2014–15 Belgian Pro League

The 2014–15 season of the Belgian Pro League (known as the Jupiler Pro League for sponsorship reasons) is the 112th season of top-tier football in Belgium. It started on 27 July 2014 and finished in May 2015. K.A.A. Gent won the league, making it the first championship title in their 115-year history.^[5]

Jupiler Pro League

Season	2014–15
Champions	K.A.A. Gent 1st league title
Relegated	Lierse Cercle Brugge
Champions League	Gent Club Brugge
Europa League	Anderlecht Standard Liège Charleroi
Matches played	296
Goals scored	848 (2.86 per match)
Top goalscorer	Aleksandar Mitrović (20 goals)
Biggest home win	Charleroi 6–0 Lierse (regular season) K.R.C. Genk 7–1 Waasland-Beveren (UEL play-offs)
Biggest away win	Lierse 0–6 Club Brugge
Highest scoring	Standard Liège 3–5 Oostende
Longest winning run	5 games[1] Kortrijk
Longest unbeaten run	19 games[2] Club Brugge
Longest winless run	13 games[3] LierseS.K.
Longest losing run	10 games[4] Royal Mouscron-Péruwelz
← 2013–14 2015–16 →

Teams

Following the 2013–14 Belgian Pro League, R.A.E.C. Mons were relegated to the 2014–15 Belgian Second Division after losing their relegation playoff series against OH Leuven. Mons is replaced by 2013–14 Belgian Second Division champions K.V.C. Westerlo, who returned to the highest level after their relegation during the 2011–12 season.

Mouscron-Péruwelz replaces OH Leuven as they won the 2014 Belgian Second Division final round head of K.A.S. Eupen, Sint-TruidenV.V. and OH Leuven.

Stadia and locations

Anderlecht

Cercle Brugge

Club Brugge

Charleroi S.C.

K.R.C. Genk

K.A.A. Gent

K.V. Kortrijk

Standard Liège

Lierse S.K.

K.S.C. Lokeren

KV Mechelen

K.V. Oostende

Royal Mouscron-Péruwelz

K.V.C. Westerlo

W.-Beveren

S.V. Zulte Waregem

Location of the 2014–15 Belgian Pro League teams

Club	Location	Venue	Capacity
Anderlecht	Anderlecht	Constant Vanden Stock Stadium	21,000
Cercle Brugge	Brugge	Jan Breydel Stadium	29,945
Charleroi	Charleroi	Stade du Pays de Charleroi	25,000
Club Brugge	Brugge	Jan Breydel Stadium	29,945
K.R.C. Genk	Genk	Cristal Arena	24,900
K.A.A. Gent	Ghent	Ghelamco Arena	20,000
Kortrijk	Kortrijk	Guldensporen Stadion	9,500
Lierse	Lier	Herman Vanderpoortenstadion	14,538
Lokeren	Lokeren	Daknamstadion	10,000
Mechelen	Mechelen	Argosstadion Achter de Kazerne	13,123
Mouscron-Péruwelz	Mouscron	Stade Le Canonnier	10,800
Oostende	Ostend	Albertpark	8,125
Standard Liège	Liège	Stade Maurice Dufrasne	30,000
Waasland-Beveren	Beveren	Freethiel Stadion	13,290
Westerlo	Westerlo	Het Kuipje	7,982
Zulte Waregem	Waregem	Regenboogstadion	8,500

Personnel and kits

Club	Chairman	Manager	Manufacturer	Sponsors
Anderlecht	Roger Vanden Stock	Besnik Hasi	adidas	BNP Paribas Fortis
Cercle Brugge	Paul Vanhaecke	Dennis van Wijk	Masita	ADMB
Charleroi	Fabien Debecq	Felice Mazzu	Maps	belgacom
Club Brugge	Bart Verhaeghe	Michel Preud'homme	Nike	proximus
Genk	Herbert Houben	Alex McLeish	Nike	beobank
Gent	Michel Louwagie	Hein Vanhaezebrouck	Masita/Jartazi	VDK
Kortrijk	Joseph Allijns	Yves Vanderhaeghe	Jako	AGO Jobs
Lierse	Maged Samy	Olivier Guillou	Jako	Wadi Degla
Lokeren	Roger Lambrecht	Peter Maes	Jartazi	QTeam
Mechelen	Johan Timmermans	Aleksandar Janković	Kappa	Telenet
Mouscron-Péruwelz	Edward Van Daele	Fernando Da Cruz	Nike	TradeCo
Oostende	Marc Coucke	Frederik Vanderbiest	Joma	Versluys
Standard Liège	Roland Duchâtelet	José Riga	Joma	BASE
Waasland-Beveren	Jozef Van Remoortel	Guido Brepoels	Jako	Remo Frit
Westerlo	Herman Wijnants	Harm van Veldhoven	Saller	Soudal
Zulte Waregem	Willy Naessens	Francky Dury	Patrick	Record Bank

