2017–18 Belgian Second Amateur Division

The 2017–18 Belgian Second Amateur Division is the second season of the division in its current format, placed at the fourth-tier of football in Belgium.

Belgian Second Amateur Division
Season2017–18
ChampionsRupel Boom, Tessenderlo and RWDM
PromotedRupel Boom, Tessenderlo, RWDM and RFC Liège
RelegatedBornem, Pepingen-Halle, Sint-Lenaarts, Tienen, Torhout, Zwarte Leeuw, La Calamine, Sprimont Comblain and WS Brussels

The division consists of three separate leagues, each containing 16 teams. Leagues A and B consist of teams with a license from the Voetbalfederatie Vlaanderen (VFV, the Dutch speaking wing of the Belgian FA), while league C contains teams with a license from the Association des Clubs Francophones de Football (ACFF, the French speaking wing of the RBFA). The champions from each of the three leagues will promote to the 2018–19 Belgian First Amateur Division. The fixtures will be announced in July 2017.

Team changes

edit

Mergers

edit

Belgian Second Amateur Division A

edit

League table

edit
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Rupel Boom (P) 30 19 4 7 74 49 +25 61 Promotion to the 2018–19 Belgian First Amateur Division
2 Mandel United 30 18 3 9 59 33 +26 57 Qualification for the Promotion play-offs VFV[a]
3 Sint-Eloois-Winkel 30 16 7 7 60 41 +19 55
4 Petegem 30 15 8 7 64 40 +24 53
5 Westhoek 30 16 3 11 61 56 +5 51
6 Sint-Niklaas 30 15 5 10 55 43 +12 50
7 Temse 30 14 6 10 51 42 +9 48
8 Harelbeke 30 12 7 11 45 42 +3 43
9 Brakel 30 11 8 11 41 49 −8 41
10 Gullegem 30 12 4 14 51 52 −1 40
11 Gent-Zeehaven 30 12 1 17 47 59 −12 37
12 Londerzeel 30 10 6 14 55 51 +4 36
13 Ronse 30 7 12 11 33 44 −11 33
14 Pepingen-Halle (R) 30 7 7 16 30 56 −26 28 Qualification for the relegation play-offs
15 Torhout (R) 30 7 5 18 36 67 −31 26 Relegation to the 2018–19 Belgian Third Amateur Division
16 Bornem (R) 30 5 2 23 28 66 −38 17
Source: vbal4
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored.[1]
(P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ In theory four teams should take part in the Promotion play-offs VFV, namely the second placed team and the three period winners. Any vacant spots would be filled with the teams finishing highest in the league. However, besides Mandel United and Sint-Eloois-Winkel no other teams requested and received their licence to play in the Belgian First Amateur Division and hence two spots remain vacant.

Belgian Second Amateur Division B

edit

League table

edit
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Tessenderlo (P) 30 20 5 5 63 30 +33 65 Promotion to the 2018–19 Belgian First Amateur Division
2 Bocholt 30 17 6 7 57 42 +15 57
3 Spouwen-Mopertingen 30 14 10 6 56 46 +10 52
4 City Pirates 30 13 8 9 52 44 +8 47
5 Wijgmaal 30 14 4 12 53 49 +4 46
6 Vosselaar 30 11 11 8 49 35 +14 44
7 Hades 30 13 4 13 46 42 +4 43
8 Overijse 30 12 5 13 39 51 −12 41
9 Cappellen 30 11 8 11 43 37 +6 41
10 Duffel 30 11 7 12 46 46 0 40
11 Turnhout 30 8 13 9 30 34 −4 37
12 Hoogstraten 30 10 6 14 39 47 −8 36
13 Hasselt 30 10 5 15 34 45 −11 35 Qualification for the Promotion play-offs VFV[a]
14 Zwarte Leeuw (R) 30 6 12 12 43 47 −4 30 Qualification for the relegation play-offs
15 Tienen (R) 30 8 4 18 39 61 −22 28 Relegation to the 2018–19 Belgian Third Amateur Division
16 Sint-Lenaarts (R) 30 6 4 20 33 66 −33 22
Source: vbal4
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored.[2]
(P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ In theory four teams should take part in the Promotion play-offs VFV, namely the second placed team and the three period winners. Any vacant spots would be filled with the teams finishing highest in the league. This would mean Bocholt, Spouwen-Mopertingen, City Pirates and Wijgmaal would normally take part, however as only Hasselt requested and received their licence to play in the Belgian First Amateur Division the three other spots remain vacant.

