2011–12 in Belgian football

The 2011–12 football season in Belgium, which is the 109th season of competitive football in the country and runs from July 2011 until June 2012.

Men's national football team
The Belgian national team started the 2011–12 season knowing they were still undefeated in 2011, but also knowing that they needed to make up for earlier mistakes during the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying campaign. With Germany topping the qualifying group with the maximum number of points after seven matches, the battle for second place and the resulting play-offs place was between Belgium and Turkey. Turkey was one point down, but had a game in hand.

On 2 September 2011, all looked fine for the Belgians until the last few minutes, as Rauf Aliyev scored the equalizer for Azerbaijan against Belgium in Baku, while on the same day, Turkey scored a 96th-minute winner against Kazakhstan. Turkey now lead Belgium by one point and had a game in hand. Four days later, Belgium partially recovered mentally by beating the United States in a friendly, while Turkey dropped points away to Austria, only drawing 0–0.

Turkey lost second place again as they were beaten 1–3 at home to Germany, while Belgium successfully put Kazakhstan away 4–1. On the last matchday, however, Belgium needed to match the result of Turkey and while Turkey hosted Azerbaijan, Belgium played an away game in Germany, who had won all their matches so far. The miracle did not happen for Belgium as they lost 3–1 and Turkey won 1–0, causing Belgium to miss out on yet another major tournament, still waiting for one since the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The general feeling in Belgium was one of a missed chance, as the Belgian team had shown promising football throughout the campaign, but often were not able to get or hold on to a needed result. Too many mistakes were made during the campaign, with many citing the 4–4 home draw with Austria, the 1–1 home draw with Turkey and the 1–1 away draw with Azerbaijan, which all should have been won. Coach Georges Leekens, however, not blamed, as his goal was to qualify for the 2014 World Cup.

After the unsuccessful Euro 2012 qualifying campaign, Belgium continued with a series of friendlies to bridge the gap until the start of the 2014 World Cup qualification matches in September 2012. In November, Belgium overpowered Romania in a friendly in Liège, but only won 2–1 before drawing 0–0 with France in Paris. In February, a mediocre match in and against Greece resulted in a 1–1 draw.

On 13 May, the Belgian soccer fans were shocked as head coach Georges Leekens decided to quit his position and become the head coach at Club Brugge. Assistant coach Marc Wilmots was persuaded to take over the position as caretaker, while the Royal Belgian Football Association looked for a new candidate. Wilmots led the team in a 2–2 friendly draw at home against Montenegro and a 1–0 loss against England at Wembley Stadium. In the week following these matches, Wilmots was appointed as the head coach of the national team.

U-21 Championship qualifiers
The Belgium under-21 squad is currently in Group 8 of the qualification process for the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship.

This leaves two matches, home to Norway and home to Iceland to be played in the next season.

Promotion and relegation
Team promoted to 2011–12 Belgian Pro League
 * Belgian Second Division Champions: OH Leuven
 * Playoff winners: Mons

Teams relegated from 2010–11 Belgian Pro League
 * 15th Place: Eupen (lost playoff)
 * 16th Place: Charleroi

Teams promoted to 2011–12 Belgian Second Division
 * Belgian Third Division A Champions: Aalst
 * Belgian Third Division B Champions: WS Woluwe
 * Playoff winners: Sint-Niklaas

Teams relegated from 2010-11 Belgian Second Division
 * 16th Place, lost playoff: Turnhout
 * 17th Place: Rupel Boom
 * 18th Place: Tournai

Belgian Second Division
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Third division play-off
From the third division A, Deinze qualified as winner of the periods 2 (matches 11 to 22) and 3 (matches 23 to 34), Hoogstraten and Coxyde qualified as 2nd and 4th placed teams in the final table. The first period (matches 1 to 10) was won by the champion Aalst. However, as only the champion Aalst, as well as Hoogstraten, Sint-Niklaas and Geel-Meerhout had got their remunerated football license, required to be able to enter the play-offs, Coxyde and Deinze did not enter the play-offs.

From the third division B, Virton qualified as the winner of period 1, Bertrix qualified as the 3rd-placed team in the final table and Zaventem as the 4th-placed team. The champion Woluwe had won periods 2 and 3. However, Bertrix did not apply for the remunerated football license and was replaced for the play-offs by Union, the 5th-placed team in the final table.

From the second division, Turnhout qualified for the second round of the play-off as the 16th-placed team.

Belgian Promotion
In the Promotion A, Athois were crowned champions, while Ieper, Péruwelz-Mouscron and Sparta Petegem respectively won the first period (matches 1 to 10), second period (matches 11 to 20) and third period (matches 21 to 30). In the Promotion B, RC Mechelen won the regular season as well as the second period. Lyra and Londerzeel won respectively the first and third periods. Wijgmaal also entered the Promotion play-off as 3rd-placed team in the final table. In the Promotion C, Maasmechelen won the title, as well as the first and third periods and Tielen won the second period. Veldwezelt and Oosterwijk also qualified for the play-off as respectively the 2nd and 3rd-placed teams in the regular season. In the Promotion D, La Calamine won the championship as well as periods 1 and 3 and Walhain won the period 2. Sprimont-Comblain and Faymonville joined Walhain as qualifier for the play-off from group D as respectively 3rd and 4th-placed teams. The two 16th-placed teams from the third division Cappellen and Ternat also qualified for the Promotion play-off, entering the competition in the second round.

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Notable transfers
With the shrinking of the Belgian First Division from 18 to 16 teams, only few players of relegated teams were able to stay in first division, with Sulejman Smajić arguably the most important one as he moved from Dender EH to Lokeren. After an impressive season, Bryan Ruiz decided it was time to move, and the Costa Rican international signed a contract with Dutch side Twente, leaving Gent.

