2020–21 Belgian First Division A

Charleroi
(10 April 2021)
Genk 4–0 Sint-Truiden
(11 April 2021)
Biggest away win	Zulte Waregem 0–6 Club Brugge; (20 September 2020)
Highest scoring	Kortrijk 5–5 Beerschot; (7 November 2020)
Longest winning run	10 matches; Club Brugge
Longest unbeaten run	12 matches; Club Brugge
Longest winless run	10 matches; Cercle Brugge; Excel Mouscron; Waasland-Beveren
Longest losing run	7 matches; Cercle Brugge
	← 2019–20 2021–22 → All statistics correct as of 20 May 2021.

The 2020–21 Belgian First Division A was the 118th season of top-tier football in

Royal Antwerp

's challenge faded.

Team changes

Belgian First Division B, as they were the bottom-placed team when the 2019–20 Belgian First Division A stopped prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, following legal proceedings, they remained in the top-flight, and instead, the league was expanded to 18 teams, with both OH Leuven and Beerschot being promoted (normally only one of them would have gained promotion). Technically, under its current form and owners, Beerschot will make its debut in the top tier of Belgian football, although in reality two teams with the same identity have played at the top level: Beerschot VAC (81 seasons, last in 1990–91) and Beerschot AC (until its bankruptcy at the end of the 2012–13 season, and known as Germinal Beerschot from 1999 until 2011). OH Leuven returned to the top tier after an absence of four seasons, when they dropped to the last place on the ultimate matchday of the 2015–16 season

.

Format change

With now 18 instead of 16 teams, the format has changed somewhat. While the season still starts with an initial round-robin phase in which all teams play each other twice, the end of season play-offs have been shortened temporarily and for the 2020–21 and 2021–22 seasons only. The title playoffs will now only be played by the top four teams (instead of six) and the Europa play-offs will now be played by the teams finishing fifth through eight (instead of all teams finishing below 6th). As a result, for all teams finishing below 8th, the season will be over upon completion of the round-robin phase, with the team in last position being relegated. One exception is the team finishing in 17th position, as this team will play a promotion-relegation play off against the 2nd-place finisher in the 2020–21 Belgian First Division B, with the winner playing in the 2021–22 Belgian First Division A.

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Waasland-
Beveren

Zulte Waregem

Antwerp teams

Antwerp

Beerschot
Bruges teams

Cercle Brugge

Club Brugge

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Locations of the 2020–21 Belgian First Division A teams

Matricule	Club	Location	Venue	Capacity
35	Anderlecht	Anderlecht	Constant Vanden Stock Stadium	21,500
1	Antwerp	Antwerp	Bosuilstadion	12,975
13	Beerschot	Antwerp	Olympic Stadium	12,771
12	Cercle Brugge	Bruges	Jan Breydel Stadium	29,042
22	Charleroi	Charleroi	Stade du Pays de Charleroi	14,000
3	Club Brugge	Bruges	Jan Breydel Stadium	29,042
4276	Eupen	Eupen	Kehrwegstadion	08,363
322	Genk	Genk	Luminus Arena	24,956
7	Gent	Ghent	Ghelamco Arena	20,000
19	Kortrijk	Kortrijk	Guldensporen Stadion	09,399
25	Mechelen	Mechelen	AFAS-stadion Achter de Kazerne	16,700
216	Mouscron	Mouscron	Stade Le Canonnier	10,571
31	Oostende	Ostend	Versluys Arena	08,432
18	Oud-Heverlee Leuven	Leuven	Den Dreef	10,000
373	Sint-Truiden	Sint-Truiden	Stayen	14,600
16	Standard Liège	Liège	Stade Maurice Dufrasne	30,023
4068	Waasland-Beveren	Beveren	Freethiel Stadion	08,190
5381	Zulte Waregem	Waregem	Regenboogstadion	12,500

Number of teams	Province or region	Team(s)
5	West Flanders	Cercle Brugge, Club Brugge, Kortrijk, Oostende and Zulte Waregem
3	Antwerp	Mechelen
2	East Flanders	Waasland-Beveren
	Hainaut	Charleroi and Mouscron
	Liège	Eupen and Standard Liège
	Limburg	Genk and Sint-Truiden
1	Brussels	Anderlecht
1	Flemish Brabant	Oud-Heverlee Leuven

Club	Manager	Kit Manufacturer	Sponsors
Anderlecht	Vincent Kompany^{[n 1]}	Joma	DVV Insurance (home) Candriam (away)
Antwerp	Franky Vercauteren^{[n 2]}	Jako	Ghelamco
Beerschot	Will Still^{[n 3]}	XIII^{[n 4]}	Yelo
Cercle Brugge	Yves Vanderhaeghe^{[n 5]}	Kappa	Napoleon Games
Charleroi	Karim Belhocine^{[n 6]}	Kappa	Lotto
Club Brugge	Philippe Clement	Macron	Unibet
Eupen	Beñat San José	Adidas	Qatar Airways
Excel Mouscron	Jorge Simão^{[n 7]}	Uhlsport	Star Casino
Genk	John van den Brom^{[n 8]}	Nike	Beobank
Gent	Hein Vanhaezebrouck^{[n 9]}	Craft	VDK Bank
Kortrijk	Luka Elsner^{[n 10]}	Jako	AGO Jobs & HR
Mechelen	Wouter Vrancken	Jartazi	Telenet
OH Leuven	Marc Brys	Adidas	King Power
Oostende	Alexander Blessin	Kipsta	Star Casino
Sint-Truiden	Peter Maes^{[n 11]}	Macron	DMM.com
Standard Liège	Mbaye Leye^{[n 12]}	New Balance	VOO
Waasland-Beveren	Nicky Hayen	Uhlsport	Star Casino
Zulte-Waregem	Francky Dury	Patrick	Napoleon Games

