A meeting of Belgium’s professional football clubs to discuss changing the format of the Pro League for the 2025-2026 season ended without consensus on Thursday. The existing format will remain in place.
Redesigning the league has been the subject of negotiations between clubs in recent months. An initial proposal by the Pro League – a 1A division of 16 teams, play-offs between four teams for the title and no halving of points at the end of the regular season – was put forward as the preferred design in May, but there was not enough support for the motion to be carried.
Two additional proposals were then put on the table. One involved a 1A division of 16 teams, six-team championship play-offs and halving of points, and the other a league of 18 teams with no play-offs.
Any new proposal required a two-thirds majority, but no such agreement was reached. As a result, the format remains the same: a 16-team league, play-offs for the title and European qualification, and a halving of points won during the regular season before the play-offs begin.
There are 28 professional clubs and you can never meet the aspirations of every club
Union Saint-Gilloise was one of the clubs keen to see the format altered. CEO Philippe Bormans described the retention of halving points at the end of the regular season a “a disappointment, because there are many teams who have the same idea about that”.
“It was especially important to us that the play-offs are retained,” he said. “We would perhaps have preferred reform in a few areas. The fact that there won’t be is perhaps unfortunate, but that’s democracy, surely?"
The league’s current broadcast contract expires at the end of the 2024-25 season, and the Pro League management will soon begin negotiations with potential media rights buyers.
“All of Europe is looking at us when it comes to our current format, which has been so exciting the last two seasons,” Parys said. In the past two years, the title has been decided in the final stages of the final day of the season. “You can hardly do better than the previous denouements. That’s a very strong position to draw to the market.”