2011–12 Belgian Pro League

31st league title Westerlo Club Brugge Genk Gent Note: If dates are given, these must be sourced (typically by the official match report).

Anderlecht Anderlecht Zulte Waregem Sint-Truiden Westerlo

The 2011–12 season of the Belgian Pro League (also known as Jupiler Pro League for sponsorship reasons) was the 109th season of top-tier football in Belgium. It began on 29 July 2011 with the first match of the regular season and ended in May 2012 with the last matches of the playoff rounds. The defending champions were Genk, who this time ended in third position, while the competition was won by Anderlecht, who clenched the title after a 1–1 draw against Club Brugge with two games left to play in the Championship Playoff.

Teams

Team changes

During the previous season, on 23 April 2011, Charleroi were relegated as a result of a 2–2 draw at home to Eupen in the relegation playoff, making it impossible to overtake them in the standings. This ended a spell of 26 consecutive seasons of being at the top level of Belgian football, with only Anderlecht, Club Brugge and Standard Liège being present for more years. As winner of the relegation playoff, Eupen avoided direct relegation, but was still forced to play the Second Division final round together with second division teams Lommel United, Waasland-Beveren and Mons for the final spot in first division. However, after losing four matches in a row, Eupen was also relegated on 19 May 2011 after just one season at the top level. In the final match between Mons and Waasland-Beveren, Mons eventually came out as winner of the final round and took the place of Eupen.

On 24 April 2011, just one day after the relegation of Charleroi, Oud-Heverlee Leuven was promoted after securing the title in the Second Division and as a result, the city of Leuven now has a first division team again for the first time in 61 years.

Stadia and locations

Personnel and sponsoring

Managerial changes

Regular season

League table

Positions by round

Note: The classification was made after the weekend (or midweek) of each matchday, so postponed matches were only processed at the time they were played to represent the real evolution in standings.

Only one match has been postponed during the season:

• On matchday 18: Cercle Brugge vs. Gent of 16 December because of a rain-drenched pitch, was played two days later on 18 December.{{cite news |title=Cercle Brugge-AA Gent is afgelast door de regen|url=http://www.sporza.be/permalink/1.1174952

|color_1-6=#D0F0C0|text_1-6= |color_15-=#FFCCCC|text_15-=

Results

Championship playoff

The points obtained during the regular season were halved (and rounded up) before the start of the playoff. As a result, the teams started with the following points before the playoff: Anderlecht 34 points, Club Brugge 31, Gent 28, Standard 26, Genk 23 and Kortrijk 23.

Playoff table

Adjust points parameter denotes starting points for the first three teams

!!! These values should NOT be changed: so Anderlecht 34, Club Brugge 31, Gent 28, Standard 26, Genk 23 and Kortrijk 23 !!!

Positions by round

Below the positions per round are shown. As teams did not all start with an equal number of points, the initial pre-playoffs positions are also given.

Results

Europa League playoff

Group A contains the teams finishing the regular season in positions 7, 9, 12 and 14. The teams finishing in positions 8, 10, 11 and 13 were placed in Group B.

Group A

Group B

Europa League playoff final

The winners of both playoff groups competed in a two-legged match to play the fourth-placed team of the championship playoff, called Testmatch. The winners of this Testmatch were granted entry to the second qualifying round of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League.

Mertens Gombami De Belder Cercle Brugge won 4–2 on aggregate.

Testmatches Europa League

Europa League playoff final winners Cercle Brugge competed with fourth placed team Gent for the final European ticket. After a 7-2 aggregate win, Gent qualified for the second qualifying round of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League.

Coulibaly El Ghanassy Jørgensen

Gent won 7–2 on aggregate.