Belgian Second Amateur Division C

edit

League table

edit
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 RWDM (P) 28 25 1 2 84 19 +65 76 Promotion to the 2018–19 Belgian First Amateur Division
2 RFC Liège (P) 28 21 3 4 68 30 +38 66 Qualification for the Promotion play-offs ACFF[a]
3 Olympic Charleroi 28 16 6 6 53 37 +16 54
4 Durbuy 28 13 6 9 40 37 +3 45
5 Hamoir 28 13 5 10 44 43 +1 44
6 La Louvière Centre 28 12 6 10 38 43 −5 42 Qualification for the Promotion play-offs ACFF[a]
7 Walhain 28 9 10 9 38 44 −6 37
8 Waremme 28 11 5 12 48 46 +2 38
9 Acren-Lessines 28 9 7 12 44 46 −2 34
10 Solières 28 9 8 11 37 41 −4 35
11 Meux 28 8 7 13 48 55 −7 31
12 Rebecq 28 8 7 13 41 51 −10 31
13 Ciney[b] 28 5 9 14 35 48 −13 24
14 Sprimont Comblain (R) 28 5 3 20 29 62 −33 18 Relegation to the 2018–19 Belgian Third Amateur Division
15 La Calamine (R) 28 3 3 22 25 70 −45 12
16 WS Brussels[c] (R) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Source: vbal4
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored.[4]
(P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ a b In theory four teams should take part in the Promotion play-offs ACFF, namely the second placed team and the three period winners. Any vacant spots would be filled with the teams finishing highest in the league. This would mean FC Liège, Olympic Charleroi, Durbuy and Hamoir would normally take part, however the latter two teams have not requested (or received) their licence to play in the Belgian First Amateur Division. As only La Louvière Centre has received a licence from the other remaining teams, they will take part while the last spot remains vacant.
  2. ^ Ciney might still be relegated depending on the result of the 2017–18 Belgian First Amateur Division. If the team participating in the Second Amateur Division Promotion play-offs Final is from the ACFF and relegates due to losing these play-offs, then in case the replacing team is from the VFV an extra team from the ACFF would be relegated, which would be Ciney based on their finishing position.
  3. ^ WS Brussels was excluded from all competitions on 29 September 2017 and automatically placed in last position. If the club does not manage to pay its outstanding debts, its matricule will also be cancelled and the club will cease to exist.[3]

Promotion play-offs

edit

Promotion play-offs VFV

edit

The teams finishing in second place in the Second Amateur Division A and Second Amateur Division B will take part in a promotion playoff first round together with three period winners from both divisions. These 8 teams from the VFV will play the first round of a promotion-playoff, with two teams qualifying for the Promotion play-offs Final. In division A, the first period was won by Petegem, the second by Mandel United and the third by champions Rupel Boom. In division B, champions Tessenderlo won all three periods.

In division A, only Mandel United and Sint-Eloois-Winkel received a license, meaning there were only two participants from this division instead of four. In division B, only Hasselt applied for a license in spite of finishing just 5 points clear of the relegation zone. The three other spots remained vacant. Overall this meant only three out of eight teams took part, with two teams qualifying for the Promotion play-offs Final. As a result of the draw, Sint-Eloois-Winkel received a bye and directly qualified for the play-offs Final.

Mandel United4–0Hasselt
Lorthiois   
Beyens   
report
Gemeentelijk stadion, Ingelmunster

The winner of this match will qualify for the Promotion play-offs Final together with Sint-Eloois-Winkel.

Promotion play-offs ACFF

edit

The team finishing in second place in the Second Amateur Division C will take part in the promotion playoff first round together with three period winners. These 4 teams will play the first round of a promotion-playoff, with the winner qualifying for the Promotion play-offs Final. While champions RWDM47 won all three periods which would meant the teams in positions 2 through 5 would take part in the playoffs, only three teams effectively received a license with the fourth place remaining vacant.

ACFF Round 1

edit

As a result of the draw, La Louvière-Centre received a bye into round 2.