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Cercle Brugge	Bernd Storck	End of contract^[3]	End of 2019–20 season	Pre-season	Paul Clement	3 July 2020^[4]
Antwerp	László Bölöni	End of contract^[5]			Ivan Leko	20 May 2020^[6]
Sint-Truiden	Miloš Kostić	Mutual consent^[7]			Kevin Muscat	2 June 2020^[8]
Waasland-Beveren	Dirk Geeraerd (caretaker)	Caretaker replaced			Nicky Hayen	4 June 2020 ^[9]
Oostende	Adnan Čustović	Replaced^[10]			Alexander Blessin	7 June 2020^[10]
Standard Liège	Michel Preud'homme	Resigned^[11]			Philippe Montanier	10 June 2020^[12]
Excel Mouscron	Bernd Hollerbach	Mutual consent^[13]			Fernando Da Cruz	18 July 2020^[14]
Anderlecht	Franky Vercauteren	Kompany became sole manager^[15]	17 August 2020	3rd	Vincent Kompany	17 August 2020^[15]
Gent	Jess Thorup	Sacked^[16]	20 August 2020	16th	László Bölöni	20 August 2020^[16]
Gent	László Bölöni	Sacked^[17]	14 September 2020	16th	Wim De Decker	14 September 2020
Genk	Hannes Wolf	Sacked^[18]	15 September 2020	14th	Domenico Olivieri (caretaker)	15 September 2020
Genk	Domenico Olivieri	Caretaker replaced^[19]	24 September 2020	14th	Jess Thorup	24 September 2020
Excel Mouscron	Fernando Da Cruz	Sacked^[20]	19 October 2020	18th	Jorge Simão	20 October 2020^[21]
Genk	Jess Thorup	Hired by Copenhagen^[22]	2 November 2020	7th	John van den Brom^[23]	8 November 2020 ^{[n 13]}
Sint-Truiden	Kevin Muscat	Sacked^[24]	1 December 2020	16th	Stef Van Winckel (caretaker)	1 December 2020
Gent	Wim De Decker	Sacked^[25]	3 December 2020	12th	Hein Vanhaezebrouck^[26]	4 December 2020
Sint-Truiden	Stef Van Winckel	Caretaker replaced^[27]	7 December 2020	17th	Peter Maes^[27]	7 December 2020
Standard Liège	Philippe Montanier	Sacked^[28]	26 December 2020	11th	Mbaye Leye^[29]	30 December 2020
Antwerp	Ivan Leko	Hired by Shanghai SIPG^[30]	29 December 2020	5th	Franky Vercauteren^[31]	4 January 2021
Beerschot	Hernán Losada	Hired by D.C. United^[32]	17 January 2021	10th	Will Still^[33]	19 January 2021
Kortrijk	Yves Vanderhaeghe	Sacked^[34]	31 January 2021	15th	Luka Elsner^[34]	31 January 2021
Cercle Brugge	Paul Clement	Sacked^[35]	1 February 2021	17th	Yves Vanderhaeghe^[36]	3 February 2021

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Club Brugge (C)	34	24	4	6	73	26	+47	76	Qualification for the Europa Conference League and Play-offs I^[a]
2	Antwerp	34	18	6	10	57	48	+9	60	Qualification for the Play-offs I
3	Anderlecht	34	15	13	6	51	34	+17	58
4	Genk^[b]	34	16	8	10	67	48	+19	56
5	Oostende^[c]	34	15	8	11	49	41	+8	53	Qualification for the Play-offs II
6	Standard Liège	34	13	11	10	52	41	+11	50
7	Gent	34	14	7	13	55	42	+13	49
8	Mechelen	34	13	9	12	54	54	0	48
9	Beerschot	34	14	5	15	58	64	−6	47
10	Zulte Waregem	34	14	4	16	53	69	−16	46
11	OH Leuven	34	12	9	13	54	59	−5	45
12	Eupen	34	10	13	11	44	55	−11	43
13	Charleroi	34	11	9	14	46	49	−3	42
14	Kortrijk	34	11	6	17	44	57	−13	39
15	Sint-Truiden	34	10	8	16	41	52	−11	38
16	Cercle Brugge	34	11	3	20	40	51	−11	36
17	Waasland-Beveren (R)	34	8	7	19	44	70	−26	31	Qualification for the Relegation play-off
18	Excel Mouscron^[c] (R)	34	7	10	17	32	54	−22	31	Relegation to First Division B

