Pro League Playoffs preview: Games to look out for
The Pro League Playoffs have kicked off! There are some exciting matchups in the coming weeks, so it’s time to bet smart… (Photo credits: © Tomas Sisk/Photo News)
Champions Playoffs
The numbers 1 through 6 of the regular season meet each other again in the Champions Playoffs. The title is at stake here, but there are also tickets for European club football to play for: Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League.
- #1 goes to the Champions League group phase
- #2 goes to the 3rd Champions League qualifiers
- #3 goes to the 2nd Europa League qualifiers
- #4 or #5 plays a one-off match against the winner of the Europe Playoffs for a spot in the 2nd Conference League qualifiers
Union holds the best cards: it finished first in the regular season, with 70 points. That’s 7 more than runner-up and city rival Anderlecht. In the Champions Playoff, points are split in two and are rounded up. That means that Union starts with 35 points, while Anderlecht has 32.
The four remaining top 6 teams are all somewhat bunched up after a sizeable gap. Antwerp and Club Bruges start off with 26 points each, and our sponsored team Cercle holds 24 points, as does Genk. We have high hopes for our black-and-green boys!
Key matches: Cercle vs Club Bruges, Anderlecht vs Union, Antwerp vs Union
Europe Playoffs
In the Europe Playoffs, we find the 6 teams that wrapped up their regular season campaign as 7th through 12th in the ranking. These clubs fight with one singular goal in mind: to be the first of the bunch after 10 match days. Only this “playoff champion” has a shot at a European ticket.
For this, the 1st of the Europe Playoffs meets the 4th (or 5th, if this 4th happens to be the same team as the Belgian Cup winner) of the Champions Playoffs for a one-off game. The winner of this match is the final Belgian team to play European club football in the upcoming season.
Starting with 24 points after seeing their regular-season harvest cut in half, AA Gent is in the best best position to win the Europe Playoffs. Hot on Gent’s tail is our sponsored team KV Mechelen, with 23 points. STVV (20 points), Standard (17 points), Westerlo and OH Leuven (both 15 points) complete the bunch.
Key matches: KV Mechelen vs STVV, AA Gent vs KV Mechelen, STVV vs AA Gent
Relegation Playoffs
Finally, there are the Relegation Playoffs. These are played among the 4 lowest-ranked teams from the regular season. For 2023-2024, those teams are Charleroi, KAS Eupen KV Kortrijk, and RWDM, yet another team that we sponsor. Avoiding relegation to the Challenger Pro League, is what’s at stake.
There are 6 match days here, and whichever team is “champion” when all is said and done, is saved. Number 2 needs to beat a challenger from the division below (home and away) to keep in the top tier. Numbers 3 and 4 here are relegated either way.
Points aren’t halved here, so Charleroi has the advantage: it has 29 points, 5 more than nearest hopefuls Eupen and Kortrijk, at 24 points each. RWDM is last, with 23 points: a tough spot, but nothing’s lost yet, we believe in RWDM!
Key matches: Charleroi vs RWDM, RWDM vs KAS Eupen, KV Kortrijk vs RWDM