2011–12 Belgian Second Division

The 2011–12 season of the Belgian Second Division (also known as EXQI League for sponsorship reasons) started in August 2011 and is the second tier football league in Belgium. The league is played by 18 teams, with 34 matchdays of 9 matches each, so each team plays the 17 other teams twice. The season is divided into 3 periods, the first period of 10 matches, the second of 12 matches and the third of 12 matches. Each period winner qualifies for the Belgian Second Division final round. On 14 April 2012, Charleroi became champions without playing as closest rivals Eupen and Oostende both did not manage to win their matches and thereby could no longer mathematically overtake Charleroi in the standings.

Belgian Second Division

Season	2011–12
Champions	Charleroi
Promoted	Charleroi Waasland-Beveren
Relegated	Dender EH Wetteren
Matches played	306
Goals scored	815 (2.66 per match)
Top goalscorer	Harlem Gnohéré
← 2010–11 2012–13 →

Team changes

After promotion and relegation, only 13 teams remained in the league, with 5 other being replaced:

Out

• Oud-Heverlee Leuven were promoted as champions of the previous season.
• Mons ended third, but won the second division final round and was therefore also promoted to the Pro League.
• Turnhout ended 16th, but lost the third division playoffs and was subsequently relegated.
• Rupel Boom was relegated to the Third Division after finishing 17th.
• Tournai was relegated to the Third Division after finishing 18th.

In

• Charleroi was directly relegated from the Pro League.
• Eupen lost the second division final round and as a result they were also relegated from the Pro League.
• Aalst promoted as champions from Third Division A.
• WS Woluwe promoted as champions from Third Division B.
• Sint-Niklaas was promoted after winning the third division playoffs.

Team information

Personnel and locations

Antwerp

Boussu

Heist

Brussels

Oostende

Beveren

Roeselare

Wetteren

Tienen

Tubize

Lommel

Dender

Visé

WS Woluwe

Aalst

Charleroi

Eupen

Sint-Niklaas

Location of teams in Belgian Second Division 2011-12

Club	City	Current manager
V.C. Eendracht Aalst 2002	Aalst	Bart Van Renterghem
Royal Antwerp F.C.	Antwerp	Bart Wilmssen
K.V. Red Star Waasland-Beveren	Beveren	Dirk Geeraerd
R. Boussu Dour Borinage	Boussu	Arnauld Mercier
FC Brussels	Sint-Jans-Molenbeek	Stéphane Demol
S. du Pays de Charleroi	Charleroi	Dennis van Wijk
F.C.V. Dender E.H.	Denderleeuw	Vital Borkelmans
K.A.S. Eupen	Eupen	Wolfgang Frank
K.S.K. Heist	Heist-op-den-Berg	Cis Bosschaerts
K.V. Oostende	Ostend	Frederik Vanderbiest
Lommel United	Lommel	Philip Haagdoren
K.S.V. Roeselare	Roeselare	Serhiy Serebrennikov
F.C.N. Sint-Niklaas	Sint-Niklaas	Alex Czerniatynski
K.V.K. Tienen	Tienen	Dany Ost
A.F.C. Tubize	Tubize	Dante Brogno
R.C.S. Visé	Wezet	Loris Dominissini
Standaard Wetteren	Wetteren	Kris Van Der Haegen
White Star Woluwe F.C.	Woluwe-Saint-Lambert	Felice Mazzu

Managerial changes

During summer break

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Eupen	Danny Ost	Contract Ended.	End of 2010-11 season	Wolfgang Frank	4 July 2011[1]
Standaard Wetteren	Wim De Corte	Became assistant-trainer at Beerschot AC.	End of 2010-11 season [2]	Kris Van Der Haegen	28 June 2011 [3]
Charleroi	Luka Peruzović	Contract Ended.	End of 2010-11 season	Jos Daerden	29 June 2011 [4]
Roeselare	Nico Vanderdonck	Contract Ended.	End of 2010-11 season [5]	Serhiy Serebrennikov	30 June 2011 [5]
Visé	José Riga	Signed for Standard Liège.	28 June 2011 [6]	Vittorio Bevilacqua	1 July 2011 [7]
Visé	Vittorio Bevilacqua	Mutual Consent.	8 July 2011 [8]	Marc Grosjean	9 July 2011 [9]

During regular season

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Lommel United	Franky Van der Elst	Signed for Sint-Truiden.	2 September 2011[10]	Philip Haagdoren	6 September 2011[11]	8th
Visé	Marc Grosjean	Fired.	19 September 2011 [12]	Loris Dominissini	22 September 2011 [13]	8th
Charleroi	Jos Daerden	Fired.	26 September 2011 [14]	Tibor Balogh	26 September 2011	8th
Tienen	Valère Billen	Fired.	7 October 2011 [15]	Ronny Schuermans	19 October 2011 [16]	12th
Brussels	Michel De Wolf	Mutual Consent.	9 October 2011 [17]	Christian Rits	9 October 2011 [17]	17th
Sint-Niklaas	Regi Van Acker	Fired.	12 October 2011 [18]	Chris Andries	12 October 2011 [18]	12th
Antwerp	Bart De Roover	Fired.	13 November 2011 [19]	Bart Wilmssen	15 November 2011 [20]	8th
Tubize	Dany Ost	Fired.	20 November 2011 [21]	Laurent Demol	20 November 2011 [22]	18th
Sint-Niklaas	Chris Andries	Replaced.	2 January 2012 [23]	Alex Czerniatynski	2 January 2012 [23]	17th
Brussels	Christian Rits	Caretaker replaced.	15 February 2012 [24]	Stéphane Demol	15 February 2012 [24]	13th
Charleroi	Tibor Balogh	Fired.	22 February 2012 [25]	Mario Notaro	23 February 2012 [26]	2nd
Tubize	Laurent Demol	Caretaker replaced.	27 February 2012 [22]	Dante Brogno	27 February 2012 [22]	16th
Tienen	Ronny Schuermans	Caretaker replaced.	27 February 2012 [27]	Dany Ost	27 February 2012 [27]	17th
Charleroi	Mario Notaro	Replaced.	5 March 2012 [28]	Dennis van Wijk	5 March 2012 [28]	1st

