The 2022–23 Belgian Pro League (officially known as the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons) was the 120th season of top-tier football in Belgium. Royal Antwerp were crowned league champions for the first time in 66 years after pipping Genk and Union St-Gilloise on the final day, the first occasion since 1999 that three clubs were still contending the title going in the final match. All three Championship chasers were in the virtual lead in the table at different stages across the final five minutes before Toby Alderweireld's title-clinching goal.
Genk's title-challenge was helped by a record-breaking 24 assists from Mike Trésor while Hugo Cuypers of Gent became the first Belgian winner of the Golden Bull for top scorer since Romelu Lukaku in 2009–10.
Zulte Waregem, pipped for the title on the final day ten years earlier and subsequent Cup winners in 2017, were one of three sides relegated.
Format change At the end of the 2019–20 Belgian First Division A, it was decided to exceptionally cancel any relegations as a result of the league being stopped early due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This caused the league to temporarily expand to 18 as promotions from a lower league did occur as originally planned. It was decided at that point that the goal was to eventually return to 16 teams, and at the end of the 2021–22 Belgian First Division A, the clubs agreed that the 2022–23 season will reduce the number of clubs at the highest level again to 16, as this season only three teams will face direct relegation instead of just one. Furthermore, a new format was also decided from 2023–24 onwards (with 16 teams), returning to a slightly altered version of the playoff structure used prior to the 2019–20 season, but most importantly also increasing the teams relegating each season from 1 to 2 direct plus an additional optional third team through a playoff. A minor change was the renaming of the top two leagues, with the First Division A and First Division B now renamed Jupiler Pro League and Challenger Pro League respectively.
Teams Eighteen teams competed in the league – the top seventeen teams from the previous season and 2021–22 Belgian First Division B champions Westerlo who returned after spending five seasons at the second tier following their relegation at the end of the 2016–17 season. They replaced Beerschot who had finished last by a very large margin and were relegated after two seasons at the highest level. No other changes happened as Seraing (who finished 17th) won the Relegation play-off against RWDM, and thus stayed in the top division.
Relegations With three clubs being relegated, there was a major turnover in coaches with most clubs changing coach during the season. Out of the 18 Pro League sides, only seven kept the same coach from the opening day to the last. Seraing became the first club to be relegated, following a 2–0 away loss to Club Brugge on 7 April 2023. One week later, on 15 April 2023, Oostende also dropped as they went down 0–4 at home to OH Leuven. Yet another week later, on the final matchday of the regular season, Zulte Waregem became the third and final team relegated following a 2–3 home loss to Cercle Brugge.
Stadiums and locations
Matricule Club Location Venue Capacity 35 Anderlecht, Brussels Constant Vanden Stock Stadium 21,500 1 Antwerp Bosuilstadion 16,144 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 Cegeka 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 2024 Westerlo Het Kuipje 8,035 5381 Waregem Regenboogstadion 12,500
Number of teams by provinces Number of teams Province or region Team(s)5 , , , and 3 , and , and 2 and and 1
Personnel and kits
