The 2021–22 Belgian Pro League (officially known as Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons) was the 119th season of top-flight football in Belgium. Club Brugge completed their first league Championship hat-trick since the 1970s by edging out long-time leaders Union Saint-Gilloise, who had led for 200 days until losing twice to Club in the title play-offs. Had Union achieved their unlikely success, they would have been the first newly promoted side to win the Belgian League, and the first to claim a top-20 ranked European league since FC Kaiserslautern's 1997–98 Bundesliga triumph in Germany.

Team changes On the final matchday of the previous season, Royal Excel Mouscron was overtaken by Waasland-Beveren, pushing them into a direct relegation spot and thus causing the Mouscron team to return to the second level after seven seasons. Waasland-Beveren would eventually face the same fate as a few weeks later they lost the Relegation play-off against Seraing, ending a span of nearly a decade at the top level.

The team from Seraing is a newcomer at the highest level, although a former team with the same name, R.F.C. Seraing (1904), last played at the top level 25 seasons ago and many supporters see the current Seraing as a continuation of the former. The place of Excel Mouscron was taken by 2020–21 Belgian First Division B champions and former Belgian giants Union Saint-Gilloise, returning to the top level after 48 years and already gained 11 Belgian Championship titles, mostly in the 1900s and 1930s.

Format change Originally, as decided in 2020, the clubs agreed to reduce the number of teams again to 16 following the 2021–22 season, as due to the COVID-19 pandemic exceptionally no teams were relegated from the 2019–20 Belgian First Division A, which causing the league to temporarily expand to 18. This would mean that there would be three teams relegating from the 2021–22 Belgian First Division A with only one team promoted from the 2021–22 Belgian First Division B. However, on 14 June 2021, the clubs agreed to keep playing with 18 teams at the highest level up to (and including) the 2022–23 season, meaning that the 2021–22 Belgian First Division would continue the format of the previous season, with only one team relegating and the penultimate team playing a play-off match against the runner-up of the 2021–22 Belgian First Division B to avoid relegation. The title and Europa League playoffs remain shortened, with only the top four teams playing for the title and number 5 through 8 playing the Europa League playoffs. For the teams finishing in positions 9 through 16, the season ends immediately following the regular season. The request to keep playing with 18 teams at the highest level mainly came from the smaller teams which were already struggling following the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The bigger clubs agreed to continue the current format but demanded that U23 teams be permanently added to the lower leagues. As such, the intention is that from the 2022–23 season on, there will be 4 U23 teams playing added to each of the second, third and fourth level of Belgian football, with the final standings of the 2021–22 U23 league to determine which team will start at which level.

Title run-in Returning to top-flight football after 48 years away, Union Saint-Gilloise earned a 3–1 opening-day win away to Brussels' traditional giants Anderlecht, Union hosted reigning champions Club Brugge on 1 August 2021 in their first home game in the top division since 1973, being edged out 1–0 through a late Eduard Sobol winner.

In a difficult January run against all of the previous season's top four, Union beat Anderlecht, Genk and Royal Antwerp, drawing 0–0 away to Club Brugge. By the end of the regular season, Union were top on 77 points, five ahead of Club Brugge, with Antwerp and Anderlecht also qualifying for the six rounds of play-offs, where the quartet would bring forward half of the regular season points into the play-offs. Hence, Union would resume on 39, Club 36, with Anderlecht and Antwerp both on 32.

Union started the play-offs strongly, beating Anderlecht 3–1 and thus becoming the first club ever to inflict three defeats on the Mauves in the same league season. A 0–0 draw away to Antwerp saw the lead over Club Brugge maintained at three points.

The title race swung in the direction of Bruges in back-to-back games between Union and Club, with the champions earning a tight 2–0 win in Brussels to draw level on points, with Club going top under the "half-points" rule, as Union had needed their tally from the regular season rounded-up. Club Brugge won the midweek return 1–0 at the Jan Breydel through an own goal from goalkeeper Anthony Moris to take a three-point lead with two games to go.

Club Brugge clinched the league crown in their next (and penultimate) game against Royal Antwerp, despite Union beating Anderlecht for the fourth time in the season 2–0 at Lotto Park. Eventually, Club finished four points clear of Union SG, 50 points compared to USG's 46, historically qualifying Union for the UEFA Champions League qualifiers. It was the completion of a three-in-a-row for Club Brugge, whose coach Alfred Schreuder would leave within 48 hours of the title success for Ajax.

Union had been top for 200 days.

League glory for Union would have seen them become the first newly promoted side to win a top-20 European national league championship at the first attempt since Kaiserslautern's 1998 Bundesliga success.

Union's runners-up spot qualified them for the UEFA Champions League qualifiers, sending them into European football for the first time since 1964–65, and their first UEFA competition after featuring in five editions of the Fairs Cup in the 1950s and 60s.

Teams Stadiums and locations

Matricule Club Location Venue Capacity 35 Anderlecht, Brussels Constant Vanden Stock Stadium 21,500 1 Antwerp Bosuilstadion 16,144 13 Beerschot Antwerp Olympic Stadium 12,771 12 Bruges Jan Breydel Stadium 29,042 22 Charleroi Stade du Pays de Charleroi 14,000 3 Bruges Jan Breydel Stadium 29,042 4276 Eupen Kehrwegstadion 8,363 322 Genk Luminus Arena 24,956 7 Ghent Ghelamco Arena 20,000 19 Kortrijk Guldensporen Stadion 9,399 25 Mechelen AFAS-stadion Achter de Kazerne 16,700 31 Ostend Versluys Arena 8,432 18 Leuven Den Dreef 10,000 167 Seraing Stade du Pairay 8,207 373 Sint-Truiden Stayen 14,600 16 Liège Stade Maurice Dufrasne 30,023 10 Saint-Gilles, Brussels Stade Joseph Marien 8,000 5381 Waregem Regenboogstadion 12,500

