The 1952–53 season was the 50th 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 ...

. RFC Liégeois won their 5th Division I title. This was the first season since the 1952 reform of the national competitions. A new level of football was introduced at the top of the

league system A league system is a hierarchy of leagues in a sport. They are often called pyramids, due to their tendency to split into an increasing number of regional divisions further down the system. League systems of some sort are used in many sports in ...

. The divisions were also renamed, with the top level being named Division I (one league of 16 teams), the second level Division II (one league of 16 teams), the 3rd level Division III (2 leagues of 16 teams each) and the lowest level remaining the Promotion (4 leagues of 16 teams each). 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 ...

played 6 friendly games (3 wins, 3 losses) and then started their

1954 FIFA World Cup qualification A total of 37 teams entered the 1954 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds, competing for a total of 16 spots in the final tournament. Switzerland, as the hosts, and Uruguay, as the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 14 spots open ...

campaign with 2 away wins in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

and

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 ...

Overview

At the end of the season, RRC de Gand and

Beringen FC Koninklijke Beringen Football Club was a Belgian football club from the municipality of Beringen, Limburg (Belgium). It existed between 1924 and 2002. History The club was founded in 1924 as Cercle Sportif Kleine Heide and it became a member of ...

were relegated to Division II and were replaced in Division I by 2 clubs from Lier: Division II winner K Lyra and runner-up K Lierse SK.
The bottom 2 clubs in Division II ( FC Renaisien and Stade Louvain) were relegated to Division III, while both Division III winners ( K Tubantia FC and R Uccle Sport) qualified for Division II.
The bottom club of each Division III league were relegated to Promotion: Helzold FC, K Mol Sport, RAA Louviéroise and Union Halloise, to be replaced by K Sint-Niklaasse SK, RCS La Forestoise, SRU Verviers and K Willebroekse SV.

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

Honours

Final league tables

Premier Division

Top scorer:

Henri Coppens Henri 'Rik' François Louis Coppens (29 April 1930 – 5 February 2015) was a Belgian association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), striker. He played 389 games and scored 261 goals for Beerschot AC. Coppens w ...

( R Beerschot AC) with 35 goals.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1952-53 In Belgian Football