The 2020–21 season of the Belgian First Division B began in August 2020 and ended in April 2021. Union SG became champions on 13 March 2021, returning to the highest level of Belgian football for the first time since the 1972–73 season.
Team changes In Deinze were promoted from the 2019–20 Belgian First Amateur Division as champions. Seraing and RWD Molenbeek filled in the open spots left by the extra relegations of Roeselare and Virton, as highest finishing teams which had obtained a professional footballing licence. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium, no team was relegated from the 2019–20 Belgian First Division A and two teams were promoted from the 2019–20 Belgian First Division B, meaning two extra teams needed to be added to the league. From the 2019–20 Belgian First Amateur Division only Lierse Kempenzonen remained as team which had obtained the necessary Belgian professional football licence (despite nearly relegating in that division), hence they were promoted and finally as no other team was eligible from that division, the youth squad of Club Brugge was added to again end up with 8 teams. This team will play under the name Club NXT.
Out Due to the Belgian First Division A expanding from 16 to 18 teams, both finalists Beerschot and OH Leuven were promoted to Belgian First Division A for the next season. Lokeren went bankrupt and folded. Temse moved to Lokeren and renamed themselves K.S.C. Lokeren-Temse playing in the Belgian Second Amateur Division. Both Roeselare and Virton were denied a professional licence and forced to relegate, Roeselare to the Belgian First Amateur Division, Virton to the Belgian Second Amateur Division as they were also refused a remunerated licence.
Format changes Only in the 2020–21 season, the league will no longer consist of two separate competitions but will be one single league in which all teams play each other four times. There will be no more playoffs, no teams will qualify for the Europa League playoffs and the bottom team will be relegated directly.
Team information
Stadiums and locations
Matricule Club City First season of current spell at second level</th> Coming from 2019-20 result Stadium Capacity3Brugge2020–21––Daknamstadion12,136818Deinze2020–21Belgian First Amateur Division1st (D1Am)Burgemeester Van de Wiele Stadion7,5153970Lier2020–21Belgian First Amateur Division13th (D1Am)Herman Vanderpoortenstadion14,5382554Lommel2018–19Belgian First Amateur Division6th (D1B)Soevereinstadion8,0005479Molenbeek2020–21Belgian First Amateur Division6th (D1Am)Edmond Machtens Stadium12,266167Seraing2020–21Belgian First Amateur Division4th (D1Am)Stade du Pairay14,23410Saint-Gilles, Brussels2015–16Belgian Third Division4th (D1B)Stade Joseph Marien5,5002024Westerlo2017–18Belgian First Division A1st (D1B)Het Kuipje8,035
Personnel and kits Club Manager Kit Manufacturer Sponsors Club NXT Rik De Mil Macron Alheembouw Deinze Cédric Vlaeminck Legea Dakota Vastgoed & Declercq Stortbeton Lierse Kempenzonen Tom Van Imschoot Jako Keukens Van Lommel Lommel Liam Manning Masita United Telecom RWD Molenbeek Vincent Euvrard Joma Symbio RFC Seraing Emilio Ferrera Kappa VOO, Willy Naessens & Startpeople Union SG Felice Mazzù Le Coq Sportif Culture et Formation Westerlo Bob Peeters Saller Soudal
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position Replaced by Date of appointment Union SG Thomas Christiansen Contract not prolonged End of 2019–20 seasonPre-season Felice Mazzù 24 May 2020 Lommel Peter Maes Contract not prolonged Liam Manning 10 July 2020 RWD Molenbeek Frédéric Stilmant (caretaker) Caretaker replaced Laurent Demol 11 June 2020 RWD Molenbeek Laurent Demol Sacked 2 December 2020 6th Frédéric Stilmant (caretaker) 2 December 2020 RWD Molenbeek Frédéric Stilmant (caretaker) Caretaker replaced 7 December 2020 6th Vincent Euvrard 7 December 2020 Deinze David Gevaert Sacked 4 March 2021 6th Cédric Vlaeminck (caretaker) 4 March 2021
League table
Season statistics Top scorers
Rank Player Club Goals1 Georges MikautadzeSeraing19 Dante VanzeirUnion SG3 Deniz UndavUnion SG174 Atabey ÇiçekWesterlo125 Lennart MertensDeinze10 Manfred UgaldeLommel7 Youssef ChalloukDeinze8 Kévin MataRWDM47 Igor VetokeleWesterlo10 Dylan De BelderDeinze7 Leandro RochaRWDM47 Nicolas RommensRWDM47 Alessio StaelensDeinze Lukas Van EenooWesterlo Anass ZarouryLommel
Top assists
Rank Player Club Goals1 Youssef ChalloukDeinze102 Christian BrülsWesterlo7 Kevin KisLommel Casper NielsenUnion SG Alessio StaelensDeinze Dante VanzeirUnion SG
Clean sheets
Rank Player Club Goals1 Anthony MorisUnion SG102 Guillaume DietschSeraing93 Berke ÖzerWesterlo84 Anthony SadinRWDM4755 William DutoitDeinze4
Team of the season Upon completion of the regular season a team of the season award was compiled, based upon the results of the team of the week results throughout the season, constructed based on nominations from managers, assistant-managers, journalists and analysts. The results were announced from 4 May 2021, with one player revealed each day.
PosPlayerClubRef GK RWDM47 RB Seraing CB Westerlo CB Union SG LB Seraing RW Lommel MF Union SG MF Union SG LW Deinze FW Union SG FW Seraing
Number of teams by provinces While Club NXT is a team from West Flanders, they are playing their home matches in Lokeren, which is located in East Flanders.
Number of teams Province or region Team(s)2 Lierse Kempenzonen and Westerlo RWD Molenbeek and Union SG1 DeinzeSeraingLommelClub NXT
References