RFC Liège2–1 (a.e.t.)Olympic Charleroi
Kenne   58'
Electeur   105'
Vandebon   108' (pen.)
Kalincik   73'   80'
Sidibé   90+3'
Palmeri   49'   100'
Stade de Rocourt, Liège

ACFF Round 2

edit
RFC Liège1–0La Louvière Centre
Vandebon   81' Report
Stade de Rocourt, Liège

RFC Liège qualified for the Promotion play-offs Final.

Promotion play-offs Final

edit

The two winners of the Promotion play-offs on the VFV side (Mandel United and Sint-Eloois-Winkel) and the winning team from the ACFF Promotion play-offs (RFC Liège) will play a final tournament together with the team that finished in 14th place in the 2017–18 Belgian First Amateur Division (Hamme). The winner of this play-off promotes to (or remains in) the 2018–19 Belgian First Amateur Division.

Final Round 1

edit
Mandel United0–2RFC Liège
Report Jiyar   59'
Winandts   85'
Gemeentelijk stadion, Ingelmunster
RFC Liège1–0Mandel United
Dethier   86' Report
Stade de Rocourt, Liège

Hamme2–1Sint-Eloois-Winkel
Dekuyper  
D'Haeseleer  
 
Sint-Eloois-Winkel1–1Hamme
Lutun   55' Report Claeys   90'

RFC Liège and Hamme qualified for the Promotion play-offs Final. Mandel United and Sint-Eloois-Winkel are eliminated and remain in the Belgian Second Amateur Division.

Final Round 2

edit
Hamme2–4RFC Liège
Audin   3'
De Wilde   34'
Teruel   41'
Dethier   56'
Mombongo-Dues   75'
Electeur   81'
RFC Liège2–1Hamme
Mombongo-Dues   1'
Electeur   47'
Mariën   15'
Stade de Rocourt, Liège

RFC Liège won 6–3 on aggregate and as a result was promoted to the 2018–19 Belgian First Amateur Division. By losing, Hamme was relegated from the 2017–18 Belgian First Amateur Division to the 2018–19 Belgian Second Amateur Division.

Relegation play-offs

edit

The number of teams relegating from the Belgian Amateur Second Division depends on the number of teams of each wing (VFV and ACFF) relegating from the Belgian First Amateur Division.

In case the three automatic relegation spots in the 2017–18 Belgian First Amateur Division are filled by:

Additionally, in case the team from the 2017–18 Belgian First Amateur Division taking part in the Promotion play-offs Final belongs to a different wing than the winner of the Promotion play-offs Final, then an additional team would be relegated of the same wing as the relegating team from the 2017–18 Belgian First Amateur Division.

As of the end of the regular competition, the number of extra relegations for the VFV would be zero, one or two, while for ACFF it would be zero or one.

Relegation play-offs VFV

edit

The teams finishing 14th in divisions A and B play each other in a single match to avoid relegation.

Pepingen-Halle3–1Zwarte Leeuw
Miceli  
Ngadrira   44'
Morais De Almeida   85'
Report Vanderheyden   66'

At the time of the match, it was yet uncertain how many teams from each wing would be relegated. In the end, with the relegations of Hamme, Berchem Sport and Patro Eisden Maasmechelen from the 2017–18 Belgian First Amateur Division and the addition bankruptcy of Lierse (playing in the 2017–18 Belgian First Division B), which are all VFV teams, both Zwarte Leeuw and Pepingen-Halle were eventually relegated.

Relegation play-offs ACFF

edit

As there is only one division no playoff is organised. In case extra relegations were necessary, the teams finishing just above the relegation zone would have been relegated, starting from the bottom. With one possible extra relegation, Ciney needed to await the result of the Promotion play-offs but was eventually spared of relegation.

References

edit
  1. ^ "Belgian First Amateur Division A 2017/2018 - Season rules". vbal4. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
  2. ^ "Belgian First Amateur Division B 2017/2018 - Season rules". vbal4. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
  3. ^ http://www.dhnet.be/regions/bruxelles/le-white-star-ou-la-chronique-d-une-mort-annoncee-59cd5896cd70461d265402dd
  4. ^ "Belgian First Amateur Division C 2017/2018 - Season rules". vbal4. Retrieved 9 November 2017.