2020–21 Cercle Brugge K.S.V. season

Cercle Brugge KSV
2020–21 season
Owner	Dmitry Rybolovlev
Chairman	Vincent Goemaere
Manager	Paul Clement; (until 1 February); Yves Vanderhaeghe; (from 3 February)
Stadium	Jan Breydel Stadium
Belgian First Division A	16th
Belgian Cup	Quarter-finals
Top goalscorer	League: ; Ike Ugbo (18); All: ; Ike Ugbo (19)
	← 2019–20 2021–22 →

The 2020–21 Cercle Brugge K.S.V. season was the club's 122nd season in existence and its 26th consecutive season in the top flight of Belgian football. In addition to the domestic league, Cercle Brugge participated in this season's edition of the Belgian Cup. The season covered the period from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021.

Players edit

First-team squad edit

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	FRA	Thomas Didillon
2	DF	BRA	Vitinho
3	DF	SCO	David Bates (on loan from Hamburger SV)
4	DF	FRA	Jérémy Taravel
6	MF	MLI	Aldom Deuro
7	FW	BEL	Kylian Hazard
8	DF	BEL	Robbe Decostere
9	FW	CAN	Ike Ugbo (on loan from Chelsea)
10	FW	BIH	Dino Hotić
11	FW	NED	Anthony Musaba (on loan from Monaco)
12	FW	TOG	Kévin Denkey
14	MF	BEL	Charles Vanhoutte
15	DF	SRB	Strahinja Pavlović (on loan from Monaco)
16	GK	BEL	Miguel Van Damme
17	DF	FRA	Serge-Philippe Raux-Yao
18	GK	BEL	Merveille Goblet


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
19	DF	BUL	Dimitar Velkovski
20	MF	FRA	Kévin Hoggas
21	GK	BRA	Warleson
24	DF	FRA	Jean Marcelin (on loan from Monaco)
25	DF	BEL	Alexander Corryn
26	MF	BEL	Calvin Dekuyper
27	FW	BEL	Olivier Deman
28	MF	BEL	Hannes Van der Bruggen
32	DF	BEL	Arne Cassaert
34	MF	BEL	Thibo Somers
41	DF	FRA	Giulian Biancone (on loan from Monaco)
42	MF	POR	Leonardo Lopes
44	MF	BEL	Andi Koshi
89	GK	BEL	Sébastien Bruzzese
98	MF	SEN	Franck Kanouté

On loan edit

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
5	DF	JPN	Naomichi Ueda (on loan to Nîmes Olympique)
—	FW	FRA	Alimami Gory (on loan to ES Troyes AC)

Pre-season and friendlies edit

Win Draw Loss

4 July 2020 Friendly	Zulte Waregem	2–2	Cercle Brugge	Waregem, Belgium
16:00 CEST (UTC+2)				Stadium: Regenboogstadion

11 July 2020 Friendly	Kortrijk	0–1	Cercle Brugge	Kortrijk, Belgium
15:00 CEST (UTC+2)				Stadium: Guldensporen Stadion

17 July 2020 Friendly	Cercle Brugge	0–2	Monaco	Bruges, Belgium
18:30 CEST (UTC+2)			Ben Yedder 4' Golovin 7'	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 0

22 July 2020 Friendly	Sint-Eloois-Winkel	1–2	Cercle Brugge	Sint-Eloois-Winkel, Belgium
17:30 CEST (UTC+2)				Stadium: Sportpark Terschueren

25 July 2020 Friendly	Deinze	4–0	Cercle Brugge	Oostkamp, Belgium
16:00 CEST (UTC+2)				Stadium: KDC Ruddervoorde

29 July 2020 Friendly	Knokke	Cancelled	Cercle Brugge	Knokke, Belgium
19:00 CEST (UTC+2)				Stadium: Stadion Olivier

1 August 2020 Friendly	Oostende	3–1	Cercle Brugge	Ostend, Belgium
16:00 CEST (UTC+2)				Stadium: Versluys Arena

4 September 2020 Friendly	Cercle Brugge	1–1	Dunkerque	Bruges, Belgium
13:00 CEST (UTC+2)	Hotić 89' (pen.)		Vialla 84'	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 0

