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Originally posted by Remy:[..]

Thanks, clear to me now! Except for the third paragraph, it's clear, but how the hell did they came up with something like that.

I actually think the relegation play-off is the easiest to understand, and the fairest lol. It does seem quite a complex system and seem very odd that potentially the team that finishes 14th could grab a Europa League place...

I'm not sure how Belgian fans feel about the system or how successful it is but it would be more logical to play the way the Dutch do.

BelgianBono

14 years

Originally posted by iTim:[..]

Basically: ...

The league runs as standard, each team plays home and away against the other teams. 16 teams in the league, 30 games each. At the end of the season the league is split (Similar to Scotland) into 3 separate play-offs. The top 6 teams play against each other twice to determine the champions. However in the interests of a more competitive round of play-offs or a fairer round of play-offs, each team has their points total halved. So an 8 point lead becomes a 4 point lead.

Teams placed 7th-14th enter a different round of play-offs and these determine the Europa League qualifiers. They are split into 2 groups, A and B. They play each other twice and their points start again from 0. The winner of group A plays the winner of group B and the winner of the overall play-offs play the team that finished 4th in the first set of play-offs. The winner of the 'final' then claims the last remaining European place.

Finally, the bottom two teams enter a third play-off and play each other 5 times, however, the team that finished 15th starts with a 3 point lead. The team that has the least points is relegated to the 2nd division and the winner enters another play-off with the promotion contenders from the 2nd division.

Simple? No. Fair? Debatable.

Perfect explanation !

But indeed as long/complicated/stupid as our political system.

Originally posted by Remy:[..]

Thanks, clear to me now! Except for the third paragraph, it's clear, but how the hell did they came up with something like that.

See above, because we're a country of comedians

Or maybe I should say clowns.

Originally posted by iTim:[..]
I actually think the relegation play-off is the easiest to understand, and the fairest lol. It does seem quite a complex system and seem very odd that potentially the team that finishes 14th could grab a Europa League place...

I'm not sure how Belgian fans feel about the system or how successful it is but it would be more logical to play the way the Dutch do.

- It ISN'T fair. Last year, Genk became only 11th after a horrible season, but still played European football because they played a couple of good matches in the Play Offs and won it...
This year, Standard Liège ended just 6th, with 1 point more than nr.7, played an awful season for being a potential champion and are now destroying everybody... => if they win tomorrow they'll be nr.1...

- Belgian fans are almost all against it. Top-matches lose their value if you play 4 times against each other, the season is too long and expensive and stadiums are almost empty, especially in PO-II...
I'm just back from Club Brugge - Racing Genk (PO-I), which in normal circumstances would be a sold-out topmatch (as it was in the regular competition), but now there were less than 19.000 people while capacity is 27.000 and average during regular competition 25.000...

EDIT : see, that's way I didn't want to explain all in the first place, if I begin typing I'm always ending up with major posts