{"id":291,"date":"2023-12-27T15:52:26","date_gmt":"2023-12-27T15:52:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.football-stadiums.co.uk\/belgian-first-division-a\/"},"modified":"2024-03-08T11:36:07","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T11:36:07","slug":"belgian-first-division-a","status":"publish","type":"leagues","link":"https:\/\/www.football-stadiums.co.uk\/leagues\/belgian-first-division-a\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgian First Division A"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"JPL
Gorhendad<\/a>, CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>, via Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Currently known as the Jupiler Pro League because of sponsorship, the Belgian First Division A is also sometimes called the Belgian Pro League.<\/p>\n

It is the top-flight in Belgium and features sixteen teams competing to be named the champions of Belgium and operates a system of promotion and relegation to the second-tier in the country, the Belgian First Division B.<\/p>\n

You may well think that it\u2019s odd that the top two leagues in Belgium are both referred to as the \u2018First Division\u2019 with only a letter separating them – and you\u2019d be right, but it\u2019s because it\u2019s actually one league that has been split in two.<\/p>\n

In this section, we\u2019ll explain how the league is set-up and we\u2019ll also tell you all about its history.<\/p>\n

First, though, we\u2019ll let you know about the different types of stadiums you can expect to find if you head to Belgium to watch a few matches there.<\/p>\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Stadium Stats<\/h2>\r\n
\t\t\r\n \t\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n
Stadium<\/th>\r\n Year Opened<\/th>\r\n Capacity<\/th>\r\n Ave Attendance<\/th>\r\n Record Attendance<\/th>\r\n Record Attendance Match<\/th>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n <\/thead>\r\n
\r\n Constant Vanden Stock<\/a>\r\n
R.S.C. Anderlecht<\/td>\r\n 		1917<\/td>\r\n 22500<\/td>\r\n 17528<\/td>\r\n 38349<\/td>\r\n Anderlecht v Standard de Li\u00e8ge (1980)<\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\t\r\n \r\n
\r\n Ghelamco Arena<\/a>\r\n
KAA Gent<\/td>\r\n 		2013<\/td>\r\n 20000<\/td>\r\n 19785<\/td>\r\n 20000<\/td>\r\n Gent v KV Mechelen (2013)<\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\t\r\n \r\n
\r\n Jan Breydel Stadium<\/a>\r\n
Club Brugge KV<\/td>\r\n 		1975<\/td>\r\n 29062<\/td>\r\n 26129<\/td>\r\n 28728<\/td>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\t\r\n \r\n
\r\n Luminus Arena<\/a>\r\n
K.R.C. Genk<\/td>\r\n 		1999<\/td>\r\n 23718<\/td>\r\n 20000<\/td>\r\n 24956<\/td>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\t\r\n \r\n <\/tbody>\r\n <\/table>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Team Stats<\/h2>\r\n
\t\r\n \t\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n
Team<\/th>\r\n Year Founded<\/th>\r\n Nickname<\/th>\r\n Team Owner<\/th>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n <\/thead>\r\n
\r\n Club Brugge KV<\/strong>\r\n <\/td>\r\n 1895<\/td>\r\n Blauw-Zwart, Club, FCB<\/td>\r\n Bart Verhaeghe<\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\t \r\n \r\n
\r\n Gent<\/strong>\r\n <\/td>\r\n 1864<\/td>\r\n De Buffalo's<\/td>\r\n Ivan De Witte<\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\t \r\n \r\n
\r\n KRC Genk<\/strong>\r\n <\/td>\r\n 1988<\/td>\r\n Blauw-Wit (Blue-White), Racing, KRC, De Smurfen (The Smurfs)<\/td>\r\n Peter Croonen<\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\t \r\n \r\n
\r\n R.S.C. Anderlecht<\/strong>\r\n <\/td>\r\n 1908<\/td>\r\n Purple & White, Sporting<\/td>\r\n Wouter Vandenhaute<\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\t \r\n \r\n <\/tbody>\r\n <\/table>\r\n <\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n\n

Belgian First Division A Stadiums<\/h2>\n

\"Standard<\/p>\n

Football has been played in Belgium since the final part of the 19th century and is the most popular sport in the country by a mile. As you\u2019d expect, though, that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that the country is swamped with huge megastructure stadiums. Instead, there are a few reasonably large grounds that are home to the most popular and successful teams in the land, with the rest of the stadiums being smaller affairs.<\/p>\n

The biggest ground in the country is the national team\u2019s home, the King Baudouin Stadium. It can hold just over 50,000 supporters but, of course, is not one of the Belgium First Division A stadiums. The next largest belongs to Standard Li\u0117ge and can house 20,000 less at 30,000. The majority of grounds in the league can take about 15,000 fans without issue, though a few actually have a capacity of less than 10,000.<\/p>\n

The smaller stadiums in the league tend to follow the \u2018English Style\u2019 of having a separate grandstand on each side of the pitch, whilst the larger ones tend to follow the more \u2018European Style\u2019 of a bowl of continuous seating all around the ground. The bowl style is much more common with the newer stadiums that tend to be much more contemporary and clean in their design.<\/p>\n\r\n \r\n \r\n

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