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Gent	Peter Balette	Replaced	End of 2013–14 season[6]	Pre-season	Hein Vanhaezebrouck	5 May 2014[6]
Kortrijk	Hein Vanhaezebrouck	Signed by Gent	End of 2013–14 season[6]		Yves Vanderhaeghe	28 May 2014[7]
Mechelen	Franky Vercauteren	Resigned	End of 2013–14 season[8]		Aleksandar Janković	8 May 2014[9]
Waasland-Beveren	Bob Peeters	Resigned	End of 2013–14 season[10]		Ronny Van Geneugden	28 May 2014[11]
Genk	Emilio Ferrera	Sacked	29 July 2014[12]	11th	Alex McLeish	22 August 2014[13]
Lierse	Stanley Menzo	Sacked	31 August 2014[14]	16th	Slaviša Stojanovič	5 September 2014[15]
Cercle Brugge	Lorenzo Staelens	Sacked	6 October 2014[16]	14th	Arnar Viðarsson	6 October 2014[16]
Standard Liège	Guy Luzon	Sacked	20 October 2014[17]	11th	Ivan Vukomanović[nb 1]	5 November 2014[18]
Mouscron-Péruwelz	Rachid Chihab	Sacked	29 December 2014[19]	12th	Fernando da Cruz	29 December 2014[19]
Waasland-Beveren	Ronny Van Geneugden	Sacked	30 December 2014[20]	14th	Guido Brepoels	5 January 2015[21]
Westerlo	Dennis van Wijk	Sacked	3 January 2015[22]	13th	Harm van Veldhoven	6 January 2015[23]
Lierse	Slaviša Stojanovič	Resigned	28 January 2015[24]	16th	Herman Helleputte	28 January 2015[24]
Lierse	Herman Helleputte	Resigned	30 January 2015[25]	16th	Olivier Guillou	30 January 2015[26]
Standard Liège	Ivan Vukomanović	Replaced	2 February 2015[27]	5th	José Riga	2 February 2015[27]
Cercle Brugge	Arnar Viðarsson	Sacked	18 March 2015[28]	Relegation Playoff, 1st	Dennis van Wijk	18 March 2015[28]

Regular season

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Club Brugge	30	17	10	3	69	28	+41	61	Qualification for the Championship play-offs
2	Gent	30	16	9	5	52	29	+23	57
3	Anderlecht	30	16	9	5	51	30	+21	57
4	Standard Liège	30	16	5	9	49	39	+10	53
5	Kortrijk	30	16	3	11	54	35	+19	51
6	Charleroi	30	14	7	9	44	31	+13	49
7	Genk	30	13	10	7	38	28	+10	49	Qualification for the Europa League play-offs
8	Lokeren	30	10	12	8	38	32	+6	42
9	Mechelen	30	10	11	9	37	39	−2	41
10	Oostende	30	11	5	14	40	52	−12	38
11	Westerlo	30	8	9	13	42	63	−21	33
12	Zulte Waregem	30	8	7	15	41	54	−13	31
13	Mouscron-Péruwelz	30	7	5	18	32	51	−19	26
14	Waasland-Beveren	30	7	5	18	30	49	−19	26
15	Cercle Brugge	30	6	6	18	21	45	−24	24	Qualification for the Relegation play-offs
16	Lierse	30	5	7	18	30	63	−33	22

Source: Belgian Pro League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) number of matches won; if teams are still tied a play-off is organised.

