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The 2016–17 season of the Belgian First Division B began in August 2016 and ended on 28 April 2017. It was the inaugural season of the First Division B following a change in league format from the old Belgian Second Division. The fixtures were announced on 23 June 2016.

Although scoring most points overall, Lierse missed out on promotion as they came second in both the opening and closing tournament, leaving K.S.V. Roeselare and Antwerp to battle it out for promotion. Following thirteen years at the second level of Belgian football, Antwerp secured promotion on 11 March 2017. At the bottom end of the table, Lommel United suffered relegation as they could not overcome their deficit from the regular season during the relegation playoff.

Structural changes

This season is the first under the name First Division B as a result of reforms in the Belgian football league system. The format of the league has been completely overhauled, with the season now consisting of two separate tournaments. The first tournament will be held from August to December, the second from January until April. The two tournament winners will play a two legged playoff to determine who is promoted to the 2017–18 Belgian First Division A. If a team wins both tournaments, it automatically clinches promotion. The top three teams in the aggregate table besides the promoted team will take part in the Europa League playoffs together with the teams in the 2016–17 Belgian First Division A finishing in positions 7 through 15. The remaining four teams will play a relegation playoff to determine the one team that will drop into the 2017–18 Belgian First Amateur Division.

Team changes

Due to the reformation, only 7 teams of the previous season remained in the league, with 1 other being replaced. As a result, the league moved from 17 to 8 teams.

Out

• Due to the fact that 2015–16 Belgian Second Division champions WS Brussels were refused a Belgian professional football license, Eupen was promoted as runner-up instead, while WS Brussels was relegated to the 2016–17 Belgian First Amateur Division.
• All teams finishing below 9th place were also relegated into the 2016–17 Belgian First Amateur Division, which (starting from 10th place) included Dessel Sport, Seraing United, Virton, ASV Geel, Deinze, Patro Eisden Maasmechelen, Heist and Coxyde.

In

• OH Leuven were relegated from the Belgian Pro League after finishing in last place.

Team information

Stadiums and locations

Personnel and kits

Club	Manager	Captain	Kit Manufacturer	Sponsors
Antwerp	Frederik Vanderbiest		Kappa	ONE Antwerp
Cercle Brugge	Vincent Euvrard		Acerbis	ADMB
OH Leuven	Emilio Ferrera		Vermarc	Just Eat
Lierse	Eric Van Meir		Jako	Wadi Degla
Lommel United	Karel Fraeye		Legea	Belien Auto Derdaele+
Roeselare	Arnauld Mercier		Joma	Euro Shop
Tubize	Thierry Goudet		Kappa	No sponsor
Union SG	Marc Grosjean		Patrick	Culture et Formation

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Antwerp	David Gevaert	Sacked	End of 2015–16 season	Pre-season	Frederik Vanderbiest	19 May 2016
Cercle Brugge	Frederik Vanderbiest	Mutual Consent	18 May 2016		Vincent Euvrard	25 May 2016
Roeselare	Franky Van der Elst	Mutual Consent	18 May 2016		Arnauld Mercier	25 May 2016
Tubize	Colbert Marlot	Mutual Consent	8 June 2016		Thierry Goudet	8 June 2016
Tubize	Thierry Goudet	Sacked	17 August 2016	8th	Régis Brouard	28 August 2016
Lommel United	Karel Fraeye	Sacked	8 October 2016	8th	Walter Meeuws	20 October 2016
Antwerp	Frederik Vanderbiest	Sacked	11 October 2016	4th	David Gevaert	15 October 2016
Cercle Brugge	Vincent Euvrard	Sacked	29 October 2016	7th	José Riga	1 November 2016
Antwerp	David Gevaert	Resigned	10 November 2016	3rd	Wim De Decker	17 November 2016
Lommel United	Walter Meeuws	Sacked	23 November 2016	Closing tournament: 6th Overall: 8th	Tom Van Imschoot	23 November 2016
OH Leuven	Emilio Ferrera	Sacked	15 January 2017	Closing tournament: 6th Overall: 5th	Dennis van Wijk	19 January 2017
Lierse	Eric Van Meir	Sacked	15 March 2017	Closing tournament: 2nd Overall: 1st	Frederik Vanderbiest	17 March 2017
Tubize	Régis Brouard	Sacked	21 April 2017	Relegation play-offs: 2nd	Sadio Demba	3 May 2017

League table

Opening tournament

Closing tournament

Aggregate table

1. The team that promoted to the 2017–18 Belgian First Division A, by winning the Promotion playoff, did not take part in the Europa League play-offs. The next team in the aggregate league table took its spot.
2. In case the team that wins the Promotion playoff finishes in the bottom four, the 4th placed team will play the relegation playoff instead.

