams finished with 51 points, but Genk won the title because of better results in the regular competition. However, Standard Liege have won a sixth Belgian Cup, but their first since 1993, thanks to a 2-0 final victory over Westerlo.

Champions: Genk (Champions League 3rd qualifying round)
Runners-up and Cup winners: Standard (Champions League 3rd qualifying round)
Third place: Anderlecht (UEFA Europa League)
Fourth place: Club Brugge (UEFA Europa League)
Cup finalist: Westerlo (UEFA Europa League)
Relegated: Eupen, Charleroi
Promoted: Leuven, Mons.

Standard and Genk have both qualified for the third qualifying round of this season's UEFA Champions League. While Anderlecht earned themselves a place in the UEFA Europa League play-offs by finishing third in the league, fourth-placed Club Brugge will enter the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round. Westerlo were defeated in the Belgian Cup final but nevertheless earn a berth in this season's UEFA Europa League second qualifying round, their first European involvement since 2001/02.

team	titles	2006/07	2007/08	2008/09	2009/10	2010/11
Anderlecht	30	1	2	2	1	3
Club Brugge	13	6	3	3	3	4
Standard	10	3	1	1	10	2
Beerschot	7	7	5	13	13	12
Mechelen	4	-	13	10	9	10
Lierse	4	17	-	-	-	11
Genk	3	2	10	8	7	1
Cercle Brugge	3	12	4	9	11	8
Gent	-	4	6	4	2	5
Zulte-Waregem	-	14	7	5	6	9
Westerlo	-	8	9	6	8	7
Lokeren	-	16	12	7	12	6
Sint-Truiden	-	15	17	-	4	13
Kortrijk	-	-	-	14	5	14
Mons	-	9	16	18	-	-
Leuven	-	-	-	-	-	-

The number of titles since 1896. Cercle Brugge - the Belgian champions 1911, 1927 and 1930. Beerschot, the Belgian champions 1922, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1928, 1938, and 1939, merged into Germinal Beerschot Antwerpen (GBA), now Beerschot.

Trond Sollied leaves Lierse for Gent

After leading Lierse to safety last season, Norwegian coach Trond Sollied is returning to Gent for the third time. Sollied, a coach with a proven track record, won twice the Belgium title with Club Brugge in 2003 and 2005. Lierse, meanwhile, promoteed their former defender Chris Janssens to the head coach position. Darije Kalezic, 41, is the new coach of Zulte-Waregem. Former Bosnian player succeeds Hugo Broos after both sides had decided to end their collaboration at the end of last season. Kalezic coached Dutch club De Graafschap last term.

This page contains additional information about the 2011/2012 Belgian First Division season. Latest news, statistics, results and predictions you can find on our main Euro Football > Belgium page.

#	team	points	g.dif.	win-draw-loss
playoff 1
1	Genk	51	41	25-8-7 (40)
2	Standard	51	24	23-6-11 (40)
3	Anderlecht	44	36	22-10-8 (40)
4	Brugge	43	32	20-9-11 (40)
5	Gent	33	4	17-10-13 (40)
6	Lokeren	31	-1	14-14-12 (40)
playoff 2-A
1	Cercle	10	-4	13-10-15 (38)
2	Mechelen	8	3	15-11-10 (36)
3	Lierse	8	-30	6-14-16 (36)
4	Sint-Truiden	6	-32	9-8-19 (36)
playoff 2-B
1	Westerlo	16	14	15-12-11 (38)
2	Zulte-Waregem	10	-6	10-13-13 (36)
3	Beerschot	6	-16	6-14-16 (36)
4	Kortrijk	3	-9	11-8-17 (36)
relegation playoff
1	Eupen	10	-21	7-9-18 (34)
2	Charleroi	4	-35	5-8-21 (34)

Belgian football league playoff standings for season 2010/2011

Bookmakers tip Anderlecht for Belgian title

According to online bookmakers, Anderlecht are the favourites to take this year's Belgian championship. Their main title rivals are Standard, Brugge and Genk.