Results

Home \ Away	AND	CER	CHA	BRU	GNK	GNT	KVK	LIE	LOK	KVM	MOU	KVO	STA	WBE	WES	ZWA
Anderlecht		3–2	1–0	2–2	0–0	1–2	2–0	3–0	1–1	1–1	3–1	3–0	0–2	1–0	4–0	0–0
Cercle Brugge	0–2		1–0	0–3	0–1	0–0	0–4	1–2	1–0	2–3	2–1	0–1	0–1	1–0	1–2	2–2
Charleroi	3–1	0–2		0–0	1–0	0–0	0–2	6–0	1–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	0–1	2–2	2–3	2–1
Club Brugge	2–2	1–1	1–0		4–1	2–2	5–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	3–0	2–0	3–0	4–2	5–0	2–1
Genk	0–1	1–1	1–1	1–1		3–2	3–0	3–0	0–0	3–0	2–0	1–1	0–2	1–0	3–1	3–2
Gent	0–2	4–0	2–2	2–1	0–0		0–1	2–1	1–1	3–1	1–0	3–1	1–2	4–1	4–0	3–1
Kortrijk	2–3	1–0	0–0	2–0	1–1	2–3		1–0	2–3	3–0	3–0	0–2	2–3	2–1	6–0	3–1
Lierse	2–2	2–1	0–2	0–6	0–2	0–1	0–0		1–1	0–1	2–2	2–0	2–3	1–1	3–3	3–1
Lokeren	1–2	0–0	5–2	1–3	1–1	3–3	1–2	2–0		3–2	1–0	3–1	1–1	3–0	0–0	2–1
Mechelen	1–1	1–1	0–0	3–1	3–1	0–0	1–2	2–1	0–1		1–0	0–0	1–0	2–0	5–2	1–1
Mouscron-Péruwelz	4–2	4–0	0–2	1–4	1–2	1–3	0–3	2–1	2–2	1–1		0–1	5–2	1–0	1–0	0–1
Oostende	0–2	2–0	1–3	2–2	1–1	1–3	1–7	2–1	0–1	2–0	0–0		3–2	4–3	4–0	1–3
Standard Liège	2–0	1–0	3–0	1–3	1–0	0–1	0–2	2–2	2–0	2–0	3–0	3–5		3–2	2–2	1–2[lower-alpha 1]
Waasland-Beveren	0–2	1–0	1–3	0–2	0–1	0–1	1–0	2–0	0–0	2–2	2–1	1–0	0–2		1–1	1–3
Westerlo	2–2	1–0	2–3	1–3	1–2	0–0	2–1	6–1	1–0	1–1	1–3	3–0	1–1	1–2		2–2
Zulte Waregem	0–2	1–2	1–3	1–1	2–0	2–1	2–0	2–3	1–0	2–3	1–1	1–4	1–1	1–4	1–3

Source: Belgian Pro League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

1. The match was abandoned after 89 minutes due to Standard Liège supporter violence, with Zulte Waregem at that time leading 1–2. Standard Liège was subsequently given a 0–5 loss and forced to play one match behind closed doors.^[29] Standard however objected this ruling and after revision by the Belgian Sportsarbitrage, it was decided that the 1–2 result stood and that Standard was fined €5000. The one match behind closed doors penalty was dropped.^[30]

Championship playoff

The points obtained during the regular season were halved (and rounded up) before the start of the playoff. As a result, the teams started with the following points before the playoff: Club Brugge 31 points, Gent 29, Anderlecht 29, Standard 27, Kortrijk 26 and Charleroi 25. Had any ties occurred at the end of the playoffs, the half point would have been deducted if it was added. However, as all six teams received the half point bonus, this did not make a difference this season.

Playoff table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		GNT	CLU	AND	STA	CHA	KOR
1	Gent (C)	10	6	2	2	18	11	+7	49	Qualification for the Champions League group stage		—	2–2	2–1	2–0	1–1	2–0
2	Club Brugge	10	5	1	4	16	16	0	47	Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round		2–3	—	2–1	2–1	3–1	1–0
3	Anderlecht	10	5	2	3	18	13	+5	46	Qualification for the Europa League group stage[lower-alpha 1]		2–1	3–1	—	1–1	1–0	5–1
4	Standard Liège	10	4	1	5	14	13	+1	40	Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round		1–3	1–0	3–1	—	2–0	4–0
5	Charleroi	10	3	2	5	13	15	−2	36	Qualification for the Testmatches to Europa League[lower-alpha 2]		2–1	2–3	0–1	1–0	—	5–2
6	Kortrijk	10	2	2	6	11	22	−11	34			0–1	2–0	2–2	3–1	1–1	—

