Ask people in Belgium how the Jupiler League Playoffs work and you’ll get a lot of head-shaking. It’s certainly a complex syatem and, yes, it was dreamed up by consultants. For new readers and for those who have not been paying attention, here’s the beef:
The 16 league clubs play each other twice in a classic set-up. The top six teams in the league then go into a pool that again play each other twice in a mini-championship. The six teams start that pool (‘Playoffs 1’) with – and this bit is controversial – just half of the points that they gained in the championship proper. After the required 30 ‘playoff’ games, the winner of ‘Playoffs 1’ will be declared champion and – this is new – will go directly into the Champions League pool stage; the runners–up will go into the qualification stages of that tournament, while the third-placed club will enter the Europa League.
But that’s not all. The teams that finish in positions 7th to 14th will be split into two groups of four. The top team in each group will then play each other (home and away) to determine the winner of the ‘Playoffs 2’. That team will then meet the team finishing 4th in the ‘Playoffs 1’ with the prize being entry to the Europa League. This means that a team finishing 14th could qualify for Europe; Racing Genk did qualify for Europe in 2009-2010 after finishing 11th.
The icing on the cake is that, during this time, the teams finishing 15th and 16th will play each other five times! This is the ‘Playoffs 3’, with the team finishing 15th having a three points start and being able to play three of the five-match series at home. Based on points accumulated after five games, the winner will go into – another – series of playoffs with the teams finishing 2nd, 3rd and 4th (more or less) in the second division, to determine who will enter / stay in the Jupiler League. The team losing the five games mini-series (between 15th and 16th) will be relegated directly to the second division.
The idea was to have more games between the big clubs – more cash from TV and gate receipts – and to keep the suspense going to the end of the season. In 2009-2010, the bigger clubs were not happy when Sint Truiden, Kortrijk and Zulte Waregem qualified for the ‘Playoffs 1’.
2010-2011, however, saw an exciting series of matches after Anderlecht had won the season ‘proper’ by one point from Genk, with Standard Liege 16 points adrift of the ‘champions’. Standard, led by Jelle Van Damme and Axel Witsel, went through the playoffs unbeaten, winning eight of their 10 matches. With a Boussoufa-less Anderlecht dropping out, it went down to the last game of the season at Genk, with Standard the visitors. Genk snatched a draw with Thibaut Courtois performing brilliantly in the Genk goal. The rest, as they say, is history. Genk were champions with Courtois and coach Franky Vercauteren then going their different ways, leaving Genk to stumble into the Champions League.
Before last season, players and fans universally disliked the system. There has probably been somewhat of a change now with a few more fans feeling positive about the playoffs; the majority, however, would undoubtedly still vote for a simple ‘classic’ season. As for what the clubs think; the powerful ones like a smaller division and more ‘big’ matches. Standard were the one major club opposed to the playoffs last season but the system allowed them to come from nowhere and almost grab the title. We will see what 2011-2012 brings. One thing was sure, Anderlecht were never going to allow any players to get a transfer to Russia before this season’s playoffs.
Hei, it's 'only' Belgian football but probably the most decent format of any league in Europe after all.
we must be realistic- Professional sports runs on large sums of money that keep it going and allow it to stay competitive. The Jupiler Pro league doesn't operate in a vacuum. Every direction you head out of Belgium there are larger countries with stronger and wealthier divisions (and for understood reasons)
This new format may not be ideal yet, but it does mostly go in accordance with the clubs ambitions, and surly, to a larger extent then the old 'classic' formula of 2 rounds and enough.
One can really sense the improvement in competition and intensity/importance of matches in most stages of the season and there is a clear notion of progressing in drama as the season continues to it's final matches and concludes the deal with top teams battling it against each other.
The classic format may still be popular and therefore easier to comprehend, but i'd rather it take 5 minutes to learn the new details and have it easier to understand why so many more games are crucial, then the opposite way around- have a system there is no need of explaining but then wondering why the hell do i care about the outcome of most matches, especially those towards the end of the season when everything is settled and you get teams of different goals and budgets facing off randomly against each other.
How exactly is that 'classic' attitude more beneficiary to football and it's fans then the current one?
Thanks Belgofoot,
But can I ask one question? If a team wins the regular season, before the playoffs, do they get any sort of a trophy for that achievement? Is the fact that they won the league rewarded or do they have to win the playoffs before they get a trophy?
It seems a bit unfair that a team that has been the best over thirty games can come away with nothing & a team that has been the best over ten games can be crowned champions.
Very interested to find out.
Thanks
Hi Tony, the team winning the regular season gets nothing. Just the top six go into playoffs (with points reduced by 50%) and the winner at the end of the playoffs gets the trophy. It can make for an exciting end to the season but it’s not really football as it was meant to be.
Halving points got during regular season is totally unfair !!!
Moreover 40 rounds for a season are too many! Players need a rest.
Belgian football association should plan a new format.
Points must not be halved.
Just top 4 should enter playoff 1, so rounds won’t be 40 but 36.
Playoff 3 should be contested by more teams, not just bottom two, that are already almost both relegated. A Playoff-3 with 4 teams would be more exciting.
How many games does a club have to play to win the league, also how many games played to get relegated.
To win the league, teams have to play 30 games in the classic season and 10 in the playoffs = 40. To be relegated quickly takes 30 games plus 5 = 35 (could be as few as 33). To get relegated slowly would take 30 plus 6 = 36. I can provide more info if needed.