Promotion play-offs

The winners of the opening tournament and the closing tournament meet in a two-legged match to determine the division champion, who will promote to the 2017–18 Belgian First Division A. The team finishing highest in the aggregate table will play the second leg at home. In case one team wins both the opening and the closing tournament, these matches will not be played and the team is promoted automatically.

On 6 November 2016, Roeselare won the opening tournament and was therefore assured of playing at least the promotion play-offs. Following a loss against Antwerp on the penultimate day of the closing tournament, Roeselare could no longer win the closing tournament (and direct promotion) and as a result the promotion play-offs would be held. On the final day of the closing tournament, Roeselare then held Lierse to a draw, denying them the play-offs and setting Roeselare up with Antwerp to decide promotion. Antwerp twice beat Roeselare and thereby allowed the club to return to the highest level of professional football in Belgium following thirteen seasons at the second level. Initially, they did not receive a license to compete in professional football the following season, but the decision was overturned. Roeselare got to play the Europa League play-offs.

Antwerp	3–1	Roeselare
Dequevy 35' Damman 57' (o.g.) Hairemans 73' (pen.)	Report	Schmisser 64'

Roeselare	1–2	Antwerp
Schmisser 35'	Report	Dierckx 30' Limbombe 78'

Antwerp won 5–2 on aggregate.

Relegation play-offs

The four bottom teams in the aggregate table will take part in the relegation play-offs in which they keep half of the points they collected during the overall regular season (rounded up). As a result, the teams started with the following points before the playoff: Tubize 17 points, Cercle Brugge 17, OH Leuven 15 and Lommel United 9. The points of Cercle Brugge were rounded up, therefore in case of any ties on points at the end of the playoffs, their half point would be deducted. The team finishing in last position relegated to the 2017–18 Belgian First Amateur Division.

Despite starting with a huge deficit, Lommel United managed to close the gap between them and the other teams by obtaining 10 points out of their first four matches, overtaking Cercle Brugge and virtually being saved from relegation. At that point, neither team was saved as OH Leuven and Tubize had 20 points and Cercle Brugge and Lommel United were only one point behind. On matchday five, Lommel United first lost against Cercle Brugge and one day later on 22 April 2017, Tubize beat OH Leuven resulting in both Tubize and Cercle Brugge to be saved. On 28 April 2017, the final match, OH Leuven and Lommel United played each other in a direct confrontation to avoid relegation, with OH Leuven needing only a draw. The match ended 1–0 resulting in the relegation of Lommel United.

Season statistics

Top scorers As of after the regular season. Rank Player Club Goals 1 Dylan De Belder Lierse 21 2 Ivan Yagan Cercle Brugge 13 3 Christophe Bertjens Lommel United 12 4 Mamadou Diallo Tubize 10 Nicolas Rajsel Union SG 10 6 Esteban Casagolda OH Leuven 8 Augusto Da Silva Union SG 8 Aurélien Joachim Lierse 8 Tomislav Kiš Cercle Brugge 8 10 Jovan Kostovski OH Leuven 7 William Owusu Antwerp 7

Top assists As of 28 April 2017. Rank Player Club Assists 1 Manuel Benson Lierse 7 Kevin Kis KSV Roeselare 7 3 Serge Tabekou Leuven 6 4 Tuur Dierckx Antwerp 5 Ivan Yagan Cercle Brugge 5 Simon Zenke Tubize-Braine 5 7 Ahmed Sayed Lierse 4 Raphaël Lecomte Roeselare 4 Aurélien Joachim Lierse 4 Thomas Azevedo Leuven 4 Samy Kehli Roeselare 4

Number of teams by provinces

Number of teams	Province	Team(s)
2	Antwerp	Antwerp and Lierse
	West Flanders	Cercle Brugge and Roeselare
1	Brussels (not a province)	Union SG
	Flemish Brabant	OH Leuven
	Limburg	Lommel United
	Walloon Brabant	Tubize
0	East Flanders,  Hainaut,  Liège,  Luxembourg and  Namur	/

Notes

1. As part of the reform the rules for obtaining a licence were changed, with clubs now required to have a stadium with a capacity of at least 8,000. As the Stade Joseph Marien has only a capacity of six thousand, Union will play one season in the King Baudouin Stadium while their home stadium is being expanded.

