The 1960–61 season was the 58th season of competitive

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. Standard Liège won their second Division I title. K Lierse SK entered the 1960–61 European Champion Clubs' Cup as Belgian title holder and RU Saint-Gilloise entered the

1960–61 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The third Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was the first to be played over a single season, namely the 1960–61 season. Birmingham City once again reached the final, but lost again over two legs, this time to Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Aust ...

. The European Cup Winners' Cup was first played this season but no Belgian club participated since the Belgian Cup had not been played since 1955–56. The

Belgium national football team The Belgium national football teamfrench: Équipe nationale belge de footballgerman: Belgische Fußballnationalmannschaft officially represents Belgium in men's international football since their maiden match in 1904. The squad is under the ...

started their qualifying campaign for the

1962 FIFA World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the seventh edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place bet ...

by 3 losses and were thus already eliminated at the end of the season with yet one match to be played.http://www.footbel.com/fr/nationale_elftallen/statistieken_1/per_datum.html FA website

Overview

The

was drawn in Group 1 for the

1962 FIFA World Cup qualification A total of 56 teams entered the 1962 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds, competing for a total of 16 spots in the final tournament. Chile, as the hosts, and Brazil, as the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 14 spots open for com ...

with

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. Legendary midfielder Paul Van Himst played his first game with the national team in Sweden for the first game in the qualification, which Belgium lost 2-0. After 2 more losses to Switzerland, Belgium was already eliminated from the World Cup, with one more game to be played during the 1961–62 season. At the end of the season, RCS Verviétois and VV Patro Eisden were relegated to Division II and were replaced in Division I by

KFC Diest Koninklijke Football Club Diest is a Belgian association football club from the town of Diest, Flemish Brabant. It played two spells in the first division: from 1961–62 to 1964–65 and from 1970–71 to 1974–75, finishing 7th in 1964. ...

and RCS Brugeois from Division II.
The bottom 2 clubs in Division II ( RRC de Bruxelles and K Lyra) were relegated to Division III while both Division III winners ( ASV Oostende KM and KFC Herentals) qualified for Division II.
The bottom 2 clubs of each Division III league ( US Centre,

KFC Izegem Royal FC Mandel United, formerly KFC Mandel United, is a football club competing in the third-tier Belgian National Division 1. The club was originally founded in 1926, and is based in Izegem, Belgium which is located in the Flemish Region. Roy ...

, R Stade Waremmien FC and K Hasseltse VV) were relegated to the Promotion, to be replaced by Kontich FC, R Albert Elisabeth Club Mons, K Tongerse SV Cercle and KSV Sottegem from Promotion.

National team

* Belgium score given first Key * H = Home match * A = Away match * N = On neutral ground * F = Friendly * WCQ = World Cup qualification * o.g. = own goal

European competitions

K Lierse SK lost in the preliminary round of the 1960–61 European Champion Clubs' Cup to

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

(loss 2-0 away and 0-3 at home). RU Saint-Gilloise lost in the first round of the

to AS Roma (draw 0-0 at home and defeat 1-4 away).

Honours

Final league tables

Premier Division

* 1960-61 Top scorer:

Victor Wégria Victor Lucien Wégria (4 November 1936 – 5 June 2008) was a Belgian footballer who played as a striker. He played mostly for RFC Liège, and later joined Standard Liège. Wégria finished four times top scorer of the Jupiler League (in 1959, ...

(

RFC Liégeois RFC may refer to: Computing * Request for Comments, a memorandum on Internet standards * Request for change, change management * Remote Function Call, in SAP computer systems * Rhye's and Fall of Civilization, a modification for Sid Meier's Civ ...

) with 23 goals. * 1960 Golden Shoe: Paul Van Himst ( RSC Anderlechtois)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1960-61 in Belgian football