2010–11 Belgian Pro League

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108th season of top-tier football in Belgium

Football league season

Club Brugge
Westerlo

Matches played	300
Goals scored	798 (2.66 per match)
Top goalscorer	Ivan Perišić (22 goals)
Biggest home win	Standard 7–0 Lierse (27 November 2010)[1]
Biggest away win	Charleroi 0–5 Club Brugge (19 September 2010)[2]
Highest scoring	Gent 5–3 Zulte-Waregem (19 September 2010)[3] Gent 4–4 Westerlo (20 November 2010)[4] Westerlo 7–1 Zulte-Waregem (7 May 2011)[5]
Longest winning run	5 matches[6] Genk, Lokeren
Longest unbeaten run	15 matches[7] Anderlecht
Longest losing run	7 matches[8] Charleroi
← 2009–10 2011–12 →

The 2010–11 season of the Belgian Pro League (also known as Jupiler Pro League for sponsorship reasons) is the 108th season of top-tier football in Belgium. It began on 30 July 2010 with the first match of the regular season and ended in May 2011 with the last matches of the playoff rounds. Anderlecht were the defending champions.

Changes from 2009–10

For the second time, a system of playoffs was used to determine the Belgian champions (contested by the top 6 teams after the regular season) and which teams would play in Europe the following season (teams ranked 7–14 playoff after the regular season with the winner entering a further playoff for the chance to 'steal' the European place of the lowest ranked team in the Top 6 playoff). In terms of relegation, a playoff was introduced between the 15th and 16th team after the regular season; those teams would play each other 5 times in a mini-league, with the team which finished fifteenth playing at home in matches 1, 3 and 5 and starting with a 3-point bonus. The loser of this playoff series would be relegated, whilst the winner would play the

Second division relegation playoff with three teams from the Belgian Second Division for the chance to retain its place in first division.^[9]

Teams

On 28 December 2009, during the

relegation playoffs. As they lost these playoffs they were also relegated and replaced by playoff winners Eupen. With this, Eupen became the first ever team from the German community to play at the highest level of Belgian football. Earlier, Belgian Second Division champions Lierse

had been directly promoted.

Stadia and locations

Zulte-Waregem

Westerlo

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Location of teams in Belgian Pro League 2010–11

Club	Location	Venue	Capacity[citation needed]
R.S.C. Anderlecht	Anderlecht	Constant Vanden Stock Stadium	28,063
Cercle Brugge K.S.V.	Bruges	Jan Breydel Stadium	29,945
R. Charleroi S.C.	Charleroi	Stade du Pays de Charleroi	24,891
Club Brugge K.V.	Bruges	Jan Breydel Stadium	29,945
K.A.S. Eupen	Eupen	Kehrweg Stadion	8,300
K.R.C. Genk	Genk	Cristal Arena	24,900
K.A.A. Gent	Ghent	Jules Ottenstadion	12,919
K.F.C. Germinal Beerschot	Antwerp	Olympisch Stadion	13,132
K.V. Kortrijk	Kortrijk	Guldensporen Stadion	9,500
Lierse S.K.	Lier	Herman Vanderpoortenstadion	14,538
K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen	Lokeren	Daknamstadion	10,000
KV Mechelen	Mechelen	Veolia Stadium Achter de Kazerne	13,123
K. Sint-Truidense V.V.	Sint-Truiden	Staaienveld	11,250
Standard Liège	Liège	Stade Maurice Dufrasne	30,000
K.V.C. Westerlo	Westerlo	Het Kuipje	10,790
S.V. Zulte-Waregem	Waregem	Regenboogstadion	8,500

