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(Top) 1 Team changes 1.1 Incoming 1.2 Outgoing 2 Format changes 3 Team information 3.1 Stadiums and locations 4 Regular season 4.1 League table 4.2 Positions by round 4.3 Results 5 Promotion play-offs 5.1 Promotion/relegation play-offs 5.1.1 Bracket 5.1.2 Quarter-finals 5.1.3 Semi-finals 5.1.4 Finals 6 Season statistics 6.1 Top scorers 7 Number of teams by provinces 8 Notes 9 References

2023–24 Challenger Pro League

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Challenger Pro League
Season	2023–24
Champions	Beerschot
Promoted	Beerschot Dender
Relegated	Oostende SL16 FC
Matches played	186
Goals scored	517 (2.78 per match)
Top goalscorer	2 players (11 goals)
Biggest home win	Patro Eisden Maasmechelen 4–0 Club NXT Dender EH 5–1 Seraing Deinze 4–0 Lierse Kempenzonen RFC Liège 5–1 Beveren
Biggest away win	Seraing 0–5 Zulte Waregem
Highest scoring	Francs Borains 2–5 Jong Genk Zulte Waregem 2–5 RSCA Futures
Longest winning run	5 matches (Beveren)
Longest unbeaten run	9 matches (Beveren)
Longest losing run	8 matches (SL16 FC)
← 2022–23 2024–25 →

The 2023–24 season of the Challenger Pro League began in August 2023 and is scheduled to end in May 2024. It is the second season under its new name after being renamed from First Division B.

Team changes[edit]

This season, the league was expanded from 12 to 16 teams.

Incoming[edit]

Francs Borains, Patro Eisden and RFC Liège were promoted from the 2022–23 Belgian National Division 1. Both clubs will play their first-ever season at the second level.
Oostende, Seraing and Zulte Waregem were relegated from the 2022–23 Belgian Pro League after 10, 2 and 18 years in top flight, respectively.

Outgoing[edit]

RWD Molenbeek were promoted to 2023–24 Jupiler Pro League as champions.
Virton were relegated to 2023–24 Belgian National Division 1 after finishing last.

Format changes[edit]

As the league expanded from 12 to 16 teams, this also involved a new format: a regular round-robin tournament of 30 matchdays. After this, the champions and runners-up will both be promoted to the 2024–25 Belgian Pro League and similarly, the two bottom finishers will be relegated to the 2024–25 Belgian National Division 1. Play-offs will be organized between the teams finishing in positions 3 through 6, with the winner of these play-offs facing the runner-up of the relegation playoffs in the 2023–24 Belgian Pro League for the final remaining ticket in the 2024–25 Belgian Pro League.

U23 are in theory eligible for promotion and relegation but always have to play at least one level below their mother club. This means that:

The four U23 teams in this division are not eligible for promotion. In case one or more of these teams finish in the top six positions, the promotion and play-offs spots will shift along to the next eligible team in the standings.
Should one of the mother clubs of the teams in this division be relegated from the 2023–24 Belgian Pro League, the corresponding U23 team will be forced to relegate as well from the 2023–24 Challenger Pro League, irrespective of its finishing position.

Team information[edit]

Stadiums and locations[edit]

Patro Eisden Maasmechelen

Locations of the 2023–24 Challenger Pro League teams

Matricule	Club	City	First season of current spell at second level	Coming from	2022-23 result	Stadium	Capacity
35	RSCA Futures	Anderlecht, Brussels	2022–23	U23 competition	6th (CPL)	King Baudouin Stadium	38,000
13	K Beerschot VA	Antwerp	2022–23	Belgian First Division A	3rd (CPL)	Olympic Stadium	12,771
4068	S.K. Beveren	Beveren	2021–22	Belgian First Division B	2nd (CPL)	Freethiel Stadion	8,190
3	Club NXT	Bruges^[a]	2022–23	U23 competition	4th (CPL)	Schiervelde Stadion	8,340
818	K.M.S.K. Deinze	Deinze	2020–21	Belgian First Amateur Division	8th (CPL)	Burgemeester Van de Wiele Stadion	7,515
3900	Dender	Denderleeuw	2022–23	Belgian National Division 1	9th (CPL)	Van Roystadion	6,429
5192	Francs Borains	Boussu	2023–24	Belgian National Division 1	3rd (NatD1)	Stade Robert Urbain	6,000
322	Jong Genk	Genk	2022–23	U23 competition	11th (CPL)	Luminus Arena	24,956
3970	Lierse Kempenzonen	Lier	2020–21	Belgian First Amateur Division	5th (CPL)	Herman Vanderpoortenstadion	14,538
2554	Lommel SK	Lommel	2018–19	Belgian First Amateur Division	7th (CPL)	Soevereinstadion	8,000
31	Oostende	Ostend	2023–24	Belgian Pro League	16th (BPL)	Diaz Arena	8,432
3434	Patro Eisden Maasmechelen	Maasmechelen	2023–24	Belgian National Division 1	1st (NatD1)	Gemeentelijk Sportparkstadion	5,500
4	RFC Liège	Liège	2023–24	Belgian National Division 1	2nd (NatD1)	Stade de Rocourt	8,000
167	Seraing	Seraing	2023–24	Belgian Pro League	18th (BPL)	Stade du Pairay	8,207
16	SL16 FC	Liège	2022–23	U23 competition	10th (CPL)	Stade Maurice Dufrasne	30,023
5381	Zulte Waregem	Waregem	2023–24	Belgian Pro League	17th (BPL)	Regenboogstadion	12,500

