The 2004–05 season of the Belgian First Division began on August 6, 2004 and ended on May 23, 2005. Club Brugge became champions on May 15, 2005 after a decisive game against long-time rivals Anderlecht. The season was full of suspense as the champions and the relegated teams were only known on the 33rd (on 34) matchday. Furthermore, the 3rd place (qualifying for UEFA Cup) had to be decided on a test-match, a fact that had not occurred recently.

Promoted teams

These teams were promoted from the second division at the start of the season: FC Brussels (second division champion) Oostende (playoff winner)

Relegated teams These teams were relegated to the second division at the end of the season: Oostende Mons

Battle for the 1st place As usual, the two giants (Sporting Anderlecht and Club Brugge) were occupying the first two places after 5 matches. Brugge was already 1st and actually stayed on top until the end. The Brussels side has indeed failed to show consistency under the management of Hugo Broos who was fired after a 0-0 draw at Gent. Under new coach (Franky Vercauteren), Anderlecht had a run of good form (after the initial 0-1 defeat against Oostende). Linked to the poor results of rivals Brugge, this situation led to a 6-point difference between the two clubs after 32 matches. The Brugge-Anderlecht game (33rd matchday) was thus decisive for both clubs. It ended with a 2-2 draw that was sufficient for the West Flemish.

Brugge title is due to its exceptional regularity against smaller teams as is shown on the following table (showing points gained by a top 4 team against the other top 4 teams) :

1. Anderlecht 6 13 2. Standard 6 8 3. Brugge 6 6 4. Genk 6 5

Battle for Europe As Anderlecht and Brugge rapidly ran away with the first two places, the battle for Europe was mainly consisted in the battle for UEFA Cup spots (or battle for the third place). Four teams were serious candidates: Standard, Genk, Charleroi and Gent. The latter two were soon dismissed. Before the last matchday, Standard was two points ahead of Genk but they lost their advantage after a 1-1 draw at Ostend while Genk earned a 3-1 win at Cercle Brugge. As both teams now had the same number of points and wins, a test-match had to be played (in two legs). Standard won the first match 3-1 but lost the away match 0-3 and lost the European ticket for next season.

The relegation dog fight After their poor early results, five teams were predicted to fight against relegation: Sint-Truiden, Mouscron and especially newcomers FC Brussels and Oostende along with Mons. Beveren joined the list after a very poor final run. Before the 33rd matchday, the table read:

12. Lierse 32 35 13. Sint-Truiden 32 33 14. Beveren 32 31 15. Mouscron 32 30 16. Brussels 32 30 17. Mons 32 26 18. Oostende 32 26

Lierse and Sint-Truiden were already saved. Mons and Oostende had to win or draw to maintain suspense but they finally both lost (2-0 respectively against Mouscron and at La Louvière).

Final league table

Results

Top goal scorers ScorerGoalsTeam Nenad Jestrović18Anderlecht Kevin Vandenbergh17Genk Sambégou Bangoura15Standard Liège Rune Lange15Club Brugge Mohammed Aliyu Datti14Mons Aruna Dindane14Anderlecht Moussa Sanogo14Beveren Archie Thompson14Lierse Marcin Żewłakow14Mouscron Awards Individual awards Award Winner Club Belgian Professional Footballer of the Year Vincent Kompany Anderlecht Belgian Young Footballer of the Year Vincent Kompany Anderlecht Manager of the Year Hugo Broos Club Brugge Team of the SeasonGoalkeeper Silvio Proto (La Louvière)Defenders Vincent Kompany (Anderlecht) Philippe Clement (Club Brugge) David Rozehnal (Club Brugge) Olivier Deschacht (Anderlecht)Midfielders Nastja Čeh (Club Brugge) Timmy Simons (Club Brugge) Sérgio Conceição (Standard Liège) Walter Baseggio (Anderlecht)Forwards Nenad Jestrovic (Anderlecht) Boško Balaban (Club Brugge)

Attendances

No. Club Average attendance Change Highest 1 Club Brugge 24,432 3,0% 27,734 2 Anderlecht 23,689 -1,9% 25,693 3 Genk 22,650 -4,1% 24,128 4 Standard de Liège 16,882 0,0% 27,000 5 Charleroi 10,713 17,9% 19,710 6 Gent 7,744 -7,3% 10,840 7 Lierse 7,476 3,1% 10,800 8 STVV 7,471 -2,5% 12,000 9 Germinal Beerschot 7,278 -2,0% 10,500 10 Mouscron 6,722 -12,8% 10,000 11 Brussels 5,869 137,5% 15,266 12 Sporting Lokeren 5,712 2,5% 10,500 13 Westerlo 5,265 -0,3% 8,500 14 Cercle Brugge 5,156 1,0% 12,450 15 RAAL 4,816 12,0% 9,017 16 RAEC 4,665 1,8% 9,000 17 Beveren 4,382 -11,3% 7,500 18 Oostende 3,951 138,9% 10,000 Source:

See also 2004-05 in Belgian football

References

Sport.be website - Archive