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 Association football is the most popular sport in Belgium, which has been played since the end of the 19th century. The national association was founded in 1895 with the intention of bringing some order and organization to the sport. The fi ...

league system, one level below the

Belgian First Division B The Challenger Pro League (previously known as ''1B Pro League'') is the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian First Division A. It was created by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 201 ...

. It was created by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 2016, coming in at the third level and pushing all divisions one level down. Until the 2019–20 season, it was known as the ''Belgian First Amateur Division'', but was renamed due to the negative connotation of the word ''amateur''.

History

The Belgian First Amateur Division was created in 2016 following an overhaul of the

Belgian football league system The Belgian football league system is a series of interconnected leagues for club football in Belgium. Men's system The league system underwent restructuring which was approved by the Royal Belgian Football Association. One important step was the ...

which saw the number of professional clubs reduced to 24. As a result, from the third level and below only amateur clubs remain. The two remaining levels above the Belgian Provincial leagues were reformed into three amateur levels, namely the Belgian First Amateur Division, the Belgian Second Amateur Division and the Belgian Third Amateur Division. As a result, the Belgian Provincial Leagues dropped to the sixth level of the league system. In 2020 the levels were renamed to Belgian National Division 1,

Belgian Division 2 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 ...

, and

Belgian Division 3 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 ...

respectively.

Competition format

The season is a regular round-robin tournament with 16 teams. The top four teams after the regular season play a promotion playoff in which they keep 50% of the obtained points during the regular season and the team with the most points after the playoff is promoted to the

. Regarding relegation, the bottom three teams are automatically demoted, while the team finishing in 13th place play a relegation playoff together with three teams from the Belgian Second Amateur Division with the playoff winner obtaining a spot in the following season's Belgian First Amateur Division.

Past results overview

Footnotes

References

{{UEFA third leagues Sports leagues established in 2016 2016 establishments in Belgium Third level football leagues in Europe 3