Relegation playoff

The teams finishing in the last two positions Westerlo and Sint-Truiden, faced each other in the relegation playoff. Westerlo started with a three-point bonus and home advantage for finishing above Sint-Truiden during the regular season. Although the teams were scheduled to play each other 5 times, Westerlo forced the decision already after four matches making the last match obsolete. Thereby, Sint-Truiden was relegated and Westerlo was allowed to play the relegation playoffs with the teams from the Second Division. Adjust points parameter denotes starting points for the team ending in 15th position during the regular season !!! These values should NOT be changed, so 3 and 0 !!!

Top goalscorers

Source: sporza.be and Sport.be

• DEN Jesper Jørgensen (Gent)
• BEL Bernd Thijs (Gent)
• SRB Dalibor Veselinović (Kortrijk)
• IRN Reza Ghoochannejhad (Sint-Truiden)
• BEL Mohammed Tchité (Standard Liège)
• NGA Chuka (OH Leuven)
• SRB Milan Jovanović (Anderlecht)
• SEN Ibrahima Sidibe (Beerschot (6)/Westerlo (3))
• ISR Elyaniv Barda (Genk)
• CMR Ernest Nfor (Kortrijk)
• BEL Igor Vetokele (Cercle Brugge)
• BEL Thomas Buffel (Genk)
• BEL Kevin De Bruyne (Genk)
• SLO Zlatan Ljubijankič (Gent)
• FRA Steeven Joseph-Monrose (Kortrijk)
• BEL Alessandro Cordaro (Mechelen)
• GAM Ibou (Mons)
• BRA Reynaldo (Westerlo)
• NED Sherjill MacDonald (Beerschot)
• BEL Lukas Van Eenoo (Cercle Brugge)
• SEN Elimane Coulibaly (Gent)
• RSA Daylon Claasen (Lierse)
• BEL Grégory Dufer (Sint-Truiden)
• ISR Roei Dayan (Beerschot)
• POR Amido Baldé (Cercle Brugge)
• BEL Maxime Lestienne (Club Brugge)
• ISR Lior Refaelov (Club Brugge)
• ESP Víctor Vázquez (Club Brugge)
• BEL Björn Vleminckx (Club Brugge)
• FRA Rémi Maréval (Gent (3)/Zulte Waregem (3))
• MAR Mustapha Oussalah (Kortrijk)
• EGY Mohamed El-Gabbas (Lierse)
• SEN Boubacar Diabang (Mechelen)
• FRA Rachid Bourabia (Mons)
• BEL Giuseppe Rossini (Sint-Truiden (3)/Zulte Waregem (3))
• BEL Michy Batshuayi (Standard Liège)
• CIV Cyriac (Standard Liège)
• SEN Mbaye Leye (Standard Liège (3)/Zulte Waregem (3))
• BEL Jens Naessens (Zulte Waregem)
• UKR Oleg Iachtchouk (Cercle Brugge)
• BEL Tim Smolders (Gent)
• ARG Pablo Chavarría (Kortrijk)
• SRB Miloš Marić (Lierse)
• SEN Baye Djiby Fall (Lokeren)
• BEL David Destorme (Mechelen)
• COL Jaime Alfonso Ruiz (Mechelen)
• BEL Jelle Van Damme (Standard Liège)
• BEL Steven De Petter (Westerlo)
• BEL Bart Goor (Westerlo)
• HUN Roland Juhász (Anderlecht)
• BRA Kanu (Anderlecht)
• USA Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht)
• URU Gary Kagelmacher (Beerschot)
• ZIM Vuza Nyoni (Beerschot)
• MAR Nabil Dirar (Club Brugge)
• NED Ryan Donk (Club Brugge)
• BEL Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe (Club Brugge)
• BEL Christian Brüls (Gent)
• BEL Yassine El Ghanassy (Gent)
• BEL Nill De Pauw (Lokeren)
• SUI Mijat Marić (Lokeren)
• BEL Bjorn Ruytinx (OH Leuven)
• BEL Yoni Buyens (Standard Liège)
• VEN Luis Manuel Seijas (Standard Liège)
