The Belgian Pro League, officially the Jupiler Pro League, due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler, is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023–24 season onwards, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Challenger Pro League.
Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, commonly referred to as Union Saint-Gilloise and abbreviated as RUSG, is a Belgian professional football club originally located in the municipality of Saint-Gilles, in Brussels, although since the 1920s, it has been based at the Joseph Marien Stadium in the neighbouring municipality of Forest.
Koninklijke Football Club Rhodienne-De Hoek is a Belgian association football club based in Sint-Genesius-Rode, Flemish Brabant. The club was created in 1894 as Racing Football Club. It became a member of the Royal Belgian Football Association in 1895 as Racing Club de Bruxelles and later received the matricule n°6. It took part in the first Belgian league the same year and won 6 titles and 1 cup until the First World War.
Willem Frederik Hesselink was a Dutch football player and one of the founders of local club Vitesse Arnhem in 1892. He was known for his blue woolen cap, which he seemed to wear day and night, and was nicknamed the Cannon, although he was also referred to as the Doctor because of his doctorate in chemistry.
Hendrik van Heuckelum, nicknamed Henk, was a Dutch footballer who played as a forward for HBS-Craeyenhout and Royal Léopold Club, and who represented Belgium at the 1900 Summer Olympics, winning the bronze medal in the football tournament.
Emil "Miel" Gustav Mundt was a Dutch football player who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics. In the Netherlands, he played for H.V.V..
Johan Wilhelm Eduard "Eetje" Sol was a Dutch footballer who played as a forward for HVV Den Haag. He was a member of the Dutch team that won the bronze medal at the 1908 Summer Olympics.
Statistics of Belgian First Division in the 1903–04 season.
AVV RAP, in the long form Amsterdamsche Voetbalvereeniging RUN, Amstels, Progress, was a Dutch football club based in Amsterdam, playing in the Netherlands Football League Championship. The club existed from 1887 to 1914 and was the first cup champion of the Netherlands in the 1898–99 season. The club is most famous for being the winners of the first edition of the Coupe Van der Straeten Ponthoz in 1900, one of the world's first international footballing competitions, in which it played and defeated the reigning champions of Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands on three successive days.
Royal Léopold FC is a Belgian football club from the city of Brussels. It was founded in 1893 as Léopold Football Club and over the years, numerous name changes in its history and mergers have happened with neighboring clubs who also struggled to keep the club alive. The club once played in the highest division, but later dropped to the provincial series, and now it currently plays in the Belgian Promotion D, the fourth level in Belgian football.
The Belgium vs Netherlands Cups were a series of international football friendly cup matches contested by the national teams of Belgium and the Netherlands. From their first unofficial friendly derbies in the early 1900s, until the mid-1920s, Belgium and the Netherlands competed for floating trophies. During the encounters in Belgium the teams played for the Coupe Vanden Abeele until 1925, while in the Netherlands they faced off for the Rotterdamsch Nieuwsblad Beker until 1923. In total, there has been 39 Belgian-Dutch friendly cup duels, of which 35 were official internationals.
The 1900 Coupe Van der Straeten Ponthoz was the 1st staging of the Coupe Van der Straeten Ponthoz, which is regarded as one of the first European trophies. The tournament was held in Brussels, between 15 and 17 April 1900.
Johannes Jacobus "Jan" van den Berg was a Dutch footballer who spent his entire career at HFC Haarlem. He was one of Haarlem's greatest club icons, being the big name at the club in the first 50 years, Haarlem's first (unofficial) international and (honorary) chairman of the club. He was also a member of the Dutch football squad that competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics, but he did not play in any matches.
The 1913 Pyrenees Cup was the 4th tournament of the Pyrenees Cup, one of the first international football club competitions. The competition was held on the road between 2 March and 8 June, and it was won by FC Barcelona after easily disposing of La Comète et Simiot 7–2 in the final at Camp de la Indústria.
The 1914 Pyrenees Cup was the 5th and last tournament of the Pyrenees Cup, one of the first international football club competitions. The competition was held on the road between 1 March and 24 May, and it was won by FC Espanya de Barcelona after beating La Comète et Simiot 3–1 in the final. This was the first time a team other than FC Barcelona won the competition, being finally knocked out by the eventual champions in the semi-finals in an unexpected 2–5 loss.
The Coupe Jean Dupuich was an international competition for football clubs from Europe that was held from 1908 to 1925 and is seen as the predecessor of the Mitropa Cup formed two years later, in 1927. It was the successor tournament of Coupe Van der Straeten Ponthoz, which was one of the first international club tournaments held in Europe. It was named in honor of the donator of the trophy Adolphe Dupuich.
Dutch football clubs have entered European association football competitions since 1900, when HVV and RAP took part in the inaugural season of the Coupe Van der Straeten Ponthoz, which was also won by RAP.
Freek Kampschreur was a Dutch footballer who played as a forward for Sparta Rotterdam and RAP. He played a crucial role in helping the latter club to win the very first international club trophy in European football in 1900, the Coupe Van der Straeten Ponthoz.
The 1901 Coupe Vanden Abeele was a friendly football match held at the ground of Beerschot A.C. in Antwerp, on 28 April 1901. That match was contested by representative teams of Belgium and the Netherlands, and ended in a 8–0 win to the Belgians, but more important than the result was its historical significance, as it was the first international football match played in continental Europe, official or otherwise.
Union Saint-Gilloise (1907)