Personnel and sponsoring

Club	Chairman	Current manager	Team captain	Kitmaker	Shirt sponsor
R.S.C. Anderlecht	Roger Vanden Stock	Ariel Jacobs	Lucas Biglia	Adidas	BNP Paribas Fortis
Cercle Brugge K.S.V.	Frans Schotte	Bob Peeters	Denis Viane	Masita	A D M B
R. Charleroi S.C.	Abbas Bayat	Luka Peruzović	Rudy Riou	Masita	VOO
Club Brugge K.V.	Pol Jonckheere	Adrie Koster	Carl Hoefkens	Puma	Dexia
K.A.S. Eupen	Dieter Steffens	Danny Ost	Danijel Milićević	Jartazi	Jartazi
K.R.C. Genk	Herbert Houben	Franky Vercauteren	Dániel Tőzsér	Nike	Euphony
K.A.A. Gent	Ivan De Witte	Francky Dury	Bernd Thijs	Jako	VDK
K.F.C. Germinal Beerschot	Jos Verhaegen	Jacky Mathijssen	Philippe Clement	Joma	Quick
K.V. Kortrijk	Jozef Allijns	Hein Vanhaezebrouck	Karim Belhocine	Nike	Digipass by VASCO
Lierse S.K.	Maged Samy	Trond Sollied	Jurgen Cavens	Jako	Wadi Degla
K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen	Roger Lambrecht	Peter Maes	Killian Overmeire	Masita	Q-Team VP Lambrecht
KV Mechelen	Johan Timmermans	Marc Brys	Julien Gorius	Joma	Telenet
K. Sint-Truidense V.V.	Roland Duchâtelet	Guido Brepoels	Peter Delorge	Lotto	Belisol
Standard Liège	Reto Stiffler	Dominique D'Onofrio	Steven Defour	Planete Rouge	e-lotto.be
K.V.C. Westerlo	Herman Wijnants	Jan Ceulemans	Jef Delen	Saller	Willy Naessens
S.V. Zulte-Waregem	Willy Naessens	Hugo Broos	Ludwin Van Nieuwenhuyze	Patrick	Enfinity, Petrus

Managerial changes

During summer break

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Charleroi	Tommy Craig	Sacked	14 April 2010[10]	Jacky Mathijssen	4 June 2010[11]
Lokeren	Emilio Ferrera	Contract ended.	26 April 2010[12]	Peter Maes	20 May 2010[13]
Germinal Beerschot	Jos Daerden	Contract ended.	End of 2009–10 season[14]	Glen De Boeck	21 May 2010[15]
Kortrijk	Georges Leekens	Signed as head coach of the Belgium national football team.	5 May 2010[16]	Hein Vanhaezebrouck	6 June 2010[17]
Mechelen	Peter Maes	Signed for Lokeren.	20 May 2010[13]	Marc Brys	27 May 2010[18]
Cercle Brugge	Glen De Boeck	Signed for Germinal Beerschot .	21 May 2010[15]	Bob Peeters	26 May 2010[19]
Gent	Michel Preud'homme	Signed for Twente.	23 May 2010[20]	Francky Dury	10 June 2010[21]
Zulte-Waregem	Francky Dury	Signed for Gent.	10 June 2010[21]	Bart De Roover	11 June 2010[22]

During regular season

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Eupen	Danny Ost	Resigned	4 September 2010[23]	Ezio Capuano	7 September 2010[24]	16th
Lierse	Aimé Anthuenis	Sacked	19 September 2010[25]	Eric Van Meir	19 September 2010[25]	15th
Charleroi	Jacky Mathijssen	Sacked	20 September 2010[26]	Csaba László	23 September 2010[27]	14th
Eupen	Ezio Capuano	Resigned	24 September 2010[28]	Albert Cartier	24 September 2010[29]	16th
Zulte-Waregem	Bart De Roover	Sacked	24 October 2010[30]	Hugo Broos	27 October 2010[31]	12th
Germinal Beerschot	Glen De Boeck	Sacked	29 November 2010[32]	Jacky Mathijssen	2 December 2010[33]	13th
Lierse	Eric Van Meir	Caretaker replaced	30 December 2010[34]	Trond Sollied	1 January 2011[35]	15th
Charleroi	Csaba László	Sacked	17 March 2011[36]	Tibor Balogh	17 March 2011[36]	16th

During playoffs

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Charleroi	Tibor Balogh	Caretaker replaced	24 March 2011[37]	Zoltan Kovács	24 March 2011[37]	2nd in Relegation Playoff
Charleroi	Zoltan Kovács	Sacked	4 April 2011[38]	Luka Peruzović	4 April 2011[38]	2nd in Relegation Playoff
Eupen	Albert Cartier	Sacked	13 April 2011[39]	Danny Ost	13 April 2011[39]	1st in Relegation Playoff