Competitions edit

Overview edit

Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Final position	Record
Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Final position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Belgian First Division A	8 August 2020	18 April 2021	Matchday 1	16th	34	11	3	20	40	51	−11	032.35
Belgian Cup	3 February 2021	3 March 2021	Sixth round	Quarter-finals	3	2	0	1	6	4	+2	066.67
Total					37	13	3	21	46	55	−9	035.14

Source: Soccerway

Belgian First Division A edit

League table edit

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
14	Kortrijk	34	11	6	17	44	57	−13	39
15	Sint-Truiden	34	10	8	16	41	52	−11	38
16	Cercle Brugge	34	11	3	20	40	51	−11	36
17	Waasland-Beveren (R)	34	8	7	19	44	70	−26	31	Qualification for the Relegation play-off
18	Excel Mouscron^[a] (R)	34	7	10	17	32	54	−22	31	Relegation to First Division B

Source: Jupiler Pro League (in Dutch), Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Matches won; 3) Goal difference; 4) Goals scored; 5) Away matches won; 6) Away goal difference; 7) Away goals scored; 8) Play-off.^[4]
(R) Relegated
Notes:

^ On 14 April 2021 news was released that both Excel Mouscron and Oostende had not received a Belgian professional football license for the coming season, a requirement to play at the top two levels of Belgian football. For Oostende, a lack of financial transparency, together with generally poor quality and incompleteness of the submitted report, was given as the main reason by the committee for not awarding a license, while Excel Mouscron was refused a license as besides insufficient transparency, the committee also questioned several cash flows and whether the club was creditworthy in general, also due to the fact that the wages for the months of February and March had not yet been paid at that point. For Excel Mouscron, it was already the sixth year running the license was (initially) refused, however, the club has appealed the decision with the Belgian Court for Sports Arbitrage (BAS) successfully on each occasion and intended to do so again. Oostende was planning to launch an appeal as well, with the BAS to rule on the matter for both clubs before the 10th of May. Both clubs were allowed to add new documents to their case, but in case they however still did not receive a license after appeal, knew they would have been forced to relegate to the 2021–22 Belgian Division 2 and start the season with a 3-point penalty.^[1] Both Exel Mouscron and Oostende were however eventually awarded a license after appeal, meaning Oostende remained at the top level, while Excel Mouscron only dropped one level.^[2]^[3]

Results summary edit


Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
34	11	3	20	40	51	−11	36	6	1	10	25	26	−1	5	2	10	15	25	−10

Source: Jupiler Pro League

Results by round edit

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34
Ground	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A
Result	L	W	W	L	L	W	L	W	W	L	L	L	W	L	L	L	D	L	L	L	L	W	L	L	L	D	W	W	L	L	L	W	W	D
Position	16	9	4	7	7	7	10	9	6	9	10	11	9	10						17	18	17	17	17	17	17	16	16	17	17	16	16	16	16

Source: Jupiler Pro League
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Matches edit

The league fixtures were announced on 8 July 2020.^[5]

8 August 2020 1	Standard Liège	1–0	Cercle Brugge	Liège
19:00 CEST (UTC+2)	Bastien 55' Avenatti 59'	Report	Hotić 77'	Stadium: Stade Maurice Dufrasne Attendance: 0 Referee: Jonathan Lardot

16 August 2020 2	Cercle Brugge	2–1	Antwerp	Bruges
13:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Omolo 31' Mbenza 80', 86'	Report	Gerkens 32' Mbokani 65'	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Wim Smet

22 August 2020 3	KV Mechelen	2–3	Cercle Brugge	Mechelen
18:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Togui 37' Vranckx 64', 72' De Camargo 82' Kaya 88' Bijker 90+5'	Report	Omolo 29' Ugbo 54' Hotić 57' Taravel 76' Somers 80'	Stadium: Achter de Kazerne Attendance: 0 Referee: Kevin Van Damme

