The 2006–07 season of the Belgian First Division began on July 28, 2006, and concluded on May 19, 2007. The championship was decided in the penultimate round on May 12, 2007, when Anderlecht moved five points clear of runners-up

Genk Genk () is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality only comprises the town of Genk itself. It is one of the most important industrial towns in Flanders, located on the Albert Canal, ...

to retain the title and win their 29th League Championship. At the other end of the table, the struggle to avoid automatic relegation went on until the final round, and it was

Lierse Koninklijke Lierse Sportkring (), often simply known as Lierse, was a Belgian professional football club from the city of Lier in the Antwerp province. Lierse have won four championship titles and two Belgian Cups. Lierse was one of the six Be ...

who eventually prevailed. Having spent the entire season at the bottom of the standings and only just managing to close an eleven-point gap up to 17th, the Lier side won their last game to climb past

Beveren Beveren () is a 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'') is in ...

and send the latter down to the Second Division. However, Lierse went on to lose the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eit ...

and was relegated anyway.

Clubs

Eighteen teams played in the 2006-07 first division. Twelve teams were from

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...

, four clubs from

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—al ...

and just two clubs from the

Brussels-Capital Region Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

New teams

La Louvière had been relegated at the end of the previous season with

Mons Mons (; German and nl, Bergen, ; Walloon and pcd, Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century. ...

replacing them as they won the

Belgian Second Division The Belgian Second Division (known as the Proximus League for sponsorship reasons) was the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian Pro League. It was founded by the Royal Belgian Football Asso ...

had managed to win the

promotion playoff Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

and thus they remained in the first division.

Overview

Manager changes

* August 30 -

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the mo ...

fires Johan Boskamp. * August 30 - Michel Preud'homme quits his job as technical director to take up the job of manager with

. * October 29 -

Lokeren Lokeren () is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders, and belongs to the Waasland, also called ''Land van Waas'', of which it is the second most important city after Sint-Niklaas. The city, located on the river D ...

fires Ariël Jacobs. * November 7 -

Thomas Caers Thomas Caers (born 14 January 1973) is a Belgian football manager and former player. He was the manager of Sint-Truiden from February 2006 to November 2006, when he resigned. Caers played for MVV Maastricht in the Dutch Eerste Divisie and K.A.A ...

quits his job as manager of

Sint Truiden Sint-Truiden (; french: link=no, Saint-Trond ; li, Sintruin ) is a city and municipality located in the province of Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium, and has over 41,500 inhabitants, which makes it one of the largest cities in Limburg. The ...

as he feels the players don't respect him anymore after a series of bad results. * November 13 - René Trost agrees with the management of

to split up and each go their own way. At that time Lierse is in last position, with two points out of 12 matches. * November 22 -

finds a new manager as Kjetil Rekdal is contracted to try to keep the team in the first division. In

Henk Houwaart Henk Houwaart (born August 31, 1945) is a Dutch football manager and a former football player. Born in the Hague, Houwaart began his career in 1963 as a footballer playing for ADO Den Haag until 1967, when he left the club to play for FC Twente. ...

is the new manager. * November 26 -

announces that Slavoljub Muslin will sign a contract as the new manager within the next few days. * January 28 - After losing 0-1 at home to

Roeselare Roeselare (; french: Roulers, ; West Flemish: ''Roeseloare'') is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Roeselare proper and the towns of Beveren, Oekene and Rumbeke. ...