team	odds	team	odds
Anderlecht	2.45	Standard	3.25
Club Brugge	3.75	Genk	6.00
Gent	17	Lokeren	126
Mechelen	250	Westerlo	250
Zulte-Waregem	250	Cercle Brugge	250
Kortrijk	350	Beerschot	350
Sint-Truiden	350	Leuven	500
Mons	500	Lierse	500

Preseason odds for the outright winner of the 2010/11 Belgian football league

Belgian Cup finals in last five years

2007 Club Brugge - Standard 1:0
2008 Anderlecht - Gent 3:2
2009 Genk - Mechelen 2:0
2010 Gent - Cercle Brugge 3:0
2011 Standard - Westerlo 2:0

collapse | expand

key players
(with transfer market value in m€)

Anderlecht

Goalkeeper Silvio Proto (3.2); Defense: Roland Juhasz (5.5), Ondrej Mazuch (3.5), Olivier Deschacht (2.5); Midfield: Lucas Biglia (8.5), Ronald Vargas (5), Guillaume Gillet (4), Jonathan Legear (3.5); Forward: Romelu Lukaku (15), Tom de Sutter (3), Matias Suarez (3).

Beerschot

Goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski (1); Defense: Gary Kagelmacher (1), Tomislav Mikulic (0.5), Peter van der Heyden (0.4); Midfield: Faris Haroun (1.8), Hernan Losada (1), Roni Porokara (0.8), Dor Malul (0.6), Wim de Decker (0.6); Forward: Sherjill MacDonald (0.9), Ibrahima Sidibe (0.8).

Brugge

Goalkeeper Colin Coosemans (1.5); Defense: Ryan Donk (2.5), Jeroen Simaeys (2), Marcos Camozzato (2), Daan van Gijseghem (1.8); Midfield: Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe (4.5), Karel Geraerts (3), Nabil Dirar (3), Jonathan Blondel (2.5); Forward: Bjorn Vleminckx (4), Joseph Akpala (2.5).

Cercle Brugge

Goalkeeper Bram Verbist (0.8); Defense: Nuno Reis (1), Hans Cornelis (1), Bernt Evens (0.6), Anthony Portier (0.5), Kristof D'Haene (0.4); Midfield: Renato Neto (0.9), Lukas van Eenoo (0.8), Honour Gombami (0.6); Forward: Oleg Iachtchouk (0.5), Dominic Joseph Foley (0.3).

Genk

Goalkeeper Laszlo Koteles (0.6); Defense: Anele Ngcongca (2.5), Anthony Vanden Borre (2.2), Daniel Pudil (1.8); Midfield: Kevin de Bruyne (7), Daniel Tozser (3), Thomas Buffel (2.2), David Hubert (1.5); Forward: Jelle Vossen (5), Marvin Ogunjimi (3.5), Elyaniv Barda (2.8).

Gent

Goalkeeper Bojan Jorgacevic (2.5); Defense: Cesar Arzo (2.5), Marko Suler (2), Stef Wils (1.4); Midfield: Yassine El Ghanassy (3.5), Tim Smolders (1.5), Christophe Lepoint (1.5), Jesper Jorgensen (1.3); Forward: Zlatan Ljubijankic (2), Shlomi Arbeitman (1.5), Elimane Coulibaly (1.4).

Kortrijk

Goalkeeper Darren Keet (0.5); Defense: Rami Gershon (0.9), David Vandenbroek (0.8), Ervin Zukanovic (0.7), Baptiste Martin (0.6); Midfield: Nebojsa Pavlovic (0.8), Peter Czvitkovics (0.8), Mohamed Messoudi (0.8), Brecht Capon (0.7); Forward: Ernest Webnje Nfor (0.7), Steven Joseph-Monrose (0.4).