At Standard Liège, Oguchi Onyewu moved on a free transfer to Milan. To replace him, four Portuguese-speaking players were signed, with Ricardo Rocha from Tottenham Hotspur being most known. Club Brugge made some impressive signings, purchasing Belgian international Carl Hoefkens together with Croatian striker Ivan Perišić, who had just helped Roeselare to avoid relegation. Under influence of Dutch coach Adrie Koster, central defender Ryan Donk was also signed.

Most noted signing for Anderlecht was Ondřej Mazuch from Fiorentina. Mouscron was noticed for signing several unknown players from France, Italy and especially Spain, mostly coming from teams in third and fourth division. A few minutes before the deadline, Cercle Brugge and Genk finished negotiations as they formed a deal which meant Thomas Buffel moved from Cercle Brugge to Genk with Hans Cornelis making the opposite move. On top of that Jelle Vossen was loaned out by Genk for a season to Cercle Brugge.

During the first half of the season, Standard signed former French international Olivier Dacourt to replace the injured Steven Defour.

In the winter period, the bankruptcy of Mouscron caused all their players to be contacted by several teams, as they were all free to sign new contracts. Club Brugge managed to sign youngsters Maxime Lestienne and Daan van Gijseghem although there was a lot of interest by many clubs, especially for Lestienne. Standard bought Belgian internationals Sébastien Pocognoli and Koen Daerden, while Anderlecht signed a player from fifth division named Paul Taylor and then loaned him to Charleroi. Also returning Belgian internationals were Luigi Pieroni, the 2003–04 Belgian League top scorer, who signed for Gent and Peter Van Der Heyden, who signed for Club Brugge. -->

European Club results
Genk and Standard Liège participated in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League, while Westerlo, Club Brugge and Anderlecht started respectively in the second qualifying round, third qualifying round and playoff round of the Europa League.


 * Partizan twice took the lead against Genk in the Third qualifying round, but Genk managed to overcome the deficit with a 2-1 victory at home and a 1–1 draw in Belgrade. After a 2–1 loss in Haifa and a 2–1 win in Genk, Genk needed penalty kicks to get past Maccabi Haifa in the Play-off round. Genk was drawn together with Bayer Leverkusen, Chelsea and Valencia and started with a promising 0-0 home draw against Valencia, followed by a 2–0 loss away to Leverkusen. After a 5–0 loss in London, supporters feared the worst when Chelsea came to play in Genk, but surprisingly, Chelsea was held to a 1–1 draw. Hopes were shattered on the next match day however, as Valencia humiliated Genk with a 7–0 victory, thereby eliminating Genk from European football with still one matchday to go. In the final match against already qualified Leverkusen, Genk maintained their unbeaten status at home, drawing for the third time.
 * Unlike Genk, Standard was not able to qualify for the group stage of the Champions League, as they lost out 2–1 on aggregate to Zürich, thereby dropping into the Play-off round of the UEFA Europa League, where they were paired with Helsingborgs IF. After both a home and an away win, Standard moved on to Group B of the Group stage where they were coupled with Copenhagen, Hannover and Vorskla Poltava. After three wins and two draws, Standard qualified for the knockout phase and was sure of winning the group with still one match to go. In the knockout stages, Standard first beat Wisła Kraków on the away goals rule after drawing twice, before being paired again with Hannover 96 in the round of 16. Although Standard kept Hannover to a 2–2 draw at home, they were well beaten 4–0 in the return leg in Germany.
 * Westerlo qualified for the third qualifying round of the Europa League by putting aside TPS Turku, where they lost out 5–1 on aggregate to Young Boys.
 * Starting in the third qualifying round of the Europa League, Club Brugge needed to get past two opponents to qualify for the group stage. Club Brugge was twice given an unattractive draw in a far away region, as they first beat Qarabağ from Azerbaijan before eliminating Zestafoni from Georgia. Twice they secured the qualification at home and had trouble in their away match, losing 1–0 in Baku and only drawing 3–3 in Tbilisi. In the group stage, both Maribor (at home) and Braga (away) were beaten in the first two matches, before Club Brugge lost 1–2 at home to Birmingham City due to a 99th-minute winner from Chris Wood. After a 2–2 draw in Birmingham and the "miracle of Maribor" (3–4 win in Maribor when they were 3–0 down after 70 minutes), Club Brugge needed only a draw in their final home match against Braga to qualify as group winners. In the knockout stages, they were eliminated by Hannover 96 after losing both legs.
 * Anderlecht qualified relatively easily for the group stage of the Europa League after eliminating Bursaspor 4–3 on aggregate, but their engine only started running properly during the group stage, where they scored a perfect six out of six victories. After putting away AEK Athens 4–1 at home, they stole the points away to Lokomotiv Moscow, winning 0–2. Then followed two wins against Sturm Graz, resulting in an early qualification already after four matchdays. In the last two matches, Anderlecht won away to AEK Athens and managed to finish the group with the maximum number of points after a final 5–3 home win against Lokomotiv. However, Anderlecht were then paired with AZ and lost both legs 1–0 in the round of 32. During the group stage, Anderlecht had equalled three records:
 * They were only the third team to score the maximum number of points in the group stage of the UEFA Europa League after Red Bull Salzburg in 2009–10 and Zenit Saint Petersburg in 2010–11.
 * Matías Suárez scored seven goals during the group stage, equalling the record set the previous season by Radamel Falcao with Porto.
 * A total of 18 goals were scored, which equals the record set by CSKA Moscow and Zenit in 2010–11.