The Belgian Pro League

In the 2025-26 transition season, the Belgian Pro League is contested by 16 clubs. The regular season is a double round-robin where every club plays the others twice — once at home, once away — for 30 matches in total. Three points are awarded for a win, one for a draw, and none for a defeat. After the regular season, the table splits into playoff competitions that decide the champion, European qualification places, and relegation outcomes. The full season usually runs from late July to late May.

The competition dates back to the 1895-96 season, when it was launched by the Royal Belgian Football Association, although the championship was interrupted during both world wars. FC Liégeois won the first edition. The competition is run by the Pro League and is officially known as the Jupiler Pro League for sponsorship reasons. From 2026-27, the league is set to expand to 18 clubs and return to a straight 34-match format without playoffs.

After the 30-match regular season, the league splits into three playoff competitions. The Championship Playoffs (Play-offs I) are contested by the top six clubs, who play each other twice across 10 matches. The clubs' regular-season points are halved when carrying over to the Championship Playoffs, although clubs with an odd number of points round up. The winner of the Championship Playoffs is the Belgian champion.

In the recent 16-team format, clubs ranked 7th to 12th enter the Europe Playoffs, while clubs ranked 13th to 16th enter the Relegation Playoffs. Points are halved for the Championship and Europe Playoffs, but carried over in full for the Relegation Playoffs. The 2025-26 season is a transition year before the league expands: clubs finishing 13th, 14th and 15th after the relegation phase are safe, while the last-placed club faces a promotion and relegation play-off against the Challenger Pro League promotion play-off winner. From 2026-27, the league returns to a straight 18-team, 34-match format with no playoffs.

European qualification depends on Belgium's UEFA access-list position and on whether the Belgian Cup winner has already qualified through the league. In recent formats, the champion has usually taken the strongest Champions League place, with further European places allocated through the Championship Playoffs, the Belgian Cup, and a play-off involving the Europe Playoffs winner. Belgium's strong UEFA country coefficient in recent seasons has given the league a relatively healthy continental allocation for a mid-sized European competition.

Belgian clubs have a strong record in European competitions across the modern era. Anderlecht won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1976 and 1978, and the UEFA Cup in 1983. Club Brugge lost the European Cup final to Liverpool in 1978 and the UEFA Cup final to the same opponents in 1976. KV Mechelen won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1988. The most distinctive recent run was Royale Union Saint-Gilloise's continental breakthrough in the early 2020s, including deep Europa League and Conference League runs.

The first Belgian football league was held in 1895-96 with seven founding clubs, including FC Liégeois (the inaugural winner), FC Brugeois, and Antwerp FC. The league grew across the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with Union Saint-Gilloise dominating the early decades. The two-division structure was introduced in the 1920s, with promotion and relegation between the top flight and the lower divisions added soon after.

The Belgian Pro League's modern era has been shaped by several major format changes. The playoff system was introduced in 2009 to add more high-stakes matches and reduce the predictability of the title race in a smaller league. The league size was reduced from 18 to 16 clubs in 2023, with the planned return to 18 clubs in 2026-27 reversing this change and removing the playoffs. Union Saint-Gilloise's 2025 title — their first in 90 years — Royal Antwerp's 2022-23 title, their first in 66 years, and Club Brugge's return to the title in 2025-26 have all shaped the league's recent story.