Regular season[edit]

League table[edit]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Beerschot (C, P)	30	17	5	8	46	29	+17	56	Promoted to Pro League
2	Dender EH (P)	30	15	9	6	55	32	+23	54	Promoted to Pro League
3	Deinze	30	16	5	9	48	37	+11	53	Qualification for promotion play-offs
4	Lommel (O)	30	15	7	8	51	31	+20	52
5	Zulte Waregem	30	15	6	9	51	34	+17	51
6	Patro Eisden Maasmechelen	30	14	9	7	40	28	+12	51
7	RFC Liège	30	15	4	11	49	41	+8	49
8	Beveren	30	13	6	11	44	40	+4	45
9	Club NXT	30	11	4	15	40	49	−9	37	Ineligible for promotion and promotion play-offs
10	Jong Genk	30	10	7	13	46	52	−6	37	Ineligible for promotion and promotion play-offs
11	Lierse Kempenzonen	30	10	5	15	44	59	−15	35
12	RSCA Futures	30	8	10	12	39	47	−8	34	Ineligible for promotion and promotion play-offs
13	Oostende (R)	30	10	8	12	32	39	−7	32^[b]	Dissolved due to bankruptcy
14	Francs Borains	30	9	5	16	38	52	−14	32
15	Seraing^[c]	30	6	10	14	33	51	−18	28
16	SL16 FC (R)	30	5	2	23	25	60	−35	17	Relegated to National Division 1

Source: Challenger Pro League
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Matches won; 3) Goal difference; 4) Goals scored; 5) Away goals scored; 6) Away matches won; 7) Play-off.^[6]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

^ Club NXT did not play its home matches at the same venue as the A-squad of Club Brugge (the Jan Breydel Stadium) but rather they moved to Roeselare to play in the Schiervelde Stadion.

^ On 20 December 2023, Oostende were deducted 3 points for outstanding debts and not adhering to the Belgian FA regulations.^[1] One day later, another 6 points were deducted for missing a second deadline for repayment of debts.^[2] Oostende appealed this decision and the verdict on 25 January 2024 reduced the points deduction back to 6 points. They were still not allowed to have incoming transfers^[3] On 14 May 2024, one month after completion of the season, Oostende announced it had not found an investor to take over the club and due to financial debts would be able to meet the criteria for playing in the Challenger Pro League or even the Belgian National Division 1. As a result, the club will at least relegate two levels to the Belgian Division 2 and be penalized with -3 points.^[4] On 3 June 2024, the club officially filed for bankruptcy and is in talks with neighboring clubs to form a merger and restart at the level of that club. If no club is found willing to merge with KV Oostende, the club can only restart the at the bottom of the Belgian football pyramid, the fourth West-Flanders provincial league (level 9).^[5]

^ Seraing would have been relegated but due to Oostende not receiving a license one month after completion of the season, the team was spared.

