The 2015–16 season of the

Belgian Third Division The Belgian Third Division ( nl, Derde klasse, french: Division III) was the third highest level in Football in Belgium, Belgian football. It had two leagues of 18 teams each (Belgian Third Division A, A and Belgian Third Division B, B) at the sam ...

s is the 89th season of the third-tier

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 ...

league in

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 ...

, since it was established in 1926.

Participating teams

The league is composed of 37 teams split into two groups of 18 and 19. Teams will play only other teams in their own division. As a part of changes in the Belgian league system to be implemented in 2016, the Third Division was rebranded as ''First Amateur Division'' and contracted to 16 teams. The three-period rankings and promotion playoff between third and fourth tier teams were scrapped. The 11 (or 12) teams in each group relegate to the restructured fourth division called ''Second Amateur Division'', while the last placers also relegate to the new fifth division called ''Third Amateur Division''. For the 2016–17 season onwards, the Amateur Superleague is made up of 16 teams, namely the nine relegated from the 2015–16 Second Division, the 2015–16 champion and runner-up of each Third Division group, the winner of qualifying playoffs contested by four teams in each group, and the winner of the match between losing playoff finalists. These teams must meet technical and administrative criteria. Group A * Acrenoise *

Bornem Bornem (, old spelling: ''Bornhem'') is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises the village of Bornem proper, Hingene, and Weert, and . There are also the hamlets of Branst, Buitenland, Eikevliet ...

Eendracht Aalst SC Eendracht Aalst is a Belgian football club based in Aalst, East Flanders. History During World War I, citizens from Aalst played football matches to raise money for prisoners of war. In 1919 Sport-Club Eendracht Aalst became an official f ...

FCV Dender EH Football Club Verbroedering Dender Eendracht Hekelgem, also simply known as Dender or Verbroedering Dender, is a Belgian association football club based in Denderleeuw. From the 2022–23 season, the club will be playing in the Challenger Pro Le ...

* Gent-Zeehaven *

FC Gullegem FC Gullegem is a Belgian football club. It has the colors white and red. History The football club was founded in July 2008 after Gullegem withdrew from the merger club KSK Wevelgem City. The club was founded six years after the disappearance ...

Hamme Hamme () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of Hamme proper, Kastel Moerzeke, and . In 2018, Hamme had a total population of 24,827. The total area is 40.21 km². The cur ...

Izegem Izegem (; vls, Yzegem) is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Izegem proper and the towns of Emelgem and Kachtem. Emelgem was added to Izegem in 1965, Kachtem in 1977. Iz ...

* La Louvière Centre *

Londerzeel Londerzeel () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the towns of Londerzeel proper, Malderen, Steenhuffel (home of Palm Breweries) and Sint-Jozef. On 1 January 2006, Londerzeel had a to ...

Olsa Brakel Olsa Brakel is a Belgian football club based in the town of Brakel, registered with the Belgian FA under matricule 5553. The full name of the club is ''Koninklijke Oud Leerlingenverbond Sint-Augustinus Brakel'' and it has yellow and black as club ...

Oudenaarde Oudenaarde (; french: Audenarde ; in English sometimes ''Oudenarde'') is a Belgian municipality in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Oudenaarde proper and the towns of Bevere, Edelare, Eine, Ename, Heu ...

Racing Mechelen K.R.C. Mechelen is a Belgian association football club from Mechelen in the Antwerp province. It is a long-time rival of KV Mechelen. The club's best position ever is a second place in the first division 1951–52. KRC Mechelen also reached ...

Sint-Eloois-Winkel Sint-Eloois-Winkel is a village in the Belgian province of West Flanders. It is a '' deelgemeente'' of the municipality of Ledegem, separated from the center of the town by highway A17. The population of Sint-Eloois-Winkel is 3800, only a few hun ...

* Sint-Niklase * Sparta Petegem *

Temse Temse (; french: Tamise ) is a municipality in East Flanders, Belgium. The name Temse is derived from the Gallo-Roman/Gaul Tamisiacum or Tamasiacum. This is also reflected in the French name for the town, Tamise. The main sights include the Ch ...

