Jupiler Pro League’s season opener kicks off on Friday, with Royal Antwerp hosting Saint-Gilloise on the showpiece occasion.
Things have changed considerably since RUSG lifted the trophy in May, securing their first championship title in 90 years. Players – and teams – have come and gone, shaking up the hierarchy as we prepare for 2025/26.
Plenty of key players have changed clubs to shift the dynamics, and there is a complete newcomer making up the 16-team field for the new year. Further down the table, a future rule change will influence the relegation system this season.
Zulte Waregem and RAAL: New and the newest
At the end of last year, Kortrijk and Beerschot Wilrijk were relegated to the second tier by finishing in the last two places, and were subsequently replaced by Zulte Waregem and RAAL La Louvière.
While the West Flanders outfit are familiar with the top flight, having spent 18 consecutive seasons in the elite between 2005 and 2023, it constitutes a historic first for RAAL.
Belgian football’s history is littered with mergers, bankruptcies and liquidations, and the Hainaut side’s fairytale is no different. Their predecessors, RAA, did indeed spend six seasons in the Jupiler Pro League in the early 2000s before eventually merging with a host of lower-league clubs from Charleroi, losing their prestigious matricule number. The current entity, therefore, cannot be deemed a legal heir to their past successes.
Anderlecht's Zeno Debast looks dejected in a 3-2 defeat against Zulte Waregem. Credit: Belga / Virginie Lefour
Zulte Waregem are the current Challenger Pro League champions, having prevailed in the previous season after a dramatic finale, narrowly retaining their edge over RAAL and Daring Brussels (formerly RWD Molenbeek), whose dreams of joining the duo via the convoluted play-off route were shattered by Lokeren-Temse.
The “Farmers” also boasted the second tier’s top scorer last term in experienced 12-time Belgian international Jelle Vossen, who put pen to paper on a new contract extending his stay in Waregem until June 2026 to captain his side for another year at the top.
La Louvière also stepped up their preparations for the season off the pitch, with a string of young arrivals from Belgium and abroad. However, they are still widely seen as outsiders with a mountain to climb if they are to build on their surprise run last year and solidify their top-flight status for years to come.
Can RUSG go again?
Expectations are high in Saint-Gilles after their coveted Pro League title, especially as they limped to a 2-1 defeat in the Supercup against Club Brugge on Sunday, missing out on the first chance to add to their growing trophy cabinet.
Manager Sébastien Pocognoli is facing an arduous task as he sets about reforming the core of his squad, with several departures this summer. Long-serving captain Anthony Moris is the highest-profile loss so far, as he opted for a lucrative contract at Al Khaleej of Saudi Arabia to finish his stint in Belgium on a high.
Noah Sadiki, Mohamed Amoura and Koki Machida all have to be replaced, too, and the team have been notoriously quiet in the transfer market. Moris may be adequately replaced by young Dutchman Kjell Scherpen in goal, but ofor the other positions, it is entirely imaginable that the coaching staff will resort to internal solutions.
The most intriguing talking points going into the new season will be whether RUSG’s current crop of young up-and-comers is ready to deal with the pressure straight away, and whether they can gel together sufficiently for a respectable performance, if not quite a successful title defence.
Union's Ross Sykes pictured during the celebration of Royale Union Saint-Gilloise supporters and players, Sunday 25 May 2025 in Brussels, after winning the 2024-2025 'Jupiler Pro League' first division of the Belgian championship. BELGA PHOTO LAURIE DIEFFEMBACQ
What might favour St Gilloise is the fact that Belgium very much remains a selling market, where all clubs are eager to cash in on their most prized assets when the first offer from a wealthier side comes in. As a result, top teams lose key players on a yearly basis, and main challengers Club Brugge are no different.
Having already lost Maxim De Cuyper and Chemsdine Talbi to English Premier League teams, Brugge will embark on their own rebuild, allowing their rivals from Brussels to take their time finding the winning formula, too.
RSC Anderlecht will also be encouraged by last season’s success in the domestic cup, and are expected to deliver again in 2025/26. While not outright favourites for the title, the Purple & White are expected to finish near the top of the table again after a turbulent few years.
Besides the above trio, it is KRC Genk who retain an outside chance of finishing champions, depending on their transfer activity. Royal Antwerp FC and KAA Gent have both parted ways with a number of key players, and budgetary cuts do not allow for any major revitalisation of their line-ups for the remainder of the transfer window.
Another rule change tweaks relegation
The Royal Belgian Football Association announced yet another shake-up of the league format last year, as the top flight will expand to an 18-team structure from 2026-27 onwards.
As a result, there will be no automatic relegation places in the current edition of the league. Instead, the last-placed team will play the Challenger Pro League’s promotion play-off winners to decide the final spot in the first tier for 2026.
The top two teams in the second division will be automatically promoted, just as it has been in the season behind us.
This rule change favours the two newly-promoted teams, who can therefore benefit from the added competition prize money and TV revenues for a minimum of two years, as long as they emerge victorious against a lower-league side at the end of the year. This added income can prove helpful as the newcomers aim to narrow the financial gap to the rest of the playing field.