29 August 2020 4	Cercle Brugge	0–1	Kortrijk	Bruges
18:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Omolo 39' Vanhoutte 42'	Report	Makarenko 23' D'haene 31' Golubović 51' Selemani 67'	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Christof Dierick

13 September 2020 5	Anderlecht	2–0	Cercle Brugge	Anderlecht
13:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Nmecha 36' (pen.) Vranješ 43' Murillo 68'	Report	Bates 33' Omolo 38' Decostere 59' Kanouté 83'	Stadium: Constant Vanden Stock Stadium Attendance: 6,000 Referee: Nicolas Laforge

21 September 2020 6	Cercle Brugge	3–0	Sint-Truiden	Bruges
20:45 CEST (UTC+2)	Hotić 25' Ugbo 31' (pen.) Omolo 67' Vitinho 90+1'	Report	Matsubara 13' Colombatto 18' Durkin 35'	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 2,000 Referee: Wesli De Cremer

27 September 2020 7	Club Brugge	2–1	Cercle Brugge	Bruges
18:15 CEST (UTC+2)	Diatta 22' Deli 68' Krmenčík 90+6'	Report	Musaba 46' Marcelin 58' Hazard 69'	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 9,500 Referee: Lawrence Visser

3 October 2020 8	Eupen	1–2	Cercle Brugge	Eupen
18:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Peeters 14' Musona 31' Ngoy 39' Amat 43' Koch 84' Adriano 90'	Report	Hazard 5', 47' Taravel 46' Musaba 76' Somers 89' Ugbo 90+3'	Stadium: Kehrwegstadion Attendance: 1,340 Referee: Jasper Vergoote

17 October 2020 9	Cercle Brugge	5–2	Gent	Bruges
16:15 CEST (UTC+2)	Kanouté 4' Hotić 31' (pen.) Ugbo 57', 78' Marcelin 82'	Report	Hanche-Olsen 14' Yaremchuk 64' (pen.)	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 2,500 Referee: Nathan Verboomen

31 October 2020 11	Charleroi	3–0	Cercle Brugge	Charleroi
18:30 CET (UTC+1)	Gholizadeh 53' Berahino 58' Morioka 68' Nicholson 82' Kayembe 90+2'	Report	Bates 48'	Stadium: Stade du Pays de Charleroi Attendance: 0 Referee: Christof Dierick

8 November 2020 12	Cercle Brugge	1–3	Zulte Waregem	Bruges
20:45 CET (UTC+1)	Musaba 30' Hotić 43' Ugbo 67' Biancone 90+3'	Report	Chorý 6', 81' Bruno 31', 78' Bianda 39' Srarfi 60'	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Jonathan Lardot

21 November 2020 13	Waasland-Beveren	0–2	Cercle Brugge	Beveren
18:30 CET (UTC+1)	Mandjeck 45' Vukotić 84' 84' Koita 85'	Report	Vitinho 4' Ugbo 43', 82' Biancone 52' Somers 65'	Stadium: Freethiel Stadion Attendance: 0 Referee: Bram van Driessche

25 November 2020 10	Cercle Brugge	1–2	Excel Mouscron	Bruges
17:00 CET (UTC+1)	Vitinho 25' Biancone 27' Musaba 64' Lopes 86' Hoggas 90+9'	Report	Bocat 20' Onana 30' Silvestre 81' Gnohéré 87' (pen.)	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Jan Boterberg

28 November 2020 14	Cercle Brugge	1–5	Genk	Bruges
18:30 CET (UTC+1)	Hotić 33', 51' Marcelin 62'	Report	Onuachu 9', 38' Ito 16' Heynen 30' Bongonda 74'	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Kevin Van Damme

5 December 2020 15	OH Leuven	2–1	Cercle Brugge	Leuven
18:30 CET (UTC+1)	Sowah 10' Mercier 42' Henry 54' Maertens 78' Hubert 81'	Report	Kanouté 50' Taravel 81' Ugbo 90+1'	Stadium: Den Dreef Attendance: 0 Referee: Nathan Verboomen