References

1. "Ontdek hier de kalender van Proximus League 2016–2017" [Discover the calendar of Promixus League 2016–2017]. Belgian First Division B. 23 June 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
2. "Antwerp schuift hoofdcoach Gevaert aan de kant" [Antwerp sacks manager Gevaert] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2016-05-06.
3. "Antwerp stelt Fred Vanderbiest voor als nieuwe coach" [Antwerp presents Fred Vanderbiest as new manager] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2016-05-19.
4. "Vanderbiest verlaat Cercle (en lijkt op weg naar Antwerp)" [Vanderbiest leaves Cercle (and seems to be on his way to Antwerp)] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2016-05-18.
5. ^ "Cercle kiest voor Euvrard als trainer, Roeselare voor Mercier" [Cercle chooses Euvrard as manager, Roeselare picks Mercier] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2016-05-25.
6. "Van der Elst verlaat Roeselare: "Jammer"" [Van der Elst leaves Roeselare: "Pity"] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2016-05-18.
7. "Le Français Thierry Goudet nouvel entraîneur de Tubize" [Frenchman Thierry Goudet is the new trainer of Tubize] (in French). rtbf.be. 2016-06-08.
8. "Tubeke stuurt coach Goudet de laan uit" [Tubeke sacks coach Goudet] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2016-08-17.
9. "Tubeke vindt nieuwe oefenmeester in de Franse tweede klasse" [Tubeke finds new trainer in French second division] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2016-08-28.
10. "Pak rammel van Tubeke kost Lommel-trainer de kop" [Beating by Tubize causes sacking of Lommel manager] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2016-10-08.
11. "Lommel haalt Walter Meeuws terug naar Gestelsedijk" [Lommel brings Walter Meeuws back to the Gestelsedijk] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2016-10-20.
12. "Antwerp zet coach Fred Vanderbiest op de keien" [Antwerp places manager Fred Vanderbiest without a job] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2016-10-11.
13. "Antwerp gaat weer in zee met Gevaert, Bico wordt sportief manager" [Antwerp recommences cooperation with Gevaert, Bico becomes sports manager] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2016-10-11.
14. "Cercle-coach Euvrard moet opstappen door tegenvallende resultaten" [Cercle-coach Euvrard sacked following disappointing results] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2016-10-29.
15. "José Riga is de nieuwe coach van Cercle Brugge" [José Riga new head coach at Cercle Brugge] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2016-05-25.
16. "Antwerp-coach Gevaert stapt al na een maand zelf op" [Antwerp-coach Gevaert resigns already after one month] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2016-11-10.
17. "Wim De Decker traint Antwerp tegen OHL (en misschien langer)" [Wim De Decker leading Antwerp against OHL (and maybe longer)] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2016-11-17.
18. ^ "Lommel neemt na een maand al afscheid van Meeuws, Tom Van Imschoot neemt over" [After just one month, Lommel already says goodbye to Meeuws, Tom Van Imschoot takes over] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2016-11-23.
19. "OHL zet Emilio Ferrera buiten de deur na zoveelste nederlaag" [OHL sacks Emilio Ferrera following yet another defeat] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2017-01-15.
20. "Dennis van Wijk moet OHL weer op het rechte pad krijgen" [Dennis van Wijk to put OHL on the right track again] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2017-01-19.
21. "Eric Van Meir wordt dan toch ontslagen door Lierse" [Eric Van Meir sacked after all by Lierse] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2017-03-15.
22. "Vanderbiest moet Lierse volgend seizoen naar 1A loodsen" [Vanderbiest to guide Lierse to 1A next season] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2017-03-17.
23. "Tubeke ontslaat coach Brouard in degradatiestrijd: "Om schokeffect te creëren"" [Tubeke sacks coach Brouard during relegation battle: "Creating shock effect"] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2017-04-21.
24. "De assistent van John Bico strijkt neer in Tubeke" [Assistant of John Bico arrives at Tubize] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2017-05-03.
25. ^ "General terms Belgian competition" (PDF). kbvb.be. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 May 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
26. "Antwerp krijgt toch licentie voor 1A van het BAS" [Antwerp receives licence for the 1A by the BAS] (in Dutch). 2017-05-03. Archived from the original on 2017-05-06. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
27. "Pro League 2016/2017 - Season rules". Scoresway. Archived from the original on 26 February 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
28. "Summary – First Division B – Belgium – Results, fixtures, tables and news – Soccerway". Retrieved 20 November 2016.
29. "Division 1B - Belgium - Season 2016/2017". FootballCritic. Archived from the original on 24 January 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2022.

• Challenger Pro League seasons
• 2016–17 in European second tier association football leagues
• 2016–17 in Belgian football