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.
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
Club City Current managerAalst Bart Van RenterghemAntwerp Bart WilmssenBeveren Dirk GeeraerdBoussu Arnauld MercierSint-Jans-Molenbeek Stéphane DemolCharleroi Dennis van WijkDenderleeuw Vital BorkelmansEupen Wolfgang FrankHeist-op-den-Berg Cis BosschaertsOstend Frederik VanderbiestLommel Philip HaagdorenRoeselare Serhiy SerebrennikovSint-Niklaas Alex CzerniatynskiTienen Dany OstTubize Dante BrognoWezet Loris DominissiniWetteren Kris Van Der HaegenWoluwe-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 Standaard Wetteren Wim De Corte Became assistant-trainer at Beerschot AC. End of 2010-11 season Kris Van Der Haegen 28 June 2011 Charleroi Luka Peruzović Contract Ended. End of 2010-11 season Jos Daerden 29 June 2011 Roeselare Nico Vanderdonck Contract Ended. End of 2010-11 season Serhiy Serebrennikov 30 June 2011 Visé José Riga Signed for Standard Liège. 28 June 2011 Vittorio Bevilacqua 1 July 2011 Visé Vittorio Bevilacqua Mutual Consent. 8 July 2011 Marc Grosjean 9 July 2011
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 Philip Haagdoren 6 September 2011 8th Visé Marc Grosjean Fired. 19 September 2011 Loris Dominissini 22 September 2011 8th Charleroi Jos Daerden Fired. 26 September 2011 Tibor Balogh 26 September 2011 8th Tienen Valère Billen Fired. 7 October 2011 Ronny Schuermans 19 October 2011 12th Brussels Michel De Wolf Mutual Consent. 9 October 2011 Christian Rits 9 October 2011 17th Sint-Niklaas Regi Van Acker Fired. 12 October 2011 Chris Andries 12 October 2011 12th Antwerp Bart De Roover Fired. 13 November 2011 Bart Wilmssen 15 November 2011 8th Tubize Dany Ost Fired. 20 November 2011 Laurent Demol 20 November 2011 18th Sint-Niklaas Chris Andries Replaced. 2 January 2012 Alex Czerniatynski 2 January 2012 17th Brussels Christian Rits Caretaker replaced. 15 February 2012 Stéphane Demol 15 February 2012 13th Charleroi Tibor Balogh Fired. 22 February 2012 Mario Notaro 23 February 2012 2nd Tubize Laurent Demol Caretaker replaced. 27 February 2012 Dante Brogno 27 February 2012 16th Tienen Ronny Schuermans Caretaker replaced. 27 February 2012 Dany Ost 27 February 2012 17th Charleroi Mario Notaro Replaced. 5 March 2012 Dennis van Wijk 5 March 2012 1st
Regular season
League table
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.
Period 2
Period 3
Top goalscorers Including matches played on 29 April 2012; Source: Soccerway
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Hervé OnanaWaasland-Beveren182 Moussa GueyeSC Charleroi173 Samy HouriFC Brussels15 Christian SantosAS Eupen155 Janis CoppinFC Dender14 Anthony Di LalloSV Roeselare14 Ioannis MasmanidisAS Eupen14 Mickael SeoudiWaasland-Beveren149 Davy BrouwersLommel United13 Stavros GlouftsisSportkring Sint-Niklaas13 Bart WebersK.S.K. Heist1312 KoffiBoussu Dour Borinage12 Daniel Rodrigo de OliveiraWhite Star Woluwe F.C.1214 Emmanuel FrançoiseC.S. Visé11 Raphaël LecomteC.S. Visé11
References