The 2006–07 season of the

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

First Division began on July 28, 2006, and concluded on May 19, 2007. The championship was decided in the penultimate round on May 12, 2007, when Anderlecht moved five points clear of runners-up

Genk Genk () is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality only comprises the town of Genk itself. It is one of the most important industrial towns in Flanders, located on the Albert Canal, ...

to retain the title and win their 29th League Championship. At the other end of the table, the struggle to avoid automatic relegation went on until the final round, and it was Lierse who eventually prevailed. Having spent the entire season at the bottom of the standings and only just managing to close an eleven-point gap up to 17th, the Lier side won their last game to climb past

Beveren Beveren () is a municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders which comprises the towns of Beveren, Doel, Haasdonk, Kallo, Kieldrecht, Melsele, Verrebroek and Vrasene. The port of the Waasland (Dutch: ''Waaslandhaven'') is in Beveren ...

and send the latter down to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. However, Lierse went on to lose the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

and was relegated anyway.

Clubs

Eighteen teams played in the 2006-07 first division. Twelve teams were from

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...

, four clubs from

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

and just two clubs from the

Brussels-Capital Region Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

New teams

La Louvière had been relegated at the end of the previous season with Mons replacing them as they won the Belgian Second Division. Lierse had managed to win the

promotion playoff Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or ...

and thus they remained in the first division.

Overview

Manager changes

* August 30 -

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

fires

Johan Boskamp Johannes "Johan/Jan" Boskamp (born 21 October 1948) is a Dutch former football player and manager. He played the majority of his career for hometown club Feyenoord and Belgian side RWDM and managed primarily in the Belgian leagues. Currently he ...

. * August 30 -

Michel Preud'homme Michel Georges Jean Ghislain Preud'homme (born 24 January 1959) is a Belgian retired footballer and manager who played as a goalkeeper. Currently, he is vice-president and sports director at Standard Liège. He was considered one of the world's ...

quits his job as technical director to take up the job of manager with

. * October 29 - Lokeren fires Ariël Jacobs. * November 7 - Thomas Caers quits his job as manager of Sint Truiden as he feels the players don't respect him anymore after a series of bad results. * November 13 -

René Trost René Hubertus Johannes Trost (born 31 January 1965 in Kerkrade, Limburg) is a former Dutch football defender and football manager. Career As a player, he played fifteen seasons at Roda JC; in between he spent half a season on loan at VVV-Venlo ...

agrees with the management of Lierse to split up and each go their own way. At that time Lierse is in last position, with two points out of 12 matches. * November 22 - Lierse finds a new manager as

Kjetil Rekdal Kjetil André Rekdal (born 6 November 1968) is a Norwegian football manager and a former player. He is the manager of Eliteserien club Rosenborg. Rekdal began his playing career in Molde FK, playing afterwards for clubs in the Bundesliga, Lig ...

is contracted to try to keep the team in the first division. In Sint Truiden, Henk Houwaart is the new manager. * November 26 - Lokeren announces that

Slavoljub Muslin Slavoljub Muslin ( sr-Cyrl, Славољуб Муслин, ; born 15 June 1953) is a Serbian football manager and former player. Muslin began his head coaching career in 1988 and has since had stints in France, Morocco, Serbia, Bulgaria, Ukraine ...

will sign a contract as the new manager within the next few days. * January 28 - After losing 0-1 at home to

Roeselare Roeselare (; french: Roulers, ; West Flemish: ''Roeseloare'') is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Roeselare proper and the towns of Beveren, Oekene and Rumbeke. Th ...

, the staff of Club Brugge is under fire from supporters and media yet again. The day after, coach

Emilio Ferrera Emilio Ferrera (born 19 June 1967 in Schaerbeek) is a Belgian football manager and former player, who is currently managing the U21 squad of Gent. His last former club was OH Leuven in the Belgian First Division B. Before he also worked at G ...

and assistant

Franky Van der Elst Franky Van der Elst (born 30 April 1961) is a Belgian retired professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He later worked as a manager. During a 21-year professional career he played mainly with Club Brugge, being regarded as ...

get fired and sports director

Marc Degryse Marc Gabriel Degryse (born 4 September 1965), nicknamed ''Le Lutin d'Ardooie'' ("The Imp of Ardooie") and ''The Little One'',Macedonian ex-player, Cedomir Janevski, is appointed as the new manager. * February 1 - At

R.E. Mouscron Royal Excelsior Mouscron was a Football in Belgium, Belgian football club from the municipality of Mouscron, Hainaut (province), Hainaut. In December 2009 they were declared bankrupt and soon ceased to exist. A new club known as Royal Excel Mous ...