Positions by round[edit]

The table lists the positions of teams after the completion of each round, with postponed matches and points deductions only included when occurring. Teams that have played fewer matches are shown with their position underlined:

The match between SL16 FC and Beerschot of matchday 3 was postponed due to being prohibited by the mayor of Liège, it was rescheduled to be played between matchdays 14 and 15 and hence its effects will only appear in the table below at the end of matchday 15.
The match between Dender EH and Francs Borains on matchday 14 was postponed due to snow. It was played a few days later between matchdays 14 and 15 and hence its effects will only appear in the table below at the end of matchday 15.
On 20 December 2023, between matchdays 16 and 17, Oostende was deducted 9 points (3+6) for outstanding debts and breach of Belgian FA regulations.
The matches Lommel-Beerschot, Dender EH-Seraing, Francs Borains-Oostende, and RSCA Futures-RFC Liege of matchday 18 were all postponed due to snow. All matches will be played on 7 February, between matchdays 20 and 21, except for Francs Borains-Oostende which was rescheduled to 14 February, between matchdays 21 and 22.
On 25 January 2024, between matchdays 18 and 19, the points deduction of Oostende was reduced from 9 to 6 points.

Colored cells refer to being promoted (green), in promotion play-offs (yellow) or relegation play-offs (red). Note that U23 teams are ineligible for promotion and playoffs, and the coloring is adjusted accordingly. Furthermore, if one of the mother clubs of these four teams is relegated, the U23 would automatically take up one of the relegation spots as U23 teams always have to remain at least one level below their mother club, this is not accounted for in the coloring until after the season.

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Team ╲ Round
Beerschot	2	4	10	6	7	5	6	5	3	3	2	2	1	1	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1
Dender EH	6	7	8	9	6	9	10	8	8	6	7	5	6	9	4	5	3	5	6	7	7	5	6	6	5	4	3	2	2	2
Deinze	13	12	13	7	5	7	8	7	5	5	6	4	3	3	3	3	4	3	3	2	2	2	2	1	2	3	4	5	3	3
Lommel	7	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	3	3	5	6	9	8	7	8	5	5	3	4	5	3	3	2	2	3	4	4
Zulte Waregem	15	11	2	2	2	2	3	2	1	1	1	1	2	2	1	1	2	2	2	3	4	3	4	4	4	6	6	6	5	5
Patro Eisden Maasmechelen	4	5	4	4	3	3	2	6	7	7	4	6	4	4	5	4	8	4	4	4	5	6	3	5	6	5	5	4	6	6
RFC Liège	12	15	11	14	10	6	5	4	6	8	5	7	8	5	6	7	6	7	8	8	8	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7
Beveren	10	14	15	11	11	12	12	14	12	10	11	11	10	8	7	6	5	6	7	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8
Jong Genk^[a]	8	1	5	5	9	10	7	9	10	12	14	15	16	12	13	14	11	11	11	10	9	10	10	11	11	10	10	9	9	10
Lierse Kempenzonen	9	6	7	12	13	15	15	15	14	13	12	10	11	11	11	11	12	12	13	13	13	14	14	14	14	13	12	11	10	11
Club NXT^[a]	5	8	3	3	8	4	4	3	4	4	8	8	9	7	10	10	10	10	10	11	11	11	11	10	9	9	9	10	11	9
RSCA Futures^[a]	14	10	12	13	15	14	14	11	9	9	9	9	7	10	8	9	9	9	9	9	10	9	9	9	10	11	11	12	12	12
Oostende	11	16	16	16	14	13	13	13	15	15	15	12	12	13	14	12	16	16	16	14	15	13	13	13	13	14	14	14	14	13
Francs Borains	3	9	6	8	4	8	9	10	11	14	10	13	13	14	16	16	13	13	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	13	13	13	14
Seraing	1	3	9	10	12	11	11	12	13	11	13	14	14	15	15	15	15	15	15	16	14	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15
SL16 FC^[a]	16	13	14	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	15	16	12	13	14	14	14	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ineligible for promotion and playoffs

Updated to match(es) played on 19 April 2024. Source: worldfootball.net

Results[edit]

