The Pro League, the body that organises Belgium’s top football flight, has approved a reorganisation plan that will take effect in the 2026/27 Belgian football season. The Pro League approved the new competition format with the slenderest of majorities: 34 votes in favour.
Belgian professional clubs have finally come to an agreement on a ‘new’ competition format. The top league returns to a regular competition with 18 clubs without play-offs. Numbers 1 to 4 will get a European ticket, while numbers 17 and 18 will be relegated.
‘We are saying adieu to a formula that has certainly served us well over the last 15 years,’ said Pro League CEO Lorin Parys. ‘But given the large number of games these days, it had become difficult to find support for it among an overwhelming majority of the general assembly.’
When the plans leaked earlier this week, everything pointed to the clubs being ready to introduce the format as early as next season, but that, fuelled by legal uncertainty, will not happen.
Next season (2025/2026) will be a transitional year in which there will still be 16 Belgian clubs in the top flight as well as play-offs, only from 2026/2027 onwards will the top flight move to the new format.
In the eyes of the Pro League, there are several advantages to returning to a format with 18 clubs: the league will start a week later than today and there will be a two-week winter break.