2020–21 Belgian First Division A

Team changes

Format change

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Number of teams by provinces

Personnel and kits

Managerial changes

Regular season

League table

Results

Play-offs

Play-Off I

Play-Off II

European competition play-offs

Promotion-Relegation play-off

Season statistics

Top scorers - regular season only

Top assists

Awards

Annual awards

Notes

References

External links

Home \ Away	CLU	ANT	AND	GNK	OOS	STA	GNT	KVM	BEE	ZWA	OHL	EUP	CHA	KVK	STR	CER	W-B	EXM
Club Brugge	—	0–2	3–1	1–0	1–0	2–2	2–2	1–1	2–0	3–2	2–0	1–2	0–2	2–1	2–3	2–1	1–0	0–1
Antwerp	2–0	—	1–0	1–1	3–1	1–1	2–0	2–1	2–0	3–0	0–0	0–1	0–0	2–1	2–1	2–1	0–1	1–1
Anderlecht	1–1	0–2	—	1–2	2–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	0–1	1–1	3–2	1–0	0–1	0–3	3–0	3–2	1–1	1–1
Genk	0–0	1–1	4–0	—	3–0	3–0	1–1	0–0	2–1	2–4	1–1	3–1	1–1	1–2	2–1	2–3	3–0	4–1
Oostende	2–3	4–2	1–1	0–0	—	0–1	3–1	2–2	2–0	2–4	1–2	0–2	2–0	1–0	1–2	1–1	1–0	4–0
Standard Liège	1–1	0–0	0–2	1–0	2–1	—	4–1	1–2	2–1	4–3	0–2	2–1	3–0	1–0	2–1	0–1	1–2	0–0
Gent	0–2	2–1	2–1	0–0	2–1	2–1	—	2–1	0–0	0–1	2–1	0–2	1–2	3–0	1–3	1–0	3–1	1–2
Mechelen	0–0	2–0	1–2	1–2	1–0	0–1	2–2	—	2–1	3–1	1–0	3–1	0–3	2–1	1–4	4–0	1–0	2–2
Beerschot	3–1	2–1	1–3	0–3	1–2	0–1	0–1	2–0	—	0–2	2–1	1–1	0–1	1–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	0–0
Zulte Waregem	1–2	1–1	3–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–0	2–1	—	1–5	3–1	4–2	2–1	4–1	0–3	2–0	3–0
OH Leuven	2–1	3–0	0–0	1–3	0–1	4–0	1–4	2–2	0–0	1–0	—	4–2	0–1	3–1	2–2	1–1	0–0	0–1
Eupen	1–1	1–0	4–2	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	3–4	1–1	3–1	—	1–0	2–1	2–2	1–1	1–1	1–0
Charleroi	2–2	3–0	1–2	1–2	1–1	1–0	3–1	1–0	2–1	1–2	0–1	0–1	—	2–2	3–3	1–1	1–1	2–1
Kortrijk	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–1	2–0	2–0	2–2	1–2	3–5	0–0	1–5	0–0	1–1	—	2–0	1–1	3–1	0–0
Sint-Truiden	1–1	2–0	0–1	0–2	1–0	2–0	1–1	1–2	1–0	1–0	2–1	0–0	3–0	1–0	—	1–2	0–2	3–0
Cercle Brugge	2–1	1–1	2–1	0–2	0–0	3–5	0–2	1–0	3–0	2–2	1–2	1–0	0–1	2–1	1–1	—	1–1	1–1
Waasland-Beveren	2–0	4–2	1–2	2–1	1–1	0–2	0–0	0–1	1–2	0–1	2–2	0–2	4–0	0–0	1–0	5–0	—	0–0
Excel Mouscron	2–1	3–0	1–1	4–0	0–1	1–2	1–1	1–0	2–1	1–2	2–1	0–0	2–2	0–1	1–2	1–1	0–1	—

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation	GNT	MEC	OOS	STA
1	Gent	6	4	1	1	13	6	+7	38	Qualification for the Europa Conference League second qualifying round	—	2–2	2–1	2–0
2	Mechelen	6	3	2	1	15	11	+4	35		1–2	—	5–3	3–1
3	Oostende	6	2	1	3	15	16	−1	34		0–4	2–2	—	6–2
4	Standard Liège	6	1	0	5	7	17	−10	28		2–1	1–2	1–3	—

Award	Winner	Club
Player of the Year	Paul Onuachu	Genk
Top goalscorer	Paul Onuachu	Genk
Manager of the Year	Alexander Blessin	Oostende
Breakthrough of the Year	Noa Lang	Club Brugge

Team of the Year^[44]
Goalkeeper	Simon Mignolet (Club Brugge)
Defence	Clinton Mata (Club Brugge)	Arthur Theate (Oostende)	Ritchie De Laet (Royal Antwerp)
Midfield	Lior Refaelov (Royal Antwerp)	Bryan Heynen (Genk)	Raphael Holzhauser (Loreken)	Xavier Mercier (OH Leuven)
Attack	Junya Ito (Genk)	Paul Onuachu (Genk)	Noa Lang (Club Brugge)