Belgian footballThe next two seasons, 18 clubs will continue to play football in 1A. And the professional clubs can (almost certainly) have their promise teams play football in 1B, First National and Second National from 2022. After months of lobbying, the Pro League reached an agreement on the final deadline.
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With courage and perseverance, the snail reached the ark. The contradictions between top clubs and smaller clubs have been great in recent months. The top clubs wanted to let their promises play in the lower divisions, and back to 16 teams in 1A as soon as possible. The smaller clubs mainly wanted an extension of the competition format with 18 in 1A, and were not interested in those promise teams.
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After many weeks of meetings, a working group including Sven Jaecques (Antwerp), Mehdi Bayat (Charleroi) and Eddy Cordier (Zulte Waregem) put forward a proposal. Two more years with 18 teams in 1A. And the U23 are allowed to play football in 1B (four teams), in First National (four teams) and Second National (six teams).
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Today that proposal had to be approved, or all the work could go back to the trash can. In the end, a two-thirds majority was found. Striking: with the support of Racing Genk, Charleroi and Antwerp, but not of Club Brugge. After all, the halving of the points in the play-offs remains intact.
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Pro League CEO Pierre François has yet to work out the final details. Some points and commas still have to be agreed with the Walloon amateur wing, among others. That is why the U23 teams will not yet be integrated in 2021. That will happen in the 2022-2023 season, provided that professionals and amateurs find an agreement about this. Normally that shouldn’t be a problem.
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