July 9 – Belgian football has been plunged into chaos after the domestic sports tribunal ruled that Waasland-Beveren can’t be relegated, leaving the embattled Pro League with almost no choice but to rethink next season.
On Tuesday, the Pro League had reconfirmed a 16-team top flight format for the 2020/21 campaign with season-ending playoffs and a broadcast schedule that incensed local amateur clubs. New rights holder Eleven Sports unveiled its broadcast plans and the calendar was presented with defending champions Club Brugge and Charleroi featuring in the season’s curtain raiser, but all those plans are on hold now after the BAS, the Belgian equivalent of CAS, overturned the Pro League’s decision to relegate Waasland-Beveren.
In May, the Pro League crowned Brugge champions and condemned Waasland-Beveren to relegation, even if one round of matches of the regular season went uncompleted. The decision followed the league’s move in April to cancel the domestic season because of the coronavirus, sending shockwaves across Europe and invoking the ire of continental governing body UEFA.
The vote to ratify the April decision was postponed four times because of internal power struggles and the Pro League’s belated realisation that it required a government decision to claim ‘force majeure’ and avoid rebates from the TV rights holders.
Waasland-Beveren filed a complained with local competition authorities [BMA] and the BAS. The BMA dismissed Beveren’s case, but on Wednesday the BAS ignored the BMA’s decision and voided Beveren’s relegation.
“In a lengthy decision of no less than 117 pages, the BAS ruled that the Pro League gave no motivation, let alone a reasonable motivation, for the difference in treatment between 1A and 1B,” said Beveren’s lawyer Tom Rombouts. “The league in 1A was stopped and Waasland-Beveren was relegated, 1B was not stopped to play the promotion match back game.”
In the second division, 1B, Saudi-owned Beerschot and Thai-owned OH Leuven are scheduled to play the return of their promotion playoff on August 2, a day after the Belgian cup final between Club Brugge and Royal Antwerp, and a day before UEFA’s deadline to complete the domestic season. But the ruling of the BAS has opened a Pandora’s box of problems, with the new season just weeks away.
On Thursday, the Pro League will reconvene considering multiple scenarios, including expanding the top flight’s format. Meanwhile, Westerlo, who topped the second-division table before the shutdown, have claimed they might still have an avenue to the top flight. The Pro League previously ruled that if Beerschot and OH Leuven were not to complete their playoff in time, Westerlo would gain promotion.
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1714083261labto1714083261ofdlr1714083261owedi1714083261sni@o1714083261fni1714083261