• ISR Shlomi Arbeitman (Westerlo)
• BEL Tom De Sutter (Anderlecht)
• COD Patou Kabangu (Anderlecht)
• POL Marcin Wasilewski (Anderlecht)
• BEL Guillaume François (Beerschot)
• FIN Roni Porokara (Beerschot)
• BEL Kristof D'haene (Cercle Brugge)
• BEL Kevin Janssens (Cercle Brugge)
• COL Carlos Bacca (Club Brugge)
• BEL Thomas Meunier (Club Brugge)
• ESP Melli (Gent)
• BEL Brecht Capon (Kortrijk)
• HUN Péter Czvitkovics (Kortrijk)
• SER Nebojša Pavlović (Kortrijk)
• BIH Ervin Zukanović (Kortrijk)
• SEN Ibrahima Gueye (Lokeren)
• BEL Benjamin Mokulu (Lokeren)
• BEL Koen Persoons (Lokeren)
• CGO Maël Lépicier (Mons)
• BEL Thomas Azevedo (OH Leuven)
• BEL Frederik Boi (OH Leuven)
• BEL Karel Geraerts (OH Leuven)
• UKR Sacha Iakovenko (OH Leuven)
• FRA Grégory Christ (Sint-Truiden)
• BEL Evariste Ngolok (Westerlo)
• BEL Teddy Chevalier (Zulte Waregem)
• BEL Davy De Fauw (Zulte Waregem)
• BEL Jérémy Serwy (Zulte Waregem)
• MKD Aleksandar Trajkovski (Zulte Waregem)
• ARG Lucas Biglia (Anderlecht)
• BEL Romelu Lukaku (Anderlecht)
• BEL Anthony Portier (Cercle Brugge)
• BEL Carl Hoefkens (Club Brugge)
• TUN Fabien Camus (Genk)
• BEL Jeroen Simaeys (Genk)
• HUN Dániel Tőzsér (Genk)
• ESP César Arzo (Gent)
• CIV Yaya Soumahoro (Gent)
• BEL Hannes van der Bruggen (Gent)
• BEL Jason Adesanya (Lierse)
• MKD Boban Grnčarov (Lierse)
• BEL Wesley Sonck (Lierse)
• RSA Ayanda Patosi (Lokeren)
• BEL Katuku Tshimanga (Lokeren)
• BIH Boris Pandža (Mechelen)
• GAM Mustapha Jarju (Mons)
• BEL Tim Matthys (Mons)
• FRA Jérémy Sapina (Mons)
• BEL Tom van Imschoot (Mons)
• CZE Radek Dejmek (OH Leuven)
• GER Sascha Kotysch (Sint-Truiden)
• BEL Dolly Menga (Sint-Truiden)
• BEL Nils Schouterden (Sint-Truiden)
• FRA Franck Berrier (Standard Liège (1)/Zulte Waregem (1))
• BRA Felipe (Standard Liège)
• URU Ignacio María González (Standard Liège)
• BRA Kanu (Standard Liège)
• BEL Geoffrey Mujangi Bia (Standard Liège)
• BEL Lens Annab (Westerlo)
• BEL Dieter Dekelver (Westerlo)
• GHA William Owusu (Westerlo)
• FRA Jonathan Delaplace (Zulte Waregem)
• CAF Habib Habibou (Zulte Waregem)
• DEN Brian Hamalainen (Zulte Waregem)
• BEL Thomas Matton (Zulte Waregem)
• BRA Fernando Canesin (Anderlecht)
• BEL Nathan Kabasele (Anderlecht)
• BEL Arnor Angeli (Beerschot)
• BIH Adnan Čustović (Beerschot)
• BEL Wim De Decker (Beerschot)
• BEL Conor Laerenbergh (Beerschot)
• ISR Dor Malul (Beerschot)
• CRO Tomislav Mikulić (Beerschot)
• BEL Hans Cornelis (Cercle Brugge)
• BEL Bernt Evens (Cercle Brugge)
• BEL Gregory Mertens (Cercle Brugge)
• BRA Renato Neto (Cercle Brugge)
• BEL William Carvalho (Cercle Brugge)
• ESP Jordi (Club Brugge)
• NOR Mushaga Bakenga (Club Brugge)
• DEN Niki Zimling (Club Brugge)
• BEL David Hubert (Genk)
• TRI Khaleem Hyland (Genk)
• GER Torben Joneleit (Genk)
• BEL Anthony Limbombe (Genk)
• BRA Nadson (Genk)
• BEL Anthony Vanden Borre (Genk)
• GUI Ibrahima Sory Conte (Gent)
• MLI Mamoutou N'Diaye (Gent)
• BRA Rafinha (Gent)
