The regular matchdays of the Jupiler Pro League are over, which means the playoffs are coming up again. Both the Champion’s Playoffs and the Europe Playoffs will be played starting from this weekend, while the Relegation Playoffs begin a week later.
Champion’s Play-Offs
The championship round is contested by the six teams that have collected the most points throughout the JPL season. These points are halved, and then the teams must gather points again in both an away and a home match. On the final matchday, May 26, we will know the title winner of this season. They will also secure a spot in the group stage of the Champions League. The teams finishing in 2nd and 3rd place will also enter the qualification for the Champions and Europa League respectively.
First up, Anderlecht and Antwerp will face each other in Brussels on Saturday, March 30. The title holders from Antwerp have a lot of ground to make up against the other Brussels team, Union. With 26 points, they are 9 points behind Union and 6 points behind Anderlecht. A win for Anderlecht would be enough to draw level. Two days later, on Monday, April 1, we’ll witness a city derby between Cercle Brugge and Club Brugge. Club starts the playoffs in fourth place, just off the podium and not enough for a European qualification. However, with just one point, they can leapfrog Antwerp if Antwerp fails to win against Anderlecht. This also means that Cercle only needs a win, as they are just two points behind.
The provisional leader visits Genk on the same Monday. Union managed to win 21 out of 30 matches in the league, finishing with a 7-point lead over Anderlecht. After halving the points, they maintain a 3-point lead. Union can’t afford a defeat either. For Genk, everything is still possible, but they need to make up an 11-point deficit.
Europe Play-offs
Teams from seventh to twelfth place in the regular season compete in ten matchdays for the last European ticket. Like in the Champion’s Play-offs, the collected points are halved here, and the Europe Play-offs also conclude on May 26. Over ten matchdays, both away and home matches are played.
The Europe Play-offs kick off on Friday, March 29, with a duel between Gent and Standard. Despite a final match victory with a score of 5-0, Gent couldn’t gather enough points for a spot in the top 6. They watched as Genk secured a place in the championship round with a draw. With 24 points, Gent leads in the Europe Play-offs, closely followed by Mechelen with just one point less. Standard, on the other hand, needs to make up a lot of ground, currently trailing by 7 points.
OH Leuven also has to make up a significant number of points. The team narrowly avoided relegation and has the fewest points alongside Westerlo. They face a tough opponent in KV Mechelen. Mechelen currently sits in second place, just one point behind KAA Gent. A victory for Mechelen could be very beneficial.
The last match in the Europe Play-offs is between STVV and Westerlo. Sint-Truiden’s Kanaries are within striking distance of Standard, but they need to make up at least 3 points to move up. They play against Westerlo’s Kemphanen, who secured their place in the Jupiler Pro League with a 1-1 draw against Genk. Together with OH Leuven, they only have 15 points, so they need to win several matches quickly.
Relegation Play-offs
The relegation round begins a week later, on Saturday, April 6. On that day, all four teams face each other for the first time. Unlike the previous playoffs, the points from the Jupiler Pro League are not halved here. The winner of these playoffs stays in the JPL, while the runner-up plays a playoff against the winner of the Challenger Pro League’s final round. The last two teams will be relegated. On the first Saturday, RWDM will play against Charleroi, and Kortrijk will visit Eupen.
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