Source: soccerway.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) points after deduction of (possible) half points added due to rounding; 3) number of wins; 4) goal difference; 5) number of goals scored; 6) number of away goals scored; 7) number of away wins.^[31]
(C) Champions
Notes:

1. Since winners of the 2014–15 Belgian Cup, Club Brugge, qualified for the Champions League based on league position, the spot awarded to the Cup winner (Europa League group stage) was passed to the third-placed team and the other spots were adjusted accordingly.
2. The team finishing in fifth place, Charleroi, will play the testmatches against the winner of the Belgian Europa League playoff final, for a spot in the Europa League second qualifying round.

Europa League playoff

Group A contains the teams finishing the regular season in positions 7, 9, 12 and 14. The teams that finish in positions 8, 10, 11 and 13 were placed in Group B.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		KVM	GNK	ZWA	W-B
1	Mechelen (A)	6	5	0	1	14	3	+11	15	Qualification for the Playoff Final		—	4–0	3–0	4–1
2	Genk	6	5	0	1	14	7	+7	15			1–0	—	1–0	7–1
3	Zulte Waregem	6	1	1	4	6	10	−4	4			0–1	2–3	—	2–2
4	Waasland-Beveren	6	0	1	5	5	19	−14	1			1–2	0–2	0–2	—

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference
(A) Advance to the Final

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		LOK	RMP	OOS	WES
1	Lokeren (A)	6	4	1	1	19	9	+10	13	Qualification for the Playoff Final		—	2–1	6–1	1–1
2	Mouscron-Péruwelz	6	3	1	2	9	8	+1	10			1–5	—	2–0	1–1
3	Oostende	6	2	0	4	6	12	−6	6			1–2	0–1	—	2–0
4	Westerlo	6	1	2	3	7	12	−5	5			4–3	0–3	1–2	—

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference
(A) Advance to the Final

Europa League playoff final

The winners of both playoff groups, Mechelen and Lokeren, compete in a two-legged match to play the fourth-placed team of the championship playoff, called Testmatch. The winners of this Testmatch will be granted entry to the second qualifying round of the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League.

Lokeren	2–2	Mechelen
Ngolok 34', 56'	Report	Veselinović 11' Naessens 49'

16 May 2015

20:00

Daknamstadion, Lokeren

Attendance: 5,763

Referee: Joeri van de Velde

---

Mechelen	2–1	Lokeren
Hanni 6' Kosanović 56'	Report	Marić 90+2' (pen.)

23 May 2015

20:00

Den Dreef, Leuven^[32]

Attendance: 6,340

Referee: Frederik Geldhof

Mechelen won 4–3 on aggregate.

Testmatches Europa League

The Europa League playoff final was played over two legs between the Europa league playoff final winners, Mechelen, and the fifth-placed finisher of the championship playoff, Charleroi. The winners qualified for the second qualifying round of the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League.

Mechelen	2–1	Charleroi
Cissé 42' Kosanović 86'	Report	Geraerts 55'

28 May 2015

20:30

Den Dreef, Leuven

---

Charleroi	2–0	Mechelen
Marinos 69' Ndongala 89'

31 May 2015

14:30

Stade du Pays de Charleroi, Charleroi

Referee: Bart Vertenten

Charleroi wins 3–2 on aggregate

Relegation playoff

The teams that finished in the last two positions will face each other in the relegation playoff. Lierse was sure of ending up in the relegation playoff after losing away to Gent on 7 March 2015, while Cercle Brugge qualified one week later after losing 2–3 at home to Mechelen.

The winner of this playoff will play the second division playoff with three Belgian Second Division teams, with only the winner of that playoff playing at the highest level the next season. Lierse failed to win the Belgian Second Division playoff resulting in their relegation, in addition to Cercle Brugge.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Lierse (R)	4	3	0	1	8	4	+4	9	Qualification for the Belgian Second Division final round
2	Cercle Brugge (R)	4	1	0	3	4	8	−4	6	Relegation to 2015–16 Belgian Second Division

Source: soccerway.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored.
(R) Relegated

The matches in the table below were played from left to right:

Home \ Away	LIE	CER	LIE	CER	LIE	CER
Lierse		0–1		3–1
Cercle Brugge	2–3		0–2		–[lower-alpha 1]

Source: soccerway.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

1. Match not played as Cercle Brugge could no longer overtake Lierse in the standings. In case of a tie, Lierse would have still ranked above Cercle Brugge due to the number of matches won.