12 December 2020 16	Cercle Brugge	0–1	Oostende	Bruges
18:30 CET (UTC+1)	Omolo 39' Bates 52' Vanhoutte 62'	Report	Vandendriessche 29'	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Jasper Vergoote

15 December 2020 18	Cercle Brugge	3–4	Charleroi	Bruges
18:45 CET (UTC+1)	Ugbo 17', 25' Musaba 85'	Report	Gholizadeh 63' Nicholson 64' Morioka 70' Bruno 87'	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Wesley Alen

26 December 2020 19	Zulte Waregem	1–0	Cercle Brugge	Waregem
16:15 CET (UTC+1)	Dompé 83'	Report		Stadium: Regenboogstadion Attendance: 0 Referee: Christof Dierick

9 January 2021 30	Cercle Brugge	1–2	Eupen	Bruges
18:30 CET (UTC+1)	Hoggas 53'	Report	Prevljak 69', 76'	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Jan Boterberg

13 January 2021 17	Beerschot	1–1	Cercle Brugge	Antwerp
18:30 CET (UTC+1)	Vorogovskiy 14' Suzuki 22' Sanusi 89'	Report	Hazard 57' Musaba 89'	Stadium: Olympisch Stadion Attendance: 0 Referee: Wim Smet

17 January 2021 20	Cercle Brugge	0–1	Standard Liège	Bruges
16:00 CET (UTC+1)	Ugbo 85'	Report	Lestienne 11' Tapsoba 88'	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Bert Put

20 January 2021 21	Antwerp	1–0	Cercle Brugge	Antwerp
21:00 CET (UTC+1)	Boya 37' Lamkel Zé 84', 84'	Report	Kanouté 41' Musaba 79' Bates 90+1'	Stadium: Bosuilstadion Attendance: 0 Referee: Alexandre Boucaut

23 January 2021 22	Kortrijk	1–2	Cercle Brugge	Kortrijk
18:30 CET (UTC+1)				Stadium: Guldensporen Stadion Attendance: 0

28 January 2021 23	Cercle Brugge	1–2	Club Brugge	Bruges
18:45 CET (UTC+1)	Musaba 28'	Report	Mechele 37' Denswil 54' Lang 58' Rits 79'	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Nathan Verboomen

31 January 2021 24	Sint-Truiden	3–0	Cercle Brugge	Sint-Truiden
20:45 CET (UTC+1)	Brüls 17' Buatu 49' Teixeira 64' Cacace 83' Colidio 90+1' Durkin 90+4'	Report	Pavlović 28' Marcelin 90+3'	Stadium: Stayen Attendance: 0 Referee: Jonathan Lardot

6 February 2021 25	Cercle Brugge	0–1	KV Mechelen	Bruges
18:30 CET (UTC+1)	Somers 73' Van der Bruggen 77'	Report	Druijf 85' De Camargo 87'	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Jan Boterberg

14 February 2021 26	Cercle Brugge	0–0	Anderlecht	Bruges
20:45 CET (UTC+1)	Marcelin 50'	Report	Murillo 61'	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Nicolas Laforge

20 February 2021 27	Excel Mouscron	1–2	Cercle Brugge	Mouscron
18:30 CET (UTC+1)	Mohamed 20' Bakić 28' Tabekou 45+1' Onana 67' Lepoint 90+1'	Report	Ugbo 13' Pavlović 78' Denkey 88' Didillon 90+5'	Stadium: Stade Le Canonnier Attendance: 0 Referee: Jonathan Lardot

27 February 2021 28	Cercle Brugge	2–0	Waasland-Beveren	Bruges
16:15 CET (UTC+1)	Lopes 29', 45' Deman 63' Denkey 82'	Report	Heltne Nilsen 24' Bastians 55' Wuytens 80' Schryvers 86' Leuko 90+5'	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Nicolas Laforge

7 March 2021 29	Genk	2–0	Cercle Brugge	Genk
20:45 CET (UTC+1)	Onuachu 9' Ito 24' Heynen 37'	Report	Marcelin 20' Van der Bruggen 27' 39' Pavlović 87'	Stadium: Luminus Arena Attendance: 0 Referee: Alexandre Boucaut