Regular season

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Anderlecht	30	19	8	3	58	20	+38	65	Qualification to Championship play-offs
2	Genk (C, O)	30	19	7	4	64	27	+37	64
3	Gent	30	17	6	7	59	42	+17	57
4	Club Brugge	30	16	5	9	60	35	+25	53
5	Lokeren	30	13	11	6	43	36	+7	50
6	Standard Liège	30	15	4	11	50	38	+12	49
7	Mechelen	30	13	9	8	34	30	+4	48	Qualification to Europa League play-offs
8	Westerlo (O)	30	11	8	11	41	40	+1	41
9	Cercle Brugge	30	11	6	13	33	34	−1	39
10	Kortrijk	30	11	5	14	36	39	−3	38
11	Zulte Waregem	30	7	12	11	39	41	−2	33
12	Sint-Truiden	30	8	5	17	20	51	−31	29
13	Germinal Beerschot	30	5	11	14	24	40	−16	26
14	Lierse	30	4	12	14	26	58	−32	24
15	Eupen	30	5	8	17	28	50	−22	23	Qualification to the Relegation play-offs
16	Charleroi	30	4	7	19	20	54	−34	19

Positions by round

Note: The classification was made after the weekend (or midweek) of each matchday, so postponed matches were only processed at the time they were played to represent the real evolution in standings. The postponed matches are:

• Matchday 15: Eupen vs. Mechelen of 13 November because of a flooded pitch, to be played on 18 January between matchdays 22 and 23.^[40]
• Matchday 17: Kortrijk vs. Lokeren of 27 November because of excessive rainfall and snow, to be played on 18 January between matchdays 22 and 23.^[41]
• Matchday 18: Charleroi vs. Cercle Brugge and Lierse vs. Mechelen of 4 December because of snow. The match Lierse vs. Mechelen is to be played on 15 February between matchdays 27 and 28,^[42][43] whereas on 21 December (between matchdays 20 and 21) the match Charleroi vs. Cercle Brugge has been awarded a 0–5 victory to Cercle Brugge as Charleroi did not "try everything possible to allow the match to be played".^[44] On 17 March, just two days before the final matchday, the decision is reversed as Charleroi had submitted a complaint at the BAS. BAS stands for the Belgian court of Arbitration of Sport, which is the Belgian version of the Court of Arbitration for Sport.^[45] As a result of this decision, Charleroi regained a chance of avoiding the relegation playoff, as they were only five points behind the 14th place, with two matches to play. Later that day, the decision is made to play the match on 23 March, which is unconventional as this meant that not all teams will play their final match on the same time.^[46]
• Matchday 20: Lokeren vs. Cercle Brugge and Sint-Truiden vs. Mechelen of 18 December were cancelled because of too many icy patches and/or snow on the pitch.^[47][48] The match between Lokeren and Cercle Brugge was rescheduled to be played on 2 February, between matchdays 24 and 25.^[49] On 28 December (between matchdays 21 and 22) Mechelen was awarded a 0–5 victory as Sint-Truiden did not provide proper playing conditions,^[50] however Sint-Truiden pressed charges for unfair treatment. The club was proven right in court and as a result the forfait became undone on 25 January (between matchdays 23 and 24) and the match was replayed on 23 February (between matchdays 27 and 28).^[51] The match Germinal Beerschot – Gent of 19 December was stopped after 10 minutes at a score of 0–0 because of excessive snowfall,^[52] it will be replayed on 16 February, between matchdays 26 and 27.^[49]
• Matchday 21: With the whole of Belgium suffering from excessive snow, several matches were cancelled, mostly because it was too dangerous to send thousands of supporters out on the slippery roads. Eupen vs. Zulte-Waregem, Charleroi vs. Germinal Beerschot, Westerlo vs. Lokeren^[53] and Mechelen vs. Kortrijk of 26 December were thus cancelled.^[54] The derby between Genk and Sint-Truiden of the 27th was also postponed.^[55] All of these matches were rescheduled to be played on 2 February, between matchdays 24 and 25, except Westerlo vs. Lokeren which was rescheduled to 16 February, between matchdays 26 and 27.^[49]
• Matchday 22: With a lot of roads still slippery in the south and east of Belgium, two more matches are cancelled: Standard vs. Mechelen of 29 December^[56] and Sint-Truiden vs. Cercle Brugge of 30 December.^[57] Both matches have been rescheduled to be played between matchdays 27 and 28, on 26 and 27 February respectively.^[49]