Club Manager Kit Manufacturer Sponsors Anderlecht Brian Riemer Joma DVV Insurance (home) & Candriam (away) Antwerp Mark van Bommel Jako betFIRST Cercle Brugge Miron Muslic Kappa Napoleon Games Charleroi Felice Mazzù Kappa Unibet Club Brugge Rik De Mil (caretaker) Macron Unibet Eupen Edward Still Adidas Aspire Academy Genk Wouter Vrancken Nike Beobank Gent Hein Vanhaezebrouck Craft VDK Bank Kortrijk Bernd Storck Jako AGO Jobs & HR Mechelen Steven Defour Erreà Telenet OH Leuven Marc Brys Stanno Star Casino Oostende Dominik Thalhammer Kipsta Bwin Casino Ostend Seraing Jean-Sébastien Legros Kappa Star Casino Sint-Truiden Bernd Hollerbach Macron Nishitan Clinic Standard Liège Geoffrey Valenne (caretaker) Adidas VOO Union SG Karel Geraerts Union Soixante Loterie Nationale Westerlo Jonas De Roeck Nike Soudal Zulte-Waregem Frederik D’Hollander & Davy De fauw Patrick Napoleon Games
Managerial changes
Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position Replaced by Date of appointment Anderlecht Vincent Kompany Mutual consent End of 2021–22 season Pre-season Felice Mazzù 31 May 2022 Antwerp Brian Priske Sacked Mark van Bommel 26 May 2022 Club Brugge Alfred Schreuder Signed for Ajax Carl Hoefkens 25 May 2022 Eupen Michael Valkanis End of contract Bernd Storck 25 May 2022 Genk Bernd Storck Mutual consent Wouter Vrancken 28 May 2022 Mechelen Wouter Vrancken Signed for Genk Danny Buijs 1 June 2022 Seraing Jean-Louis Garcia Resigned José Jeunechamps 20 May 2022 Standard Liège Luka Elsner Sacked Ronny Deila 13 June 2022 Union SG Felice Mazzù Signed for Anderlecht Karel Geraerts 9 June 2022 Zulte Waregem Davy De fauw & Timmy Simons Replaced Mbaye Leye 17 May 2022 Kortrijk Karim Belhocine Sacked 29 August 2022 17th Adnan Čustović 1 September 2022 Cercle Brugge Dominik Thalhammer Replaced 19 September 2022 Miron Muslic 19 September 2022 Mechelen Danny Buijs Sacked 17 October 2022 13th Steven Defour 17 October 2022 Charleroi Edward Still 22 October 2022 11th Frank Defays (caretaker) 28 November 2022 Eupen Bernd Storck 23 October 2022 14th Kristoffer Andersen and Mario Kohnen (caretakers) Anderlecht Felice Mazzù 24 October 2022 12th Robin Veldman (caretaker) 24 October 2022 Oostende Yves Vanderhaeghe 31 October 2022 14th Dominik Thalhammer Seraing José Jeunechamps 31 October 2022 17th Jean-Sébastien Legros (caretaker)Kortrijk Adnan Čustović14 November 2022 Bernd Storck18 November 2022 Eupen Kristoffer Andersen and Mario Kohnen End of caretaker spell 24 November 2022 15th Edward Still 24 November 2022 Charleroi Frank Defays28 November 202212th Felice Mazzù28 November 2022 Anderlecht Robin Veldman 2 December 2022 11th Brian Riemer 2 December 2022 Club Brugge Carl HoefkensSacked 28 December 2022 4th Scott Parker 31 December 2022 Scott Parker 8 March 2023 Rik De Mil (caretaker) 8 March 2023 Zulte Waregem Mbaye Leye 15 March 2023 17th Frederik D’Hollander & Davy De fauw 15 March 2023 Standard Liège Ronny Deila Signed for Club Brugge 25 May 2023 7th Geoffrey Valenne (caretaker) 25 May 2023
Regular season League table
Results
Positions by round The table lists the positions of teams after the completion of each round.
Play-offs
Play-off I Points obtained during the regular season were halved (and rounded up in the event of half-points) before the start of the playoff. Genk and Union SG, therefore, started on 38 points, Antwerp on 36, and Club Brugge on 30. Only Antwerp did not see their points rounded up, hence in case of ties they were always ranked above the other teams. Any other ties were broken by regular season finishing order (Genk, then Union SG, then Club Brugge).
Play-off II Points obtained during the regular season will be halved (and rounded up) before the start of the playoff. Gent and Standard started on 28 points, Westerlo on 26, and Cercle Brugge on 25. As the points of Standard and Westerlo were rounded up, in case of ties they would always be ranked below the team (or teams) they are tied with. The deciding factor after that would be finishing position in the regular season.
Season statistics
Prizes awarded cover all 40 rounds of the season, i.e. the 34 rounds of regular season football plus the six weeks of Champions Play-Offs and Europe Play-Offs.
