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2018–19 Belgian First Division B

Third season of the Belgian First Division B From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The 2018–19 season of the Belgian First Division B began in August 2018 and ended in April 2019. It was the third season of the First Division B following a change in league format from the old Belgian Second Division.

Quick Facts Season, Champions ...
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The season was impacted by the 2017–19 Belgian football fraud scandal which most notably involved Mechelen, as it was unclear upon completion of the season whether and how any involved clubs would be sanctioned and what the effect would be on the number of promotion and relegation places. As a result, Mechelen won the title and celebrated promotion on 16 March 2019, following a win over Beerschot Wilrijk in the promotion-playoffs, although the verdict on the investigation was still pending.[1] End of May, Mechelen was found guilty and not allowed to be promoted, with runners-up Beerschot Wilrijk taking their spot instead. Mechelen appealed the decision at the Belgian Court for Sportsarbitration, which confirmed the verdict of guilt in July, but also ruled that according to the rules of the Belgian Football FA Mechelen could not be penalized with relegation back to the Belgian First Division A as the violation occurred during a previous season, hence Mechelen was allowed to keep its promotion.

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Team changes

In

Out

  • Cercle Brugge won the promotion play-offs against Beerschot-Wilrijk and was thus promoted after three seasons at the second level.
  • Lierse went bankrupt and dissolved as a team. Tubize had finished in last place in the relegation playoffs but were saved from relegation as a result of the bankruptcy of Lierse.
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Team information

Stadiums and locations

Locations of the 2018–19 Belgian First Division B teams
More information Matricule, Club ...

Personnel and kits

More information Club, Manager ...

Managerial changes

More information Team, Outgoing manager ...
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League table

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Opening tournament

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Source: Belgian First Division B (in French and Dutch)
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Matches won; 3) Goal difference; 4) Goals scored; 5) Away goals scored; 6) Away matches won; 7) Play-off.[16]

Closing tournament

More information Pos, Team ...
Source: Belgian First Division B (in French and Dutch)
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Matches won; 3) Goal difference; 4) Goals scored; 5) Away goals scored; 6) Away matches won; 7) Play-off.[16]
  1. The matches of the tenth matchday in the weekend of 13–14 October 2018 were postponed by nearly two weeks to 30–31 October following an ongoing investigation into match-fixing during the 2017-18 season, most notably involving Mechelen.[15]
  2. The match between OH Leuven and Lommel was postponed again, following the death of Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha as part of the 2018 Leicester helicopter crash.[14]
  3. Match postponed from 2 February 2019 to 6 February due to excessive snow.[17]

Aggregate table

More information Pos, Team ...
Source: Belgian First Division B (in French and Dutch)
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Matches won; 3) Goal difference; 4) Goals scored; 5) Away goals scored; 6) Away matches won; 7) Play-off.[18]
Notes
  1. The team that promotes to the 2019–20 Belgian First Division A, either by winning the promotion playoff or by winning both the opening and the closing tournament, will not take part in the Europa League play-offs. The next team in the league will take its spot instead.
  2. In case the team that wins the promotion playoff finishes in the bottom four, the 4th placed team will play the relegation playoff instead.

Promotion play-offs

The winners of the opening tournament and the closing tournament will meet in a two-legged match to determine the division champion, who will promote to the 2019–20 Belgian First Division A. The team finishing highest in the aggregate table will be allowed to play the second leg at home. In case a single team wins both the opening and the closing tournament, that team will be promoted automatically and no play-offs will be organized.

On 9 November 2018, Mechelen won the opening tournament and was therefore assured of playing at least the promotion play-offs. On the final day of the closing tournament, Mechelen only managed a draw away to Lommel, allowing Beerschot Wilrijk to win the closing period. If Mechelen had won they would have assured direct promotion, instead they had to face Beerschot-Wilrijk in the promotion play-offs.

The first leg saw both teams having chances, with goalkeeper Michael Verrips making big saves in the first half to deny attempts by Erwin Hoffer and Gertjan De Mets, while in the second half Mechelen failed to take advantage of a red card for Jan Van den Bergh. In the second leg, Beerschot-Wilrijk again saw a player sent off following a vicious tackle by Marius Noubissi already after 32 minutes. Nikola Storm opened the score for Mechelen just after the start of the second half, but ten-men Beerschot-Wilrijk managed the equalizer through penalty kick and looked on its way to promote via the away goals rule, when substitute Clément Tainmont scored a volley just two minutes from time to win the match and send Mechelen back to the highest division after just one season in the Belgian First Division B. With that, Beerschot Wilrijk lost the promotion play-offs for the second consecutive year. Several weeks later, Mechelen was found guilty of match-fixing and not allowed to promote as a result, with Beerschot-Wilrijk taking their spot. Mechelen appealed the decision successfully, as per the rules of the Belgian FA they could no longer be punished for events of more than one year in the past.

More information Beerschot Wilrijk, 0–0 ...
Attendance: 10,700
Referee: Erik Lambrechts

More information Mechelen, 2–1 ...
Attendance: 16,298

Mechelen won 2–1 on aggregate.

Relegation play-offs

The four bottom teams in the aggregate table took part in the relegation play-offs in which they kept half of the points they collected during the overall regular season (rounded up). As a result, the teams started with the following points before the playoff: Roeselare 17 points, Lommel 16, OH Leuven 15, and Tubize 12. As the points of all teams were rounded up, the half-point deduction was irrelevant in the case of ties. Tubize started the play-offs strongest, with 2 draws and a win, resulting in no team being safe after three matchdays. On matchday 4, Lommel became the first team to be certain of avoiding relegation following a 3–0 home win over Tubize. Standings after that matchday were Lommel at 23, OH Leuven at 22, Roeselare at 19, and Tubize at 17 (with Lommel ahead of Tubize in case of ties due to finishing higher in the regular season aggregate table). On matchday 5, Tubize was relegated as they first lost at home to OH Leuven 0–3, after which they needed Roeselare to drop points at Lommel two days later. A 0–1 away win of Roeselare meant Tubize was relegated to the Belgian First Amateur Division and the final matchday was irrelevant, only for Roeselare to overtake Lommel in the final standings.

More information Pos, Team ...
Source: Belgian First Division B (in French and Dutch)
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Points without (possible) half points added due to rounding; 3) Position obtained in the 2018–19 Aggregate table 4) Matches won; 5) Goal difference; 6) Goals scored; 7) Away goals scored; 8) Away matches won; 9) Play-off[19]
(R) Relegated
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Season statistics

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Top scorers

As of completion of the regular season.[20]
5 goals (6 players)
4 goals (3 players)
3 goals (16 players)
2 goals (17 players)
1 goal (32 players)
1 own goal (8 players)

Team of the season

Upon completion of the regular season a team of the season award was compiled, based upon the results of the team of the week results throughout the season, constructed based on nominations from managers, assistant-managers, journalists and analysts. The results were announced from 22 March 2019, with one player revealed each day.

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Number of teams by provinces

More information Number of teams, Province or region ...

Notes

  1. Includes eleven goals scored for Tubize, before his transfer to OH Leuven.
  2. Includes one goal scored for OH Leuven, before his transfer to Roeselare.

References

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