2014–15 Belgian Pro League
The 2014–15 season of the Belgian Pro League is the 112th season of top-tier football in Belgium. It started on 27 July 2014 and finished in May 2015. K.A.A. Gent won the league, making it the first championship title in their 115-year history.
Teams
Following the 2013–14 Belgian Pro League, R.A.E.C. Mons were relegated to the 2014–15 Belgian Second Division after losing their relegation playoff series against OH Leuven. Mons is replaced by 2013–14 Belgian Second Division champions K.V.C. Westerlo, who returned to the highest level after their relegation during the 2011–12 season.Mouscron-Péruwelz replaces OH Leuven as they won the 2014 Belgian Second Division Final Round head of K.A.S. Eupen, Sint-TruidenV.V. and OH Leuven.
Stadia and locations
Club | Location | Venue | Capacity |
Anderlecht | Constant Vanden Stock Stadium | 21,000 | |
Brugge | Jan Breydel Stadium | 29,945 | |
Charleroi | Stade du Pays de Charleroi | 25,000 | |
Brugge | Jan Breydel Stadium | 29,945 | |
Genk | Cristal Arena | 24,900 | |
Ghent | Ghelamco Arena | 20,000 | |
Kortrijk | Guldensporen Stadion | 9,500 | |
Lier | Herman Vanderpoortenstadion | 14,538 | |
Lokeren | Daknamstadion | 10,000 | |
Mechelen | Argosstadion Achter de Kazerne | 13,123 | |
Mouscron | Stade Le Canonnier | 10,800 | |
Ostend | Albertpark | 8,125 | |
Liège | Stade Maurice Dufrasne | 30,000 | |
Beveren | Freethiel Stadion | 13,290 | |
Westerlo | Het Kuipje | 7,982 | |
Waregem | Regenboogstadion | 8,500 |
Personnel and kits
Club | Chairman | Manager | Manufacturer | Sponsors |
Roger Vanden Stock | Besnik Hasi | adidas | BNP Paribas Fortis | |
Paul Vanhaecke | Dennis van Wijk | Masita | ADMB | |
Fabien Debecq | Felice Mazzu | Maps | belgacom | |
Bart Verhaeghe | Michel Preud'homme | Nike | proximus | |
Herbert Houben | Alex McLeish | Nike | beobank | |
Michel Louwagie | Hein Vanhaezebrouck | Masita/Jartazi | VDK | |
Joseph Allijns | Yves Vanderhaeghe | Jako | AGO Jobs | |
Maged Samy | Olivier Guillou | Jako | Wadi Degla | |
Roger Lambrecht | Peter Maes | Jartazi | QTeam | |
Johan Timmermans | Aleksandar Janković | Kappa | Telenet | |
Edward Van Daele | Fernando Da Cruz | Nike | TradeCo | |
Marc Coucke | Frederik Vanderbiest | Joma | Versluys | |
Roland Duchâtelet | José Riga | Joma | BASE | |
Jozef Van Remoortel | Guido Brepoels | Jako | Remo Frit | |
Herman Wijnants | Harm van Veldhoven | Saller | Soudal | |
Willy Naessens | Francky Dury | Patrick | Record Bank |
Managerial changes
Regular season
League table
Results
Championship playoff
The points obtained during the regular season were halved before the start of the playoff. As a result, the teams started with the following points before the playoff: Club Brugge 31 points, Gent 29, Anderlecht 29, Standard 27, Kortrijk 26 and Charleroi 25. Had any ties occurred at the end of the playoffs, the half point would have been deducted if it was added. However, as all six teams received the half point bonus, this did not make a difference this season.Playoff table
Europa League playoff
Group A contains the teams finishing the regular season in positions 7, 9, 12 and 14. The teams that finish in positions 8, 10, 11 and 13 were placed in Group B.Group A
Group B
Europa League playoff final
The winners of both playoff groups, Mechelen and Lokeren, compete in a two-legged match to play the fourth-placed team of the championship playoff, called Testmatch. The winners of this Testmatch will be granted entry to the second qualifying round of the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League.----
Mechelen won 4–3 on aggregate.
Testmatches Europa League
The Europa League playoff final was played over two legs between the Europa league playoff final winners, Mechelen, and the fifth-placed finisher of the championship playoff, Charleroi. The winners qualifies for the second qualifying round of the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League.----
Charleroi wins 3-2 on aggregate
Relegation Playoff
The teams that finished in the last two positions will face each other in the relegation playoff. Lierse was sure of ending up in the relegation playoff after losing away to Gent on 7 March 2015, while Cercle Brugge qualified one week later after losing 2–3 at home to Mechelen.The winner of this playoff will play the second division playoff with three Belgian Second Division teams, with only the winner of that playoff playing at the highest level the next season. Lierse failed to win the Belgian Second Division playoff resulting in their relegation, in addition to Cercle Brugge.
The matches in the table below were played from left to right:
Season statistics
Source:Up to and including matches played on 24 May 2015.''
Top scorers
Position | Player | Club | Goals |
1 | Aleksandar Mitrović | Anderlecht | 20 |
2 | Ivan Santini | Kortrijk | 15 |
3 | Renaud Emond | Waasland-Beveren | 14 |
3 | Geoffrey Mujangi Bia | Standard Liège | 14 |
5 | Laurent Depoitre | Gent | 13 |
5 | José Izquierdo | Club Brugge | 13 |
5 | Dalibor Veselinović | Mechelen | 13 |
8 | Teddy Chevalier | Kortrijk | 12 |
8 | Abdoulay Diaby | Mouscron-Péruwelz | 12 |
8 | Mijat Marić | Lokeren | 12 |
Hat-tricks
Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
Nicolás Castillo | Club Brugge* | Westerlo | 9 November 2014 | |
Moses Simon | Gent | Lokeren* | 1 February 2015 | |
Ivan Santini4 | Kortrijk* | Westerlo | 21 February 2015 | |
John Jairo Ruiz | Oostende | Zulte Waregem* | 15 March 2015 | |
Zinho Gano | Mouscron-Péruwelz | Westerlo* | 4 April 2015 |