Top goalscorers RankPlayerClubGoals 1 Hugo Cuypers Gent 27 2 Ayase Ueda Cercle Brugge 223 Gianni Bruno Sint-Truiden18 Vincent Janssen Antwerp 5 Joseph Paintsil Genk 17 6 Paul Onuachu Genk 16 7 Gift Orban Gent 15 8 Hans Vanaken Club Brugge 149 Dorgeles Nene Westerlo13 Mario González OH Leuven Ferran Jutglà Club Brugge
Clean sheets RankPlayerClubCleanSheets 1 Jean Butez Antwerp 20 2 Simon Mignolet Club Brugge 14 3 Arnaud Bodart Standard Liège 12 4 Paul Nardi Gent 11 5 Sinan Bolat Westerlo 106 Radosław Majecki Cercle Brugge9 Anthony Moris Union St Gilloise8 Valentin Cojocaru OH Leuven8 Hervé Koffi Charleroi Daniel Schmidt Sint-Truiden Maarten Vandevoordt Genk Bart Verbruggen Anderlecht
Top assists RankPlayerClubAssists 1 Mike Trésor Genk 24* 2 Teddy Teuma Union SG 12 3 Joseph Paintsil Genk 11 4 Simon Adingra Union SG 95 Kévin Denkey Cercle Brugge8 Geoffry Hairemans Mechelen Sven Kums Gent Adem Zorgane Charleroi Victor Boniface Union SG Noa Lang Club Brugge Trésor's tally of 24 was a new single-season Pro League assists record.
Hat-tricks
Player Club Against Result Date Dino Hotić Cercle Brugge Gent4–3 (A) Mario González OH Leuven Zulte Waregem5–2 (A) Kévin Denkey Cercle Brugge Eupen5–1 (H) Paul Onuachu4 Genk Charleroi4–1 (H) Gift Orban4 Gent Zulte Waregem6–2 (A) Zinho Gano Zulte Waregem Eupen5–1 (A) Ferran Jutglà Club Brugge Eupen7–0 (H) Dorgeles Nene Westerlo Cercle Brugge3–5 (H) Gift Orban Gent Cercle Brugge4–0 (A) Hugo Cuypers Gent Standard Liege3–1 (H) 4 Player scored four goals. Awards Annual awards Award Winner Club Player of the Season Mike Trésor Genk Talent of the Season Arthur Vermeeren Antwerp Goal of the Season Romeo Vermant Club NXT Coach of the Season Mark van Bommel Antwerp Referee of the Season Jonathan Lardot — FSR Project of the Season Antwerp Antwerp Team of the Season Goalkeeper Jean Butez (Antwerp) Defence Toby Alderweireld (Antwerp) Daniel Muñoz (Genk) Christian Burgess (Union Saint-Gilloise) Maxim De Cuyper (Westerlo) Midfield Mike Trésor (Genk) Arthur Vermeeren (Antwerp) Teddy Teuma (Union Saint-Gilloise) Forwards Simon Adingra (Union Saint-Gilloise) Hugo Cuypers (Gent) Joseph Paintsil (Genk)
Attendances Source:
No. Club Average Highest 1 Club Brugge 20,763 29,000 2 Standard de Liège 19,249 27,670 3 Genk 17,638 22,004 4 Anderlecht 16,553 21,500 5 Royal Antwerp 13,957 16,144 6 Gent 13,092 18,418 7 Mechelen 11,983 16,125 8 Zulte Waregem 7,285 12,209 9 Charleroi 6,882 12,288 10 OH Leuven 6,407 9,000 11 RUSG 6,404 8,200 12 Kortrijk 6,282 9,007 13 Westerlo 5,421 8,035 14 STVV 5,308 9,783 15 Cercle Brugge 4,429 12,488 16 Oostende 3,690 5,842 17 Eupen 2,876 7,101 18 Seraing 2,083 4,930
Notes
References