The 2016–17 season of the

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 tea ...

was the 114th season of top-tier football in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

and the first following the structural changes in the Belgian football pyramid, reducing the number of professional teams to 24. It began on 29 July 2016 and finished on 31 May 2017. The fixtures were announced on 8 June 2016.

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

were the defending champions but had to settle for second place with

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 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, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as th ...

taking their 34th title.

Team changes

OH Leuven Oud-Heverlee Leuven (), also called OH Leuven or OHL, is a Belgian 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 number it inherited, ''D ...

was relegated after finishing last in the 2015–16 Belgian Pro League. * Due to the fact that

2015–16 Belgian Second Division The 2015–16 season of the Belgian Second Division (also known as Proximus League for sponsorship reasons) began on 8 August 2015 and ended in April 2016. Structural changes This season was the last under the name Second Division. Starting from 2 ...

champions WS Brussels were refused a Belgian professional football license,

Eupen Eupen (, ; ; formerly ) is the capital of German-speaking Community of Belgium and is a city and municipality in the Belgian province of Liège, from the German border ( Aachen), from the Dutch border (Maastricht) and from the " High Fe ...

was promoted as runner-up instead.

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Personnel and kits

Managerial changes

Regular season

League table

Results

Championship play-offs

The points obtained during the regular season were halved (and rounded up) before the start of the playoff. As a result, the teams started with the following points before the playoff: Anderlecht 31 points, Club Brugge 30, Zulte Waregem 27, Gent 25, Oostende 25 and Charleroi 25. The points of Anderlecht, Club Brugge and Charleroi were rounded up, therefore in case of any ties on points at the end of the playoffs, the half point would have been deducted for these teams.

League table

Europa League play-offs

Group A of the play-offs consisted of the teams finishing in positions 7, 9, 12 and 14 during the

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability ...

and the first and third placed team in the qualifying positions in the 2016–17 Belgian First Division B. The teams finishing in positions 8, 10, 11, 13 and 15 joined the second placed qualifier from the 2016–17 Belgian First Division B to form group B.

Group A

Group B

Semi-final

The winners of both play-off groups competed in one match to play the fourth-placed or fifth-placed team of the championship play-offs for a spot in the final. This match was played on the field of the highest ranked team in the regular competition. The winner of the semi-final advanced to the final to play for a spot in the third qualifying round of the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League.

Final

The winner of the Europa League play-off semi-final and the fourth-placed team played one match to determine the Europa League play-off winner. KV Oostende qualified for the third qualifying round of the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League, where they were eliminated by Olympique Marseille.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Top assists

Clean sheets

Number of teams by provinces

Attendances

Football clubs with an average home attendance of at least 10,000:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2016-17 Belgian First Division A Belgian First Division A seasons Belgian 1