, Gil Vandenbrouck resigns after disappointing results and is given another job at the club. Ariël Jacobs is the new coach. * March 19 -

Marc Brys Marc Brys (born 10 May 1962) is a Belgian football manager and former player, who manages OH Leuven in the Belgian First Division A. Career His coaching career took off at Belgian club, Berchem Sport, which he guided to the championship of t ...

announces he will finish the season as trainer at

K.F.C. Germinal Beerschot Koninklijke Beerschot Antwerpen Club (), simply known as Beerschot AC, was a Belgian football club based in southern Antwerp. Beerschot played in the Belgian Pro League from 1999–2000 (as Germinal Beerschot) until 2012–13, when they were ...

, but will then quit his job. No new trainer is announced to replace him. * March 25 - Walter Meeuws is fired at K.S.K. Beveren, assistant-coach Edy De Bolle becomes caretaker until the end of the season. * March 26 - Next season,

Cercle Brugge K.S.V. Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. Cercle have played in the Belgian Pro League since the 2003–04 season, having previously spent several years in the Belgian Second Divisi ...

coach

Harm Van Veldhoven Harm van Veldhoven (; born 28 September 1962 in Luyksgestel) is a Dutch-Belgian football manager who is currently unemployed after last managing Westerlo. Van Veldhoven started his career with local youth team De Raven. He was picked up by SK ...

will take up the job at

. Cercle Brugge are looking for a new coach. * April 3 -

Sint-Truiden Sint-Truiden (; french: link=no, Saint-Trond ; li, Sintruin ) is a city and municipality located in the province of Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium, and has over 41,500 inhabitants, which makes it one of the largest cities in Limburg. The mun ...

fires Henk Houwaart. Assistant-trainer

Peter Voets Peter Voets (born 17 September 1968) is a Belgian football defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre ...

takes over. * April 15 - At Lokeren, assistant coach Rudy Cossey announces he will leave the club after 12 years and take up the job of head coach at second division team

Oud-Heverlee Leuven Oud-Heverlee Leuven (), also called OH Leuven or OHL, is a Belgian football club from the city of Leuven. It was created in 2002 from the merger of three clubs, '' F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee'', whose registration number it inherited, '' ...

next season. In Leuven,

Guido Brepoels Guido Brepoels (born 7 June 1961) is a former Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French ...

had announced a few weeks earlier that he was leaving at the end of the season to take up the job at another second division team,

KVSK United Lommel SK is a Football in Belgium, Belgian association football club based in the city of Lommel, Limburg (Belgium), Limburg, that competes in the Challenger Pro League. History The roots of the club date back to the 1920s when the club V ...

. * April 20 - Ariël Jacobs, head coach at

Mouscron Mouscron (; Dutch and vls, Moeskroen, ; Picard and Walloon: ''Moucron'') is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Hainaut, along the border with the French city of Tourcoing, which is part of the Lille metropol ...

, is named by many sources to become the new assistant coach of

Franky Vercauteren François Vercauteren (born 28 October 1956), nicknamed "The Little Prince", is a Belgian former footballer who played as a left winger. He is currently unemployed after most recently managing Antwerp. Club career Vercauteren made his first ...

at Anderlecht next season.

Glen De Boeck Glen De Boeck (; born 22 August 1971) is a Belgian football manager and former player who most recently managed Lokeren in the Belgian First Division B. During his career he played as central defender, mostly on the books of Anderlecht. Clu ...

, his assistant coach at that time, is applying for a job at

Cercle Brugge Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. Cercle have played in the Belgian Pro League since the 2003–04 season, having previously spent several years in the Belgian Second Divisi ...

is doing the same thing and a decision concerning the new coaching team of Cercle Brugge for the new season is said to be announced soon. * April 23 -

will be the head coach of

during the upcoming season. * April 26 - Club Brugge announces that Charleroi coach

Jacky Mathijssen Jacky Mathijssen () (born 20 July 1963 in Dilsen-Stokkem) is a Belgian former football player and manager who is currently managing the Belgium U21 squad. Managerial statistics ''As of 19 November 2019'' Honours *2003 Runners-up Belgian Cup ...

will be their new head coach for the upcoming season. Coach Cedomir Janevski is offered a position as his assistant but is still considering the offer. * April 28 - As both Club Brugge and Charleroi are still in the running for the fifth place and thus also possibly a ticket for European football next season, chairman Abbas Bayat decides to fire coach

. Later that day the supporters chant Mathijssen's name during the match between Charleroi and Lokeren to express their unhappiness with Bayat's decision. Philippe Van de Walle is the caretaker for the four remaining matches of the season.

League standings

Promotion and relegation playoff

Clubs

New teams

Overview

Manager changes

League standings

Promotion and relegation playoff

Results

Top scorers

See also