, the staff of Club Brugge is under fire from supporters and media yet again. The day after, coach Emilio Ferrera and assistant Franky Van der Elst get fired and sports director Marc Degryse chooses to resign himself. A former

Macedonian Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia. Macedonian(s) may specifically refer to: People Modern * Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North M ...

ex-player, Cedomir Janevski, is appointed as the new manager. * February 1 - At R.E. Mouscron,

Gil Vandenbrouck Gil or GIL may refer to: Places * Gil Island (disambiguation), one of several islands by that name * Gil, Iran, a village in Hormozgan Province, Iran * Hil, Azerbaijan, also spelled ''Gil, a village in Azerbaijan * Hiloba, also spelled ''Gi ...

resigns after disappointing results and is given another job at the club. Ariël Jacobs is the new coach. * March 19 -

Marc Brys Marc Brys (born 10 May 1962) is a Belgian football manager and former player, who manages OH Leuven in the Belgian First Division A. Career His coaching career took off at Belgian club, Berchem Sport, which he guided to the championship of the B ...

announces he will finish the season as trainer at K.F.C. Germinal Beerschot, but will then quit his job. No new trainer is announced to replace him. * March 25 -

Walter Meeuws Walter Meeuws (born 11 July 1951) is a Belgian former footballer and manager. Playing career During his career he played for K. Beerschot V.A.C., Club Brugge K.V., R. Standard de Liège, AFC Ajax, K.V. Mechelen. He earned 46 caps for the Belgiu ...

is fired at

K.S.K. Beveren Koninklijke Sportkring Beveren (''Royal Sporting Club of Beveren'') is a Belgian association football club from the town of Beveren in East Flanders. KSK Beveren was particularly successful during the late 1970s and early 1980s in which it wo ...

, assistant-coach

Edy De Bolle Edy, provided by Rakuten, Inc. in Japan is a prepaid rechargeable contactless smart card. While the name derives from euro, dollar, and yen, it works with yen only. History Edy was launched on January 18, 2001 by BitWallet, with fincaning ...

becomes caretaker until the end of the season. * March 26 - Next season, Cercle Brugge K.S.V. coach Harm Van Veldhoven will take up the job at K.F.C. Germinal Beerschot. Cercle Brugge are looking for a new coach. * April 3 -

Sint-Truiden Sint-Truiden (; french: link=no, Saint-Trond ; li, Sintruin ) is a city and municipality located in the province of Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium, and has over 41,500 inhabitants, which makes it one of the largest cities in Limburg. The mu ...

fires

. Assistant-trainer Peter Voets takes over. * April 15 - At

, assistant coach Rudy Cossey announces he will leave the club after 12 years and take up the job of head coach at second division team

Oud-Heverlee Leuven Oud-Heverlee Leuven (), also called OH Leuven or OHL, is a Belgian association football, football club from the city of Leuven. It was created in 2002 from the merger of three clubs, ''F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee'', whose registration num ...

next season. In Leuven, Guido Brepoels had announced a few weeks earlier that he was leaving at the end of the season to take up the job at another second division team, KVSK United. * April 20 - Ariël Jacobs, head coach at

Mouscron Mouscron (; Dutch and vls, Moeskroen, ; Picard and Walloon: ''Moucron'') is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Hainaut, along the border with the French city of Tourcoing, which is part of the Lille metropo ...

, is named by many sources to become the new assistant coach of Franky Vercauteren at Anderlecht next season. Glen De Boeck, his assistant coach at that time, is applying for a job at Cercle Brugge. Franky Van der Elst is doing the same thing and a decision concerning the new coaching team of Cercle Brugge for the new season is said to be announced soon. * April 23 - Glen De Boeck will be the head coach of Cercle Brugge during the upcoming season. * April 26 - Club Brugge announces that

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

coach Jacky Mathijssen will be their new head coach for the upcoming season. Coach Cedomir Janevski is offered a position as his assistant but is still considering the offer. * April 28 - As both Club Brugge and

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

are still in the running for the fifth place and thus also possibly a ticket for European football next season, chairman Abbas Bayat decides to fire coach Jacky Mathijssen. Later that day the supporters chant Mathijssen's name during the match between Charleroi and

to express their unhappiness with Bayat's decision. Philippe Van de Walle is the caretaker for the four remaining matches of the season.

League standings

Promotion and relegation playoff

Clubs

New teams

Overview

Manager changes

League standings

Promotion and relegation playoff

Results

Top scorers

See also