Number of teams by provinces Number of teams Province or region Team(s)5 , , , and 3 , Beerschot and , and 2 and and 1

Personnel and kits Club Manager Kit Manufacturer Sponsors Anderlecht Vincent Kompany Joma DVV Insurance (home) & Candriam (away) Antwerp Brian Priske Jako Ghelamco Beerschot Greg Vanderidt (caretaker) XIII Yelo Rent a Car Cercle Brugge Dominik Thalhammer Kappa Napoleon Games Charleroi Edward Still Kappa Unibet Club Brugge Alfred Schreuder Macron Unibet Eupen Michael Valkanis Adidas Aspire Academy Genk Bernd Storck Nike Beobank Gent Hein Vanhaezebrouck Craft VDK Bank Kortrijk Karim Belhocine Jako AGO Jobs & HR Mechelen Wouter Vrancken Erreà Telenet OH Leuven Marc Brys Adidas King Power Oostende Yves Vanderhaeghe Kipsta Casino Oostend Seraing Jean-Louis Garcia Kappa Star Casino Sint-Truiden Bernd Hollerbach Macron Nishitan Clinic Standard Liège Luka Elsner Adidas VOO Union SG Felice Mazzù Le Coq Sportif Loterie Nationale Zulte-Waregem Davy De fauw & Timmy Simons Patrick Napoleon Games

Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position Replaced by Date of appointment Charleroi Karim Belhocine Sacked End of 2020–21 season Pre-season Edward Still 16 May 2021 Eupen Beñat San José Left Stefan Krämer 9 June 2021 Beerschot Will Still Replaced Peter Maes 20 May 2021 Seraing Emilio Ferrera Left for coaching position at Gent Jordi Condom 28 May 2021 Sint-Truiden Peter Maes Replaced by Beerschot Bernd Hollerbach 5 June 2021 Antwerp Franky Vercauteren Replaced by Priske Brian Priske 29 May 2021Beerschot Peter Maes Sacked 15 September 2021 18th Marc Noë (caretaker) 15 September 2021 Marc Noë Caretaker replaced 21 September 2021 18th Javier Torrente 21 September 2021 Standard Liège Mbaye Leye Sacked 5 October 2021 12th Luka Elsner 7 October 2021 Kortrijk Luka Elsner Signed for Standard Liège 7 October 2021 8th Karim Belhocine 12 October 2021 Cercle Brugge Yves Vanderhaeghe Sacked 28 November 2021 17th Dominik Thalhammer 28 November 2021 Genk John van den Brom Sacked 6 December 2021 8th Bernd Storck 7 December 2021 Zulte Waregem Francky Dury Sacked 17 December 2021 17th Davy De fauw & Timmy Simons 17 December 2021 Seraing Jordi Condom Mutual consent 27 December 2021 17th Jean-Louis Garcia 3 January 2022 Club Brugge Philippe Clement Signed for Monaco 3 January 2022 2nd Alfred Schreuder 3 January 2022 Oostende Alexander Blessin Signed for Genoa 19 January 2022 15th Markus Pflanz (caretaker) 19 January 2022 Beerschot Javier Torrente Sacked 7 February 2022 18th Greg Vanderidt (caretaker) 7 February 2022 Oostende Markus Pflanz Caretaker replaced 11 February 2022 14th Yves Vanderhaeghe 11 February 2022 Eupen Stefan Krämer Sacked 16 February 2022 15th Michael Valkanis 16 February 2022

Regular season League table

Positions by round The table lists the positions of teams after completion of each round. However, several matches were not completed in the intended timeframe, resulting in the table below showing teams with different number of matches played as from matchday 19: The match between Standard Liège and Beerschot of matchday 19 was postponed due to a strike by the police. With the match being cancelled less than three hours prior to the match, Beerschot requested to be given a 0–3 win by forfeit; however the ruling was not in their favour. The match between Kortrijk and Antwerp of matchday 21 was postponed due to a large number of players of Antwerp testing positive for COVID-19 one day prior to the match. The match was played between matchdays 25 and 26. With Genk missing nine players in January 2022 due to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations and the CONMEBOL 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, the club was allowed to shift two of its matches. The match between Genk and Mechelen of matchday 24 was shifted forward and was played between matchdays 22 and 23, while the match between Oud-Heverlee Leuven and Genk of matchday 25 was moved backwards to be played between matchdays 26 and 27 The match between Zulte Waregem and Oostende of matchday 22 was postponed due to a large number of players of Zulte Waregem testing positive for COVID-19 two days prior to the match. On 15 January 2022, KV Mechelen decided not to send a team to their away match at OH Leuven, as part of matchday 22. The club "wanted to make a statement", as their earlier request to have the match postponed was declined due to their third goalkeeper not being considered in the number of players testing positive, as he was still under the age of 21. Initially, the disciplinary committee ordered the match to be replayed, as it rules that the rule based on age was discriminatory and hence not legal, eventually however the Belgian Court for Sports Arbitration ruled in favour of OH Leuven on 9 March, awarding them a 5–0 forfeit win. Finally, the match between Standard Liège and Charleroi of matchday 17 was abandoned in minute 87 due to home supporter violence, while Charleroi was leading 0–3. Due to the combination of it being almost completed, Charleroi leading strongly and Standard supporters being the cause of the problem, main media outlets were reporting the result as final, already including three points for Charleroi Only on 13 January 2022 it was ruled that the match would not be finished or replayed and that the result would stand.

Results

Play-offs

Play-off I