Belgian First Division 2004-05

The 2004/05 season of the Jupiler League began on August 6, 2004 and ended on May 23, 2005. Club Brugge became champion on May 15, 2005 after a decisive game against long-time rival Anderlecht. The season was full of suspense as the champion and the relegated teams were only known on the 33rd (on 34) matchday. Furthermore, the 3rd place (qualifying for UEFA Cup) had to be decided on a test-match, a fact that had not occurred recently.

Promoted teams

These teams were promoted from the second division at the start of the season:
*FC Brussels (second division champion)
*Oostende (playoff winner)

Relegated teams

These teams were relegated to the second division at the end of the season:
*Oostende
*Mons

Battle for the 1st place

As usual, the two giants (Sporting Anderlecht and Club Brugge) were occupying the first two places after 5 matches. Brugge was already 1st and actually stayed on top until the end. The Brussels side has indeed failed to show regularity under the management of Hugo Broos who was fired after a 0-0 draw at Gent. Under the new coach (Franky Vercauteren), Anderlecht had a run of good form (after the initial 0-1 defeat against Oostende). Conjugated to the poor results of rivals Brugge, this situation led to a 6 points difference between the two clubs after 32 matches. The match Brugge-Anderlecht (33rd matchday) was thus decisive for both clubs. It ended on a contested 2-2 draw that was sufficient for the West Flemish.

Brugge title is due to its exceptional regularity against smaller teams as it is showed on the following table (showing points gained by a top 4 team against the other top 4 teams) :

1. Anderlecht 6 13 2. Standard 6 8 3. Brugge 6 6 4. Genk 6 5

Battle for Europe

As Anderlecht and Brugge rapidly installed at the first two places, the battle for Europe has mainly consisted in the battle for UEFA Cup (or battle for the 3rd place). Four teams were serious candidates: Standard, Genk, Charleroi and Gent. The latter two were soon dismissed. Before the last matchday, Standard was 2 points ahead of Genk but they lost their advance after a 1-1 draw at Ostend while Genk earned a 1-3 win at Cercle Brugge. As both teams now had the same amount of points and wins, a test-match had to be played (in two legs). Standard won the first match (3-1) but showed a poor performance on the away match (3-0) and lost the European ticket for next season.

The relegation dog fight

After their poor early results, five teams were predicted to fight against relegation: Sint-Truiden, Mouscron and especially newcomers FC Brussels and Oostende along with Mons. Beveren joined the list after a very poor final run. Before the 33rd matchday, the ranking was as such :

12. Lierse 32 35 13. Sint-Truiden 32 33 14. Beveren 32 31 15. Mouscron 32 30 16. Brussels 32 30 17. Mons 32 26 18. Oostende 32 26

Lierse and Sint-Truiden were already saved. Mons and Oostende had to win or draw to maintain suspense but they finally both lost (2-0 respectively against Mouscron and at La Louvière).

Final league table

ee also

*2004-05 in Belgian football

References

*fr icon [http://www.sport.be/fr/jupilerleague/archief/ Sport.be website] - Archive