First Division. Three teams fought for the title and somewhat curiously Anderlecht and Standard were not among them.
Racing Jet (Brussels) – too weak for top league footballs: last with 21 points and relegated.
KAA Gent – 17th with 25 points and relegated. One point short of safety.
KSC Lokeren Oost-Vlaandern – 16th with 26 points. Lucky escape.
KFC Winterslag – 15th with 26 points. Escaped relegation, but they ended with the worst goal-difference in the league: -42!
KSK Beveren – good years were over and now they fought to escape relegation. Ended well enough: 14th with 27 points.
K. Beerschot VAC (Antwerp) – 13th with 27 points.
RWD Molenbeek (Brussels) – 12th with 28 points.
St. Truiden – or Sint-Truidense VV – 11th with 29 points.
Standard (Liege) – 10th with 30 points. Very weak season.
KV Kortrijk – 9th with 31 points.
R. Charleroi SC – 8th with 32 points.
Cercle Brugge KSV (Brugge) – 7th with 33 points.
KSV Waregem – 6th with 39 points. Got UEFA Cup spot thanks to KV Mechelen’s European success. If you want, count the beer producers sponsoring Belgian clubs – Waregem was only one of many.
RFC Liege – or RFC Liegeois – 5th with 44 points. Rarely they came above city rivals Standard, so this was great season. With UEFA Cup spot as well – and Standard only had to watch international football.
As usual, few Belgians played regulars and the squad was the most impressive in the country, but weak and disappointing season for Anderlecht: 4th with 45 points.
Royal Antwerp FC – 3rd with 49 points. They were – untypically – a title contender, but eventually lost the race. Settled for bronze either on worse head-to-head record or less wins.
KV Mechelen – their best season to date and perhaps ever. 2nd with 49 points. Lost the battle for the Belgian title, but nothing to worry about – they conquered Europe in the same time. Finished with worse goal-difference than Royal Antwerp, but rules favoured them and they took the silver medals.
Top row from left: Jaspers, Ohana, Den Boer, Rutjes, De Greef, Verstraeten, Benfeld.
Middle row: x, Deferm, Sanders, Koeman, Hofkens, Wijns, Theunis, Metman, x.
Sitting: Drouguet, Denil, De Wilde, Kesselaers, De Mos, Preud’homme, Clijsters, Emmers, De Mesmaeker, Dommicent, Van Hoof.
Great or not, FC Brugge – Club Brugge KV – won the championship. 23 wins, 5 ties, 6 losses, 74-34, 51 points. 2 points ahead of KV Mechelen and Royal Antwerp. Royal Antwerp scored most goals in the championship – 75, and KV Mechelen had the best defensive record, allowing only 24 goals, but the champions had the best goal-difference: +40.
Top row from left: Kurt Hinderyckx, Jan Goyvaerts, Alex Querter, Henk Houwaart (coach), Dennis van Wijk, Ronnie Rosenthal, Peter Creve.
Middle row: Eddy Warrinnier (kine), Luc Beyens, Franky Van der Elst, Hugo Broos, Jan Ceulemans, Tew Mamadou, Kenneth Brylle, Henk Houwaart jr, Raymond Mertens (assistent-coach).
Front row: Yves Audoor, Stefan Vereycken, Birger Jensen, Serge Kimoni, Philippe Vande Walle, Marc Degryse, Luc Devroe, Leo Van der Elst, Dwight Decerf.
Not a bad team at all, yet, not great. Their Danish goalkeeper Birger Jensen was seemingly eternal and a staple of their long successful years, going back to mid-1970s. Another Dane – Kenneth Brylle – plus Belgian veterans Franky van der Elst and Hugo Broos knew European success with Anderlecht. Jan Ceulemans knew it largely with FC Brugge and the Belgian national team. The Israeli Ronnie Rosenthal played in England before and not just for any club. Impressive enough squad for 7th title.