21 March 2021 31	Gent	1–0	Cercle Brugge	Ghent
20:45 CET (UTC+1)	Yaremchuk 67' Castro-Montes 81', 81' Kums 85'	Report	Lopes 14' Ugbo 51'	Stadium: Ghelamco Arena Attendance: 0 Referee: Jonathan Lardot

4 April 2021 32	Cercle Brugge	2–1	Beerschot	Bruges
13:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Biancone 18', 49' Ugbo 34' (pen.), 73' Velkovski 38' Lopes 44'	Report	Sanusi 33' Van den Bergh 50'	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Bram Van Driessche

10 April 2021 33	Cercle Brugge	3–0	OH Leuven	Bruges
16:15 CEST (UTC+2)	Hoggas 33' Ugbo 44', 56' Taravel 58', 73' Van der Bruggen 69' Decostere 77' Deman 82'	Report	De Norre 54'	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Lothar D'hondt

18 April 2021 34	Oostende	1–1	Cercle Brugge	Ostend
18:00 CEST (UTC+2)	Hendry 79' Kvasina 90+2' Ndicka 90+5'	Report	Ugbo 49' Corryn 64' Biancone 79'	Stadium: Diaz Arena Attendance: 0 Referee: Alexandre Boucaut

Belgian Cup edit

3 February 2021 Sixth round	OH Leuven	2–3	Cercle Brugge	Leuven
18:00 CET (UTC+1)	Maertens 3' Eppiah 17' Hubert 90+3'	Report	Hotić 1' (pen.) Marcelin 39', 81' Taravel 73' (pen.) Musaba 82'	Stadium: Den Dreef Attendance: 0

9 February 2021 Seventh round	Cercle Brugge	3–1	Oostende	Bruges
18:00 CET (UTC+1)	Deman 32', 34' Denkey 61', 64' Van der Bruggen 83' Ugbo 90'	Report	Bätzner 29' Thiam 90+1'	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Bert Put

3 March 2021 Quarter-finals	Anderlecht	1–0	Cercle Brugge	Anderlecht
20:45 CET (UTC+1)	Nmecha 13' Wellenreuther 86'	Report	Marcelin 23' Corryn 45'	Stadium: Constant Vanden Stock Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Bram Van Driessche

Statistics edit

Squad appearances and goals edit

Last updated on 17 January 2021.

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Belgian Division		Belgian Cup
No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
1	GK	FRA	Thomas Didillon	18	0	18	0	0	0
16	GK	BEL	Miguel Van Damme	0	0	0	0	0	0
18	GK	BEL	Merveille Goblet	0	0	0	0	0	0
21	GK	BRA	Warleson	3	0	3	0	0	0
Defenders
2	DF	BRA	Vitinho	16	1	12+4	1	0	0
3	DF	SCO	David Bates	8	0	8	0	0	0
4	DF	FRA	Jérémy Taravel	14	0	14	0	0	0
5	DF	JPN	Naomichi Ueda	8	0	7+1	0	0	0
8	DF	BEL	Robbe Decostere	12	0	12	0	0	0
17	DF	FRA	Serge-Philippe Raux-Yao	2	0	1+1	0	0	0
19	DF	BUL	Dimitar Velkovski	12	0	10+2	0	0	0
24	DF	FRA	Jean Marcelin	12	1	12	1	0	0
25	DF	BEL	Alexander Corryn	9	0	4+5	0	0	0
32	DF	BEL	Arne Cassaert	0	0	0	0	0	0
41	DF	FRA	Giulian Biancone	7	0	6+1	0	0	0
Midfielders
6	MF	MLI	Aldom Deuro	0	0	0	0	0	0
14	MF	BEL	Charles Vanhoutte	17	0	10+7	0	0	0
20	MF	FRA	Kévin Hoggas	20	1	19+1	1	0	0
26	MF	BEL	Calvin Dekuyper	1	0	0+1	0	0	0
34	MF	BEL	Thibo Somers	15	1	1+14	1	0	0
42	MF	POR	Leonardo Lopes	11	0	5+6	0	0	0
44	MF	BEL	Andi Koshi	0	0	0	0	0	0
98	MF	SEN	Franck Kanouté	13	1	12+1	1	0	0
Forwards
7	FW	BEL	Kylian Hazard	18	1	15+3	1	0	0
9	FW	ENG	Ike Ugbo	19	10	19	10	0	0
10	FW	BIH	Dino Hotić	19	4	18+1	4	0	0
11	FW	NED	Anthony Musaba	18	5	17+1	5	0	0
12	FW	TOG	Kévin Denkey	1	0	0+1	0	0	0
27	FW	BEL	Oliver Deman	0	0	0	0	0	0
Players who have made an appearance this season but have left the club
15	MF	KEN	Johanna Omolo	10	0	6+4	0	0	0