Season statistics

Source: Sport.be (in Dutch)

Up to and including matches played on 24 May 2015.

Top scorers

Position	Player	Club	Goals
1	Aleksandar Mitrović	Anderlecht	20
2	Ivan Santini	Kortrijk	15
3	Renaud Emond	Waasland-Beveren	14
	Geoffrey Mujangi Bia	Standard Liège
5	Laurent Depoitre	Gent	13
	José Izquierdo	Club Brugge
	Dalibor Veselinović	Mechelen
8	Teddy Chevalier	Kortrijk	12
	Abdoulay Diaby	Mouscron-Péruwelz
	Mijat Marić	Lokeren

Hat-tricks

Key
4	Player scored four goals
*	The home team

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Nicolás Castillo	Club Brugge*	Westerlo	5–0	9 November 2014
Moses Simon	Gent	Lokeren*	3–3	1 February 2015
Ivan Santini4	Kortrijk*	Westerlo	6–0	21 February 2015
John Jairo Ruiz	Oostende	Zulte Waregem*	1–4	15 March 2015
Zinho Gano	Mouscron-Péruwelz	Westerlo*	0–3	4 April 2015

Notes

1. Vukomanović had initially been appointed as caretaker manager following the sacking of Guy Luzon on 20 October 2014, but was appointed head coach on 5 November 2014 until the end of the season, due to good results.

References

1. "Langste winning streak". Sport.be (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
2. "Langste non-losing streak". Sport.be (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
3. "Langste non-winning streak". Sport.be (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
4. "Langste losing streak". Sport.be (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
5. "Gent end 115-year wait for Belgian title". uefa.com. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
6. "Vanhaezebrouck:"Back to the top with Gent" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2014-05-05.
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14. "Lierse kicks Menzo to the curb" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2014-08-31. Archived from the original on August 31, 2014.
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17. "Luzon no longer head coach of Standard" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2014-10-20. Archived from the original on October 20, 2014.
18. "Standard continues with coach Vukomanović" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2014-11-05. Archived from the original on November 5, 2014.
19. "Da Cruz succeeds Chihab at Mouscron-Péruwelz" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2014-12-29. Archived from the original on December 30, 2014.
20. "Waasland-Beveren says goodbye to Ronny Van Geneugden" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2014-12-30. Archived from the original on December 30, 2014.
21. "Brepoels:"show that success with STVV was not a coincidence" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2015-01-05. Archived from the original on January 6, 2015.
22. "Westerlo end cooperation with Van Wijk" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2015-01-03. Archived from the original on January 3, 2015.
23. "Van Veldhoven is the new coach at Westerlo" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2015-01-06. Archived from the original on January 6, 2015.
24. "Lierse-coach Stojanovič resigns" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2015-01-28. Archived from the original on January 28, 2015.
25. "Helleputte resigns as Lierse-coach after only two days" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2015-01-30. Archived from the original on January 30, 2015.
26. "Helleputte has resigned for health reasons" (in Dutch). De Morgen. 2015-01-30.
27. "Riga returns as head coach at Standard" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2015-02-02. Archived from the original on February 3, 2015.
28. "Van Wijk takes over control at Cercle Brugge: "I'm confident"" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2014-10-06. Archived from the original on March 18, 2015.
29. "Standard loses 0–5 and will play one match without fans" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2014-10-28. Archived from the original on October 28, 2014.
30. "Belgian Sportsarbitrage: "The match Standard-Zulte Waregem ends at 1–2"" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2014-12-10. Archived from the original on December 10, 2014.
31. "Algemene bepalingen" (PDF). Archived from the original (pdf) on 17 May 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
32. "KV Mechelen speelt dan toch niet "thuis" in Beveren, maar in Leuven". Sporza.be (in Dutch). Retrieved 14 May 2015.^{[permanent dead link]}