Torhout Torhout (; french: Thourout; vls, Toeroet) is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Torhout proper, the villages of Wijnendale and Sint-Henricus, and the hamlet of De Dri ...

Group B * Beerschot Wilrijk *

Berchem Sport K. Berchem Sport is a Belgian association football club based in the district of Berchem in the municipality of Antwerp and currently playing in the Belgian Second Amateur Division. It has formerly played in the first division. The club was f ...

* Bocholter VV * Cappellen *

Diegem Sport Koninklijke Diegem Sport is a Belgian association football club based in Diegem, Flemish Brabant currently playing in the third amateur division. The club was founded in 1943 when two clubs from Diegem merged, namely Diegem-Star and Diegem-L ...

Grimbergen Grimbergen () is a municipality in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant, 10 km north of the capital Brussels. It comprises the towns of Beigem, Grimbergen, Humbeek, and Strombeek-Bever. In 2017, it had a population of 37,030 and an are ...

Hamoir Hamoir (; wa, Hamwer) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On 1 January 2006, Hamoir had a total population of 3,592. The total area is 27.80 km2 which gives a population density of 129 inhabitants per k ...

Hasselt Hasselt (, , ; la, Hasseletum, Hasselatum) is a Belgian city and municipality, and capital and largest city of the province of Limburg in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is known for its former branding as "the city of taste", as well as its ...

Hoogstraten Hoogstraten () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises Hoogstraten, Meer, Meerle, Meersel-Dreef, Minderhout and Wortel (Meersel-Dreef includes the northernmost point in Belgium). Hoogstraten (o ...

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

* Oosterzonen Oosterwijk * Rupel Boom * Sprimont Comblain *

Tempo Overijse In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

* Tienen-Hageland * Union La Calamine *

Walhain Walhain (; wa, Walin) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. It consists of the former municipalities of Nil-Saint-Vincent-Saint-Martin, Tourinnes-Saint-Lambert and Walhain-Saint-Paul. The Belgian Nat ...

* Wallonne Ciney * Woluwe-Zaventem

League tables

Due to a reform in the Belgian football league, the

ceases to exist and is replaced by the

Belgian Second Amateur Division The Belgian Division 2, commonly referred to as simply Tweede Afdeling (in Dutch) or Division 2 (in French) is the fourth-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian National Division 1. It was created by t ...

from the 2016–17 season, now at the fourth level of Belgian football. A newly created league, the

Belgian First Amateur Division The Belgian National Division 1, commonly referred to as simply Eerste Nationale (in Dutch) or Nationale 1 (in French) is a semi-professional and the third-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian First ...

is formed at the third level, effectively pushing the teams in this division one level down the pyramid. Only the top two teams in each division and the two promotion playoff winners are "promoted" to the new league, meaning they will remain at the third level, while most of the teams effectively drop to the fourth level. The two teams finishing in last position in each group are relegated to the

Belgian Third Amateur Division The Belgian Division 3, commonly referred to as simply Derde Afdeling (in Dutch) or Division 3 (in French) is the fifth-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian Division 2. It was created by the Royal Be ...

, which in fact means a drop from level 3 to level 5 of the pyramid.

Group A

Group B

Promotion play-offs

The eight teams taking part in the promotion play-offs are playing to win one of the three remaining places in the 2016-17 Belgian First Amateur Division. The final match between the winners of Round 2, Sprimont-Comblain and FCV Dender EH, was not played as both teams already achieved promotion by winning Round 2. Hasselt beat La Louvière Centre in the third place match and took the final promotion spot. The five losing teams will play in the 2016-17 Belgian Second Amateur Division, effectively one level lower than in the 2015-16 season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2015-16 Belgian Third Division Belgian Third Division

Bel BEL can be an abbreviation for: * The ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code for Belgium * ''BEL'' or bell character in the C0 control code set * Belarusian language, in the ISO 639-2 and SIL country code lists * Bharat Electronics Limited, an Indian stat ...