The 2004–05 season of the

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

began on August 6, 2004 and ended on May 23, 2005. Club Brugge became champions on May 15, 2005 after a decisive game against long-time rivals

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

. The season was full of suspense as the champions and the relegated teams were only known on the 33rd (on 34) matchday. Furthermore, the 3rd place (qualifying for

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

) 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 Racing White Daring Molenbeek Brussels Football Club, often simply referred to as RWDM Brussels, F.C. Brussels or simply Brussels, was a Belgian professional association football club based in the municipality of Molenbeek, in the Brussels, Bru ...

(second division champion) * Oostende (playoff winner)

Relegated teams

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

Mons Mons commonly refers to: * Mons, Belgium, a city in Belgium * Mons pubis (mons Venus or mons veneris), in mammalian anatomy, the adipose tissue lying above the pubic bone * Mons (planetary nomenclature), a sizable extraterrestrial mountain * Batt ...

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 consistency under the management of Hugo Broos who was fired after a 0-0 draw at Gent. Under new coach ( Franky Vercauteren), Anderlecht had a run of good form (after the initial 0-1 defeat against Oostende). Linked to the poor results of rivals Brugge, this situation led to a 6-point difference between the two clubs after 32 matches. The Brugge-Anderlecht game (33rd matchday) was thus decisive for both clubs. It ended with a 2-2 draw that was sufficient for the West Flemish. Brugge title is due to its exceptional regularity against smaller teams as is shown 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 ran away with the first two places, the battle for Europe was mainly consisted in the battle for UEFA Cup spots (or battle for the third place). Four teams were serious candidates: Standard,

Genk Genk () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality comprises only the town of Genk itself. It ...

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

and Gent. The latter two were soon dismissed. Before the last matchday, Standard was two points ahead of Genk but they lost their advantage after a 1-1 draw at Ostend while Genk earned a 3-1 win at Cercle Brugge. As both teams now had the same number of points and wins, a test-match had to be played (in two legs). Standard won the first match 3-1 but lost the away match 0-3 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 Sint-Truiden (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium. With more than 41,500 inhabitants, it is on ...

Mouscron Mouscron (; Dutch language, Dutch and , ; Picard language, Picard and Walloon language, Walloon: ''Moucron'') is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city of Wallonia located in the Belgium, Belgian Hainaut Provinc ...

and especially newcomers

and Oostende along with

Beveren Beveren () is a former municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders which comprises the towns of Beveren, Doel, Haasdonk, Kallo, Kieldrecht, Melsele, Verrebroek and Vrasene. The port of the Waasland (Dutch: ''Waaslandhaven'') ...

joined the list after a very poor final run. Before the 33rd matchday, the table read: :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 La Louvière (; ) is a city and Municipalities of Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, province of Hainaut, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Boussoit, Haine-Saint-Paul, Haine-Saint-Pie ...

Final league table

Results

Top goal scorers

References

Sport.be website
- Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:2004-05 Belgian First Division Belgian Pro League seasons Belgian 1