• BEL Brecht Dejaeghere (Kortrijk)
• BEL Gertjan De Mets (Kortrijk)
• BEL Mohamed Messoudi (Kortrijk)
• BEL David Vandenbroek (Kortrijk)
• ANG Flávio Amado (Lierse)
• GHA Cofie Bekoe (Lierse)
• MAR Soufiane Bidaoui (Lierse)
• BEL Kris De Wree (Lierse)
• BEL Frédéric Frans (Lierse)
• BEL Stein Huysegems (Lierse)
• HUN Péter Kovács (Lierse)
• CIV Barry Boubacar Copa (Lokeren)
• BEL Laurens De Bock (Lokeren)
• ISL Alfreð Finnbogason (Lokeren)
• CRO Ivan Leko (Lokeren)
• BEL Killian Overmeire (Lokeren)
• FRA Jérémy Taravel (Lokeren)
• BEL Maxime Biset (Mechelen)
• BEL Seth De Witte (Mechelen)
• GHA Abdul-Yakuni Iddi (Mechelen)
• POR Sérgio Oliveira (Mechelen)
• BEL Wannes Van Tricht (Mechelen)
• FRA Chris Makiese (Mons)
• COD Zola Matumona (Mons)
• FRA Benjamin Nicaise (Mons)
• BEL Nicolas Timmermans (Mons)
• SWE Patrick Amoah (OH Leuven)
• BEL Loris Brogno (OH Leuven)
• BEL Emmerik De Vriese (OH Leuven)
• BEL Nicky Hayen (OH Leuven)
• ISL Stefan Gislason (OH Leuven)
• BEL Pieter Nys (OH Leuven)
• BEL Wim Raymaekers (OH Leuven)
• BEL Kevin Roelandts (OH Leuven)
• BEL Ludovic Buysens (Sint-Truiden)
• BEL Koen Daerden (Sint-Truiden)
• BEL Vincent Euvrard (Sint-Truiden)
• ITA Alessandro Iandoli (Sint-Truiden)
• BEL Pierre-Yves Ngawa (Sint-Truiden)
• AUT Rubin Okotie (Sint-Truiden)
• BEL Yannick Rymenants (Sint-Truiden)
• NGA Imoh Ezekiel (Standard Liège)
• TOG Serge Gakpé (Standard Liège)
• HAI Réginal Goreux (Standard Liège)
• CMR Aloys Nong (Standard Liège)
• BRA Ellenton Liliu (Westerlo)
• GER Felix Luz (Westerlo)
• BRA Marcão (Westerlo)
• BEL Jeroen Vanthournout (Westerlo)
• BEL Stef Wils (Westerlo)
• ESP Juande (Westerlo)
• BEL Miguel Dachelet (Zulte Waregem)
• BEL Karel D'Haene (Zulte Waregem)
• ISL Ólafur Ingi Skúlason (Zulte Waregem)
• BEL Baptiste Martin (Kortrijk), scored for Mons and Genk)
• CRO Tomislav Mikulić (Beerschot, scored for Genk and Mons)
• BEL Denis Viane (Cercle Brugge, scored twice for Genk)
• BRA Samuel (Anderlecht, scored for OH Leuven)
• POR Nuno Reis (Cercle Brugge, scored for Sint-Truiden)
• NOR Tom Høgli (Club Brugge, scored for Mechelen)
• SEN Alpha Bâ (Gent, scored for Westerlo)
• SEN Elimane Coulibaly (Gent, scored for Genk)
• FRA Alassane També (Kortrijk, scored for Lokeren)
• BEL Kristof Van Hout (Kortrijk, scored for Club Brugge)
• SRB Dalibor Veselinović (Kortrijk), scored for Gent)
• MKD Boban Grnčarov (Lierse), scored for Cercle Brugge)
• BEL Koen Persoons (Lokeren, scored for Mechelen)
• BEL Wouter Biebauw (Mechelen, scored for Standard Liège)
• ROC Xavier Chen (Mechelen, scored for Beerschot)
• BEL Kenny van Hoevelen (Mechelen, scored for Beerschot)
• BEL Kevin Roelandts (OH Leuven, scored for Club Brugge)
• BEL Peter Delorge (Sint-Truiden, scored for Mons)
• GER Sascha Kotysch (Sint-Truiden, scored for Gent)
• BEL Wim Mennes (Sint-Truiden, scored for Mons)
• BEL Jelle Van Damme (Standard Liège, scored for OH Leuven)
• BEL Wouter Corstjens (Westerlo, scored for Club Brugge)

