2014–15_Belgian_Pro_League

2014–15 Belgian Pro League

2014–15 Belgian Pro League

112th season of top-tier football in Belgium


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]

Quick Facts Season, Champions ...

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

Personnel and kits

More information Club, Chairman ...

Managerial changes

More information Team, Outgoing manager ...

Regular season

League table

More information Pos, Team ...
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

More information Home \ Away, AND ...
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

More information Pos, Team ...
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

More information Pos, Team ...
Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference
(A) Advance to the Final

Group B

More information Pos, Team ...
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.

More information Lokeren, 2–2 ...
Attendance: 5,763
Referee: Joeri van de Velde

More information Mechelen, 2–1 ...
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.

More information Mechelen, 2–1 ...

More information Charleroi, 2–0 ...
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.

More information Pos, Team ...
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:

More information Home \ Away, LIE ...
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

Hat-tricks

More information Key, * ...
More information Player, For ...

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.
  7. "Kortrijk stelt assistent Vanderhaeghe voor als nieuwe trainer" [Kortrijk presents assistant Vanderhaeghe as new head coach] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2014-06-03.
  8. "KV Mechelen and Vercauteren say goodbye" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2014-05-05.
  9. "KV Mechelen teams up with Aleksandar Janković" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2014-05-08.
  10. "Racing Genk sacks coach Ferrera after one matchday" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2014-07-29. Archived from the original on August 5, 2014.
  11. "Scotsman Alex McLeish is the new Genk trainer" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2014-08-22. Archived from the original on August 22, 2014.
  12. "Lierse kicks Menzo to the curb" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2014-08-31. Archived from the original on August 31, 2014.
  13. "New Lierse-coach:"Belgium is attractive due to the Red Devils"" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2014-09-05. Archived from the original on September 5, 2014.
  14. "Cercle Brugge ends coöperation with Staelens" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2014-10-06. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014.
  15. "Luzon no longer head coach of Standard" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2014-10-20. Archived from the original on October 20, 2014.
  16. "Standard continues with coach Vukomanović" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2014-11-05. Archived from the original on November 5, 2014.
  17. "Da Cruz succeeds Chihab at Mouscron-Péruwelz" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2014-12-29. Archived from the original on December 30, 2014.
  18. "Waasland-Beveren says goodbye to Ronny Van Geneugden" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2014-12-30. Archived from the original on December 30, 2014.
  19. "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.
  20. "Westerlo end cooperation with Van Wijk" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2015-01-03. Archived from the original on January 3, 2015.
  21. "Van Veldhoven is the new coach at Westerlo" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2015-01-06. Archived from the original on January 6, 2015.
  22. "Lierse-coach Stojanovič resigns" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2015-01-28. Archived from the original on January 28, 2015.
  23. "Helleputte resigns as Lierse-coach after only two days" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2015-01-30. Archived from the original on January 30, 2015.
  24. "Helleputte has resigned for health reasons" (in Dutch). De Morgen. 2015-01-30.
  25. "Riga returns as head coach at Standard" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2015-02-02. Archived from the original on February 3, 2015.
  26. "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.
  27. "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.
  28. "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.
  29. "Algemene bepalingen" (PDF). Archived from the original (pdf) on 17 May 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2015.

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