Home \ Away	BEE	DEN	DEI	LOM	ZWA	PEM	RFC	BEV	GNK	LIE	NXT	AND	OOS	FRB	SER	STA
Beerschot		0–1	1–2^[a]	2–1	1–2	0–1	3–0	0–0	1–0	1–2	3–0	1–1	1–1	2–1	0–0	2–0
Dender EH	1–1		3–0	3–1	1–4	0–0	0–0	1–0	1–3	2–2	2–0	2–3	1–1	2–0^[b]	5–1^[c]	4–1
Deinze	4–2	1–1		3–2	1–1	0–0^[c]	3–1	0–0	3–2	4–0	1–3	4–1	1–0	2–3	1–0	2–1
Lommel	3–0^[c]	2–2	1–0		1–1	1–2	4–1	3–1	0–1	3–0	1–0	3–1	0–1	3–0	0–0	1–0
Zulte Waregem	0–1	1–1	2–1	0–3^[c]		0–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	4–1	0–1	2–5	0–1	1–3	2–1	1–1
Patro Eisden Maasmechelen	0–2	1–1	3–1	3–0	0–3		0–2	2–1	2–2	3–0	4–0	0–0	2–3	3–1	2–1	3–1
RFC Liège	1–4	0–1	1–0	2–1	0–2	1–0		5–1	5–0	2–4	3–1	0–2	2–0	1–0	2–1	1–1
Beveren	2–0	3–2	2–2	2–2	0–3	0–1	1–2		2–1	3–1^[c]	0–2	2–1	2–3	3–0	1–1	2–0
Jong Genk	1–2	2–1^[c]	3–2	1–1	2–4	0–1	2–3	1–0		1–3	0–3	3–0^[d]	3–1	1–1	1–1	1–0
Lierse Kempenzonen	1–3	2–4	0–1	1–2	0–1	2–1	3–2	2–2	3–1		3–1	1–1	1–2	3–1	1–0	1–4
Club NXT	0–2	0–1	0–1	0–2	1–3	2–2	1–2	0–3	2–1	3–2		0–1	3–3	1–0	1–1	4–1
RSCA Futures	1–3	2–1	1–3	1–1	0–1	1–3	1–1^[c]	0–2	1–1	3–3	1–2		0–0	3–3	1–2	3–0
Oostende	1–2	0–1	0–1	0–1	3–2	0–0	0–2^[c]	0–2	2–2	0–1	1–4	1–2		1–0	1–1	2–1
Francs Borains	1–3	0–3	0–1	1–2	2–1	0–0	2–2	3–0^[d]	2–5	2–0	2–2^[c]	1–0	0–2^[c]		0–2	2–1
Seraing	1–2	1–3	1–2	2–2^[a]	0–5	3–0	0–4	1–2	1–3	1–1	2–1	1–1	1–1	1–5		3–0
SL16 FC	1–0^[a]	0–4	2–1	0–4	1–3	0–1	2–1	1–4	3–1	0–1	1–2	0–1	0–1	1–2	1–2

Updated to match(es) played on 19 April 2024. Source: Flashscore
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

^ ^a ^b ^c After the match between SL16 FC and Beerschot had been prohibited by the mayor of Liège in August citing a lack of available police officers, the match of matchday 3 was rescheduled from 26 August to 5 December, in between matchdays 14 and 15. As a result, the calendar commission also decided to switch the places on the calendar of the matches Seraing-Lommel (from 10 to 8 December) and Beerschot-Deinze (from 8 to 10 December).^[7]

^ The match between Dender EH and Francs Borains of matchday 14 (3 December) was postponed for two days due to snow.

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Four matches of matchday 18 were postponed due to snow. Lommel-Beerschot, Dender EH-Seraing, and RSCA Futures-RFC Liège were rescheduled to 7 February, between matchdays 20 and 21. Francs Borains-Oostende will be played one week later on 14 February, between matchdays 21 and 22. To allow all teams sufficient time in between matches (at least 48 hours), the calendar of matchday 21 was altered strongly: the matches Deinze-Patro Eisden Maasmechelen (10 Feb to 9 Feb), Francs Borains-Club NXT (11 Feb to 9 Feb) and Beveren-SL16 FC (11 Feb to 10 Feb) were moved ahead, while Zulte Waregem-Lommel (9 Feb to 10 Feb), Jong Genk-Dender EH (9 Feb to 11 Feb) and Oostende-RFC Liège (10 Feb to 11 Feb) were shifted backward.^[8]

^ ^a ^b Some matches of matchdays 19 were moved due to the 2024 Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, in particular, Jong Genk-RSCA Futures moved from 26 January to 27 January, Francs Borains-Beveren moved from 27 January to 26 January.^[9]

Promotion play-offs[edit]

Promotion/relegation play-offs[edit]

The promotion/relegation play-offs are contested by the teams finishing in positions 3 to 6 in the 2023–24 Challenger Pro League, who meet in a knockout tournament with both quarter-finals and semi-finals over two legs and the highest season finisher always having home advantage in the return leg. The winner of the semi-finals plays the 14th place finisher of the 2023–24 Belgian Pro League over two legs. The Belgian Pro League team has home advantage in the return leg, the winner of the final will play in the 2024–25 Belgian Pro League, the loser in the 2024–25 Challenger Pro League.