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.

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

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

Personnel and kits

Club Chairman Manager Manufacturer Sponsors Roger Vanden Stock Besnik Hasi adidas BNP Paribas Fortis Paul Vanhaecke Dennis van Wijk Masita ADMB Fabien Debecq Felice Mazzu Maps belgacom Bart Verhaeghe Michel Preud'homme Nike proximus Herbert Houben Alex McLeish Nike beobank Michel Louwagie Hein Vanhaezebrouck Masita/Jartazi VDK Joseph Allijns Yves Vanderhaeghe Jako AGO Jobs Maged Samy Olivier Guillou Jako Wadi Degla Roger Lambrecht Peter Maes Jartazi QTeam Johan Timmermans Aleksandar Janković Kappa Telenet Edward Van Daele Fernando Da Cruz Nike TradeCo Marc Coucke Frederik Vanderbiest Joma Versluys Roland Duchâtelet José Riga Joma BASE Jozef Van Remoortel Guido Brepoels Jako Remo Frit Herman Wijnants Harm van Veldhoven Saller Soudal 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 Pre-season Hein Vanhaezebrouck 5 May 2014 Kortrijk Hein Vanhaezebrouck Signed by Gent End of 2013–14 season Yves Vanderhaeghe 28 May 2014 Mechelen Franky Vercauteren Resigned End of 2013–14 season Aleksandar Janković 8 May 2014 Waasland-Beveren Bob Peeters Resigned End of 2013–14 season Ronny Van Geneugden 28 May 2014 Genk Emilio Ferrera Sacked 29 July 2014 11th Alex McLeish 22 August 2014 Lierse Stanley Menzo Sacked 31 August 2014 16th Slaviša Stojanovič 5 September 2014 Cercle Brugge Lorenzo Staelens Sacked 6 October 2014 14th Arnar Viðarsson 6 October 2014 Standard Liège Guy Luzon Sacked 20 October 2014 11th Ivan VukomanovićVukomanović 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. 5 November 2014 Mouscron-Péruwelz Rachid Chihab Sacked 29 December 2014 12th Fernando da Cruz 29 December 2014 Waasland-Beveren Ronny Van Geneugden Sacked 30 December 2014 14th Guido Brepoels 5 January 2015 Westerlo Dennis van Wijk Sacked 3 January 2015 13th Harm van Veldhoven 6 January 2015 Lierse Slaviša Stojanovič Resigned 28 January 2015 16th Herman Helleputte 28 January 2015 Lierse Herman Helleputte Resigned 30 January 2015 16th Olivier Guillou 30 January 2015 Standard Liège Ivan Vukomanović Replaced 2 February 2015 5th José Riga 2 February 2015 Cercle Brugge Arnar Viðarsson Sacked 18 March 2015 Relegation Playoff, 1st Dennis van Wijk 18 March 2015

Regular season

League table

Results

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

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

Group B

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.

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.

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.

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

Season statistics Source: Sport.be

Up to and including matches played on 24 May 2015.

Top scorers

Position Player Club Goals1 Aleksandar MitrovićAnderlecht202 Ivan SantiniKortrijk153 Renaud EmondWaasland-Beveren14 Geoffrey Mujangi BiaStandard Liège5 Laurent DepoitreGent13 José IzquierdoClub Brugge Dalibor VeselinovićMechelen8 Teddy ChevalierKortrijk12 Abdoulay DiabyMouscron-Péruwelz Mijat MarićLokeren

Hat-tricks Key4Player 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 21 February 2015 John Jairo Ruiz Oostende Zulte Waregem* 15 March 2015 Zinho Gano Mouscron-Péruwelz Westerlo* 4 April 2015

Attendances

Source:

No. Club Average attendance Change Highest 1 Club Brugge 26,000 2,5% 28,500 2 Standard de Liège 24,555 -1,2% 27,700 3 Anderlecht 20,925 1,1% 23,000 4 Gent 18,470 5,8% 20,000 5 Genk 17,411 -18,3% 22,100 6 Mechelen 9,502 0,9% 12,900 7 Charleroi 9,173 46,8% 14,950 8 Zulte Waregem 8,408 1,4% 11,000 9 Lokeren 8,095 11,4% 11,350 10 Kortrijk 7,965 10,4% 9,400 11 Cercle Brugge 7,641 1,4% 14,500 12 Lierse 6,759 -2,0% 9,200 13 Oostende 6,019 19,3% 7,250 14 Westerlo 5,972 73,1% 8,000 15 Waasland-Beveren 5,194 -0,6% 7,950 16 Mouscron 3,708 109,3% 9,500

Notes

References