References edit

^ "KV Oostende en Moeskroen krijgen (weer) geen licentie in eerste zit" [KV Oostende and (again) Mouscron don't receive a license at their first attempt] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 14 April 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
^ "KV Oostende krijgt licentie van BAS, afwachten voor Moeskroen" [KV Oostende awarded license by BAS, Mouscron still waiting] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 10 May 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
^ "Degradant Moeskroen bemachtigt via BAS opnieuw een licentie" [Relegated Mouscron again obtains license after appeal at BAS] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 10 May 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
^ "Bondsreglement Titel 7: Competities" [Association Rules Title 7: Competitions] (PDF). Royal Belgian Football Association. p. 19. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
^ "Club Brugge - Charleroi is de opener van het seizoen en meteen maandagvoetbal: ontdek hier de kalender van het seizoen 2020/21". Voetbalkrant.com (in Dutch). 8 July 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2020.

External links edit

Official website

[table_note_OOS0.78239150614589-4] On 14 April 2021 news was released that both Excel Mouscron and Oostende had not received a Belgian professional football license for the coming season, a requirement to play at the top two levels of Belgian football. For Oostende, a lack of financial transparency, together with generally poor quality and incompleteness of the submitted report, was given as the main reason by the committee for not awarding a license, while Excel Mouscron was refused a license as besides insufficient transparency, the committee also questioned several cash flows and whether the club was creditworthy in general, also due to the fact that the wages for the months of February and March had not yet been paid at that point. For Excel Mouscron, it was already the sixth year running the license was (initially) refused, however, the club has appealed the decision with the Belgian Court for Sports Arbitrage (BAS) successfully on each occasion and intended to do so again. Oostende was planning to launch an appeal as well, with the BAS to rule on the matter for both clubs before the 10th of May. Both clubs were allowed to add new documents to their case, but in case they however still did not receive a license after appeal, knew they would have been forced to relegate to the 2021–22 Belgian Division 2 and start the season with a 3-point penalty.^[1] Both Exel Mouscron and Oostende were however eventually awarded a license after appeal, meaning Oostende remained at the top level, while Excel Mouscron only dropped one level.^[2]^[3]

[licenses-1] "KV Oostende en Moeskroen krijgen (weer) geen licentie in eerste zit" [KV Oostende and (again) Mouscron don't receive a license at their first attempt] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 14 April 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2021.

[appealoostende-2] "KV Oostende krijgt licentie van BAS, afwachten voor Moeskroen" [KV Oostende awarded license by BAS, Mouscron still waiting] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 10 May 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.

[appealmouscron-3] "Degradant Moeskroen bemachtigt via BAS opnieuw een licentie" [Relegated Mouscron again obtains license after appeal at BAS] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 10 May 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.

[5] "Bondsreglement Titel 7: Competities" [Association Rules Title 7: Competitions] (PDF). Royal Belgian Football Association. p. 19. Retrieved 25 August 2020.

[6] "Club Brugge - Charleroi is de opener van het seizoen en meteen maandagvoetbal: ontdek hier de kalender van het seizoen 2020/21". Voetbalkrant.com (in Dutch). 8 July 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2020.

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