Regular season

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Charleroi (C, P)	34	23	5	6	64	34	+30	74	Belgian First Division
2	Waasland-Beveren (P)	34	21	5	8	61	34	+27	68	Qualification for Promotion play-off
3	Eupen	34	19	11	4	61	34	+27	68
4	Oostende	34	19	9	6	61	29	+32	66
5	Lommel	34	15	7	12	48	42	+6	52
6	Woluwe	34	14	9	11	48	43	+5	51
7	Aalst	34	13	7	14	46	52	−6	46
8	Heist	34	11	13	10	46	46	0	46
9	Visé	34	12	8	14	44	41	+3	44
10	Antwerp	34	12	7	15	39	42	−3	43
11	Borinage	34	12	6	16	44	54	−10	42
12	Tubize	34	12	5	17	36	55	−19	41
13	Roeselare	34	9	13	12	46	51	−5	40
14	Brussels	34	9	11	14	44	46	−2	38
15	Sint-Niklaas	34	8	10	16	41	54	−13	34
16	Tienen (R)	34	9	6	19	34	61	−27	33	Qualification for Relegation play-off
17	Dender (R)	34	6	15	13	33	43	−10	33	Relegation to 2012–13 Belgian Third Division
18	Wetteren (R)	34	4	9	21	19	54	−35	21

Updated to match(es) played on 18 May 2012. Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) number of matches won; if teams are still tied a playoff is organised.
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Period winners

The season is divided into three periods. The first ten matchdays together form the first period, matchdays 11 to 22 form period two and the last 12 form period three. The three period winners take part in the Belgian Second Division final round together with the winner of the 2011–12 Belgian Pro League relegation playoff. The winner of this final round gets to play in the 2012–13 Belgian Pro League. In case one or more periods are won by the team winning the league or in case one team wins multiple periods, the extra places go the teams finishing the highest in the league not already qualified. So in the theoretical case that one team wins all three periods and becomes the league champion, then the teams in positions 2, 3 and 4 will take part in the final round.

Period 1

Already after the first nine matches of the season, Eupen clinched the first period title.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Eupen	10	8	2	0	25	9	+16	26	Belgian Second Division final round
2	Charleroi	10	6	2	2	22	15	+7	20
3	Waasland-Beveren	10	6	1	3	15	8	+7	19
4	Oostende	10	5	4	1	19	11	+8	19
5	Lommel	10	5	3	2	14	9	+5	18

Updated to match(es) played on 23 October 2011. Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) number of matches won; if teams are still tied a playoff is organised.

Period 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Charleroi	12	9	1	2	18	6	+12	28	Belgian Second Division final round
2	Eupen	12	7	3	2	19	9	+10	24
3	Oostende	12	6	3	3	23	10	+13	21
4	Waasland-Beveren	12	6	3	3	18	17	+1	21
5	Heist	12	6	2	4	22	16	+6	20

Updated to match(es) played on 27 February 2012. Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) number of matches won; if teams are still tied a playoff is organised.

Period 3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Waasland-Beveren	12	9	1	2	25	8	+17	28	Belgian Second Division final round
2	Charleroi	12	8	2	2	24	13	+11	26
3	Oostende	12	8	2	2	19	5	+14	26
4	Tubize	12	7	2	3	17	14	+3	23
5	Woluwe	12	5	3	4	15	14	+1	18

Updated to match(es) played on 16 May 2012. Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) number of matches won; if teams are still tied a playoff is organised.

Top goalscorers

Including matches played on 29 April 2012; Source: Soccerway

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Hervé Onana	Waasland-Beveren	18
2	Moussa Gueye	SC Charleroi	17
3	Samy Houri	FC Brussels	15
	Christian Santos	AS Eupen	15
5	Janis Coppin	FC Dender	14
	Anthony Di Lallo	SV Roeselare	14
	Ioannis Masmanidis	AS Eupen	14
	Mickael Seoudi	Waasland-Beveren	14
9	Davy Brouwers	Lommel United	13
	Stavros Glouftsis	Sportkring Sint-Niklaas	13
	Bart Webers	K.S.K. Heist	13
12	Koffi	Boussu Dour Borinage	12
	Daniel Rodrigo de Oliveira	White Star Woluwe F.C.	12
14	Emmanuel Françoise	C.S. Visé	11
	Raphaël Lecomte	C.S. Visé	11