Attendances

Source:

References

References

1. "Jupiler Pro League".
2. "Jupiler Pro League".
3. "Jupiler Pro League".
4. "Jupiler Pro League".
5. (2011-04-23). "Charleroi relegates to Second Division". sporza.be.
6. (2011-05-19). "Promotion to First Division gets closer for Mons". sporza.be.
7. (2011-05-29). "Promotion to First Division gets closer for Mons". sporza.be.
8. (2011-04-24). "Leuven has a first division team again after 61 years". sporza.be.
9. (2011-05-14). "AA Gent and Franky Dury split". sporza.be.
10. (2011-06-07). "Sollied:"I'm coming to AA Gent"". sporza.be.
11. (2011-05-23). "Coach Hugo Broos leaves Zulte-Waregem". sporza.be.
12. (2011-05-14). "New coach of Zulte Waregem is from Bosnia". sporza.be.
13. (2011-06-01). "Samy:"Not Sollied, but Chris Janssens"". sporza.be.
14. (2011-06-06). "D'Onofrio and Conceiçao leave Standard". sporza.be.
15. (2011-06-28). "José Riga is the new Standard coach". sporza.be.
16. (2011-08-09). "Genk confirms:Vercauteren is leaving". sporza.be.
17. (2011-08-18). "Frank vercauteren says goodbye to Genk". sporza.be.
18. (2011-08-30). "Genk to present Been tonight as new head coach". sporza.be.
19. (2011-08-30). "STVV does not continue with Brepoels". sporza.be.
20. (2011-09-02). "Van der Elst succeeds Brepoels at STVV". sporza.be.
21. (2011-10-30). "Club Brugge fires coach Koster". sporza.be.
22. (2011-11-09). "Daum becomes new Club Brugge coach". sporza.be.
23. (2011-12-27). "Zulte Waregem fires Kalezić". sporza.be.
24. (2011-12-30). "Zulte Waregem brings back Francky Dury". sporza.be.
25. (2012-02-28). "Van Wijk immediately leaves at Mons". sporza.be.
26. (2012-02-28). "Scifo is the successor of van Wijk at Mons". sporza.be.
27. (2012-03-26). "Jacky Mathijssen no longer Beerschot coach". sporza.be.
28. (2012-04-13). "Adrie Koster becomes new Beerschot coach". sporza.be.
29. https://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn/archive/bel/avebel12.htm