Leuven

Goalkeeper Yves Lenaerts (0.5); Defense: Koen Weuts (0.5), Christophe Diandy (0.5), Jorn Vermeulen (0.5), Nicky Hayen (0.4); Midfield: Kevin Roelandts (0.9), Frederik Boi (0.7), Kenneth van Goethem (0.5), Maxime Annys (0.5); Forward: Jordan Remacle (0.7), Patrick Amoah (0.3).

Lierse

Goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima (1.7); Defense: Kenny Thompson (1), Karim Saidi (0.9), Boban Grncarov (0.8), Lance Davids (0.7); Midfield: Milos Maric (1), Daylon Claasen (0.8), Alexander Mathisen (0.7), Gilberto (0.6); Forward: Wesley Sonck (0.8), Mohamed El Gabas (0.6).

Lokeren

Goalkeeper Boubacar Barry (2); Defense: Katuku Tshimanga (1.5), Sepp De Roover (1.3), Jeremy Taravel (1.2), Mijat Maric (1), Laurens De Bock (1); Midfield: Koen Persoons (1.5), Killian Overmeire (1.3), Ivan Leko (0.8); Forward: Benjamin De Ceulaer (1.2), Nill de Pauw (1.2).

Mechelen

Goalkeeper Olivier Renard (1); Defense: Boris Pandza (1.5), Xavier Chen (1.2), Kenny van Hoevelen (1), Antonio Ghomsi (0.7); Midfield: Julien Gorius (1.8), Jonathan Wilmet (0.9), Kevin Geudens (0.8), Alessandro Cordaro (0.7), Jaime Alfonso Ruiz (0.8), Kevin Vandenbergh (0.7).

Mons

Goalkeeper Olivier Werner (0.8); Defense: Pieter-Jan Monteyne (0.8), Peter Franquart (0.6), Jeremy Sapina (0.6), Siebe Blondelle (0.5); Midfield: Zola Matumona (0.7), Tim Matthys (0.6), Rachid Bourabia (0.5), Tom van Imschoot (0.5); Forward: Ebrahim Savaneh (0.6), Chris Makiese (0.3).

St.Truiden

Goalkeeper Bram Castro (0.6); Defense: Alessandro Iandoli (0.8), Vincent Euvrard (0.7), Giel Deferm (0.6), Ludovic Buysens (0.5); Midfield: Nils Schouterden (0.8), Gregory Dufer (0.7), Peter Delorge (0.6), Gregory Christ (0.5); Forward: Bruno Andrade (0.7), Ondrej Smetana (0.6).

Standard

Goalkeeper Sinan Bolat (2.5); Defense: Eliaquim Mangala (5), Jelle van Damme (4), Sebastien Pocognoli (3.5), Daniel Opare (2.2); Midfield: Steven Defour (12), Mehdi Carcela-Gonzalez (4), Franck Berrier (2.5), Yoni Buyens (1.5); Forward: Mohamed Tchite (4.5), Cyriac (2).

Westerlo

Goalkeeper Yves de Winter (1); Defense: Jens Wouter Corstjens (0.8), Gunther Vanaudenaerde (0.8), Geoffrey Cabeke (0.4); Midfield: Steven de Petter (0.9), Rachid Farssi (0.8), Evariste Ngolok (0.8), Christian Bruls (0.8), Lens Annab (0.7); Forward: Dieter Dekelver (0.6), Liliu (0.5).

Zulte-Waregem

Goalkeeper Sammy Bossut (1.5); Defense: Davy De Fauw (1.8), Remi Mareval (1.2), Steve Colpaert (1.2), Karel D'Haene (0.8); Midfield: Khaleem Hyland (1.3), Olafur Ingi Skulason (0.9), Thomas Matton (0.8); Forward: Mouhamadou Habib Habibou (1), Teddy Chevalier (0.9), Giuseppe Rossini (0.9).

Belgian First Division pages

Belgian First Division statistics, news and predictions
Belgian First Division standings
Belgian First Division transfers
Season 2011/2012 preview - key players, 2011 standings