External links
- (in French) Belgian FA website [ permanent dead link ] - Terms
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The Belgian remunerated football license is a license giving permission to a Belgian football club to play in the Belgian First Amateur Division. It is delivered by the Belgian Football Association. To play at the professional level, a club must obtain the Belgian professional football license. As a result, any club willing to promote must apply for such a license in the year they believe to be achieving promotion.
To get the license, a club must, among other things,
A club that does not get its license is relegated to (or remains in) the Belgian Second Amateur Division. Furthermore; if it failed to get its license due to economic reasons, it starts the competition with a handicap of 3 points (or 1 point per period), except if it did not ask for a license.
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The Belgian Pro League is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 teams from the 2023–24 season onwards, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Challenger Pro League.
The Belgian Second Division was the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian Pro League. It was founded by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 1909 and folded in 2016, when it was replaced by the Belgian First Division B.
The United States soccer league system is a series of professional and amateur soccer leagues based, in whole or in part, in the United States. Sometimes called the American soccer pyramid, teams and leagues are not linked by the system of promotion and relegation typical in soccer elsewhere. Instead, the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) defines professional leagues in three levels, called divisions, with all other leagues sanctioned by the USSF not having an official designated level or division.
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 first match of the Belgium national team was played on 1 May 1904, a 3–3 draw against France.
The Japanese association football league system is organized in a pyramidal shape similar to football league systems in many other countries around the world. The leagues are bound by the principle of promotion and relegation; however, there are stringent criteria for promotion from the JFL to J3, which demands a club being backed by the town itself including the local government, a community of fans and corporate sponsors rather than a parent company or a corporation.
The Bulgarian Third Amateur Football League, commonly referred to as Third League or Treta liga, is the third level of the Bulgarian football league system. Third League operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the second and the fourth tier of the Bulgarian football league pyramid – respectively being Second League and the A Oblast Groups. Currently Third League consists of four divisions that are formed by separating the country into four regions: North-West, South-West, North-East and South-East. The divisions run in parallel during the season, but since the number of teams in each division may vary, the number of rounds in each of them may vary. Each team must play at least two times against every other team on a home-away basis.
J.League 100 Year Plan club status,Jei Rīgu hyakunen kōsō kurabu (Jリーグ百年構想クラブ) is a status given to Japanese non-league football clubs. The applicant must have an intention to become a professional club and to join the professional league, J.League, that governs the top three levels of the Japanese football pyramid. Usually clubs from the fourth level, Japan Football League, which is the top tier for amateur clubs, apply for the status; however, it is open for all amateur clubs down to Prefectural leagues. The applications are reviewed and inspected by a committee formed by the league. Since the 2014 season, the Associate Membership is the main criteria for J3 promotion. The system allows the League to identify such clubs, to provide necessary resources/advice, and to ease the transition to professionalism.
Royal Association Athlétique Louviéroise La Louvière, abbreviated to RAAL La Louvière, is a Belgian association football club located in La Louvière, in the province of Hainaut. The club, founded in 2009 out of a merger, plays in the Belgian National Division 1, the third tier of Belgian football.
J3 League or simply J3 is the third division of Japan Professional Football League. It was established in 2013 as the third-tier professional association football league in Japan. The league is known as the Meiji Yasuda J3 League for their title sponsor.
The Belgian National Division 1, commonly referred to as simply Eerste Nationale or Nationale 1 is a semi-professional and the third-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian First Division B. 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.
The Belgian Division 2, commonly referred to as simply Tweede Afdeling or Division 2 is the fourth-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian National Division 1. It was created by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 2016, replacing the Belgian Third Division and named Belgian Second Amateur Division until the 2019–20 before it was renamed due to the negative connotation of the word amateur. The division consists of three separate leagues with 16 teams each, two of these leagues consist of teams playing with a license from the Voetbalfederatie Vlaanderen and one with teams with a license from the Association des Clubs Francophones de Football.
The 2016–17 Belgian First Amateur Division is the inaugural season of the newly created division at the third-tier football league in Belgium, as it was established in 2016. The fixtures were announced on 23 June 2016.
The 2017–18 Belgian First Amateur Division was the second season of the third-tier football league in Belgium, as it was established in 2016. The fixtures were announced near the end of June 2017.
The following article is a summary of the 2016–17 football season in Belgium, which is the 114th season of competitive football in the country and runs from July 2016 until June 2017.
The following article is a summary of the 2017–18 football season in Belgium, which is the 1145th season of competitive football in the country and runs from July 2017 until June 2018.
The following article is a summary of the 2019–20 football season in Belgium, which was the 117th season of competitive football in the country and ran from July 2019 until August 2020.
The 2020–21 Belgian National Division 1 was the fifth season of the third-tier football league in Belgium and the first under its new name after changing from First Amateur Division to National Division 1. Eventually, the season was cancelled in January 2021 with just a few matches played, as measures taken by the Belgian government against the spread of COVID-19 prohibited amateur football.
The 2020–21 Belgian Division 2 was the fifth season of the division in its current format, placed at the fourth-tier of football in Belgium and the first under this name, after being renamed (Belgian) Division 2 from (Belgian) Second Amateur Division. The season was cancelled in January 2021 with just a few matches played, as measures taken by the Belgian government against the spread of COVID-19 prohibited amateur football.
The following article is a summary of the 2020–21 football season in Belgium, which is the 118th season of competitive football in the country and will run from August 2020 until June 2021.
The following article is a summary of the 2021–22 football season in Belgium, which is the 119th season of competitive football in the country and will run from August 2021 until June 2022.