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The unique format of the Belgian competition

Belgian knew a lot of different competition formats in its history, of which a lot are quite different from other European countries. Let’s take a look at the current situation and the one before that. The current format was introduced in 2016 consist of 18 clubs in the first division, which is called 1A, and 8 in the second division, 1B. Those two divisions are the professional ones, implicating a major difference in earnings. The first four play in the Champions’ play-offs, numbers 5 to 8 play in the Europe play-offs. The first 3 have a guaranteed European ticket and the 4th team plays the first of the Europe play-offs to get the last ticket. The last team of the 1A would relegate and the first 1B would be promoted. The second to last from the first division would then play the second placed team of 1B for another place in 1A. The other teams do not even participate anymore. 


Before this, there were only 16 teams in the first division, from which the first 6 teams at the end of 30 matchdays would play 10 matches in the so called “play-off A” They would fight for the title and European tickets. Play-off B was played by the numbers 7 till 14 and the winner played a match with the 4th or 5th of play-off A for a ticket in the Europa league. The last two clubs tried to avoid relegation. 
Complicated right? These formats mean there are a lot of matches, meaning players can be exhausted and get injuries, which can lower the performance of clubs on a European level as well. It also makes it difficult to understand and you can ask yourself if it is a fair system because the 8th team could still be in the race for a European ticket. On the other hand, the play-offs bring a lot of excitement and extra matches of course mean extra earnings. 


So do you think the current or previous format are different in a good way or do you propose changes? And if so, why? We are looking forward to hearing your opinions about this!



Jupiler Pro League PES 2021 Stats

 

 

Location: Barcelona, Spanje

Comments

  1. The PaparazziNovember 10, 2021 at 6:34 AM

    I think the play-offs are interesting because we are used to more "classic" championship games. The excitement of the play-offs may allow the players to raise their level of play and therefore allow the fans to have more chances to see great games. Two birds with one stone.

    Ridoy RAHMAN

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Quinten Van MeirvenneNovember 10, 2021 at 9:59 AM

      Hi Ridoy, thank you for your opinion!

      I agree that it is far more interesting. As a Belgian supporter, I really felt the excitement of the play-offs. When they would play in Europe however, they feel more tired, and it takes away some excitement in those "big games".

      Can you agree on this?

      Delete
  2. Sebastian MaymiNovember 15, 2021 at 9:51 PM

    I would say the second format is quite interesting, it is quite similar to that of the MLS in the United States. Even though it could be a different and entertaining format I see two problems with it. The first is as Quinten said, that when they eventually get to european competitions they are very tired as they played so many games during the season. The second problem is that they need to have the same format as the Dutch league if they plan on taking the Beneliga, and I belive the Dutch wouldn't be open to changing also the format in which they play the league.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BeNeLigaNovember 20, 2021 at 5:00 AM

      Dear Sebastian, I think the Dutch league is certainly open to it, especially the big clubs want more competition. In addition, this creates many more "top" matches so that the fans will also watch matches that are equal. It can also generate more money from sponsors because the competition will get a higher ranking.

      Delete

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