2025–26 Challenger Pro League

The 2025–26 season of the Challenger Pro League is scheduled to begin in August 2025 and end in May 2026. It will be the fourth season under its new name after being renamed from First Division B.

Source: Wikipedia

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2025–26 Challenger Pro League

The 2025–26 season of the Challenger Pro League is scheduled to begin in August 2025 and end in May 2026. It will be the fourth season under its new name after being renamed from First Division B.

Team changes

2025–26 Challenger Pro League

This season, two teams will be automatically promoted to Belgian Pro League and promotion play-off winner will be matched against last placed top tier team with no direct relegation due to top tier's expansion to 18 teams from 2026–27 onwards.

Incoming

• Olympic Charleroi and Jong KAA Gent were promoted from the 2024–25 Belgian Division 1, respectively as ACFF (Francophone) and VV (Flemish) champions. Olympic Charleroi return to the second tier after 17 years absence, while Jong KAA Gent make their debut at this level. • Beerschot and Kortrijk were relegated from the 2024–25 Belgian Pro League. Beerschot immediately returned after just one season at the top level, while Kortrijk had been continuously at this level since 2008, ending their streak after 17 seasons.

Outgoing

• Zulte Waregem and La Louvière were promoted to the 2025–26 Belgian Pro League, respectively as champions and runners-up. • Deinze dissolved mid-way through the last season.

Name change

• RWDM announced on 6 June 2025 that it would change name to Daring Brussels, a reference to the former now defunct club Daring Club de Bruxelles. However, following large protests by the fans, the club reinstated the letters RWDM and renamed itself again just one month later, to RWDM Brussels. • Lokeren-Temse announced on 1 July 2025 that it would change its name to KSC Lokeren, reverting to the original name by which the former club K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen was initially known. While maintaining close cooperation with neighbors Temse, the two municipalities diverged in their football club support, with the supporters of Temse predominantly choosing to support SV Blauw Wit Temse, a club founded in 2020 when KSV Temse and K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen merged to form the current team.

Jong Genk

By the end of February 2025, the Pro League voted in favor of a new competition format for the coming seasons, with part of the haggling between club presidents resulting in a new rule for the then ongoing season (2024–25 Challenger Pro League) which entered with immediate effect, stating that a minimum of four U23 would always need to be present in the Challenger Pro League. At the time of the decision, there were still seven matchdays to play and Jong Genk was in a relegation spot, but due to this rule the club was anyhow spared of relegation. In the end, Jong Genk did finish in a relegation spot and was officially reported as being relegated, due to the fact that the new proposal had not yet passed all instances for approval. By the end of June approval was given and the club was officially spared. On 1 July 2025 however, Francs Borains, Lokeren and Seraing together launched a formal appeal against the reform citing it unfair that U23 cannot be relegated whilst non-U23 teams can. Meanwhile the new calendar, including Jong Genk, was already released on 3 July 2025. The Belgian Competition Authority ruled that they have a fair point, but somehow still ruled against them. Another similar appeal by Belgian champions Union SG is still open. On 9 October 2025, Francs Borains, Lokeren, and Seraing launched a new appeal, now with the Belgian Authority for Sports Arbitration.

Regular season

League table

<table><thead><tr><th>Pos</th><th>Team</th><th>Pld</th><th>W</th><th>D</th><th>L</th><th>GF</th><th>GA</th><th>GD</th><th>Pts</th><th>Qualification</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1</td><td>Beveren (C, P)</td><td>29</td><td>25</td><td>4</td><td>0</td><td>66</td><td>22</td><td>+44</td><td>79</td><td>Promoted to Pro League</td></tr><tr><td>2</td><td>Kortrijk (X)</td><td>29</td><td>19</td><td>4</td><td>6</td><td>54</td><td>31</td><td>+23</td><td>61</td></tr><tr><td>3</td><td>Beerschot (X)</td><td>30</td><td>18</td><td>6</td><td>6</td><td>47</td><td>27</td><td>+20</td><td>60</td><td>Qualification for promotion play-offs</td></tr><tr><td>4</td><td>Lommel</td><td>29</td><td>14</td><td>8</td><td>7</td><td>55</td><td>41</td><td>+14</td><td>50</td></tr><tr><td>5</td><td>Patro Eisden Maasmechelen</td><td>30</td><td>13</td><td>9</td><td>8</td><td>40</td><td>38</td><td>+2</td><td>48</td></tr><tr><td>6</td><td>RFC Liège</td><td>29</td><td>13</td><td>5</td><td>11</td><td>38</td><td>37</td><td>+1</td><td>44</td></tr><tr><td>7</td><td>Eupen</td><td>29</td><td>11</td><td>10</td><td>8</td><td>39</td><td>31</td><td>+8</td><td>43</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>8</td><td>Jong KAA Gent</td><td>29</td><td>12</td><td>4</td><td>13</td><td>41</td><td>46</td><td>−5</td><td>40</td></tr><tr><td>9</td><td>Lokeren</td><td>29</td><td>10</td><td>9</td><td>10</td><td>44</td><td>41</td><td>+3</td><td>39</td></tr><tr><td>10</td><td>Lierse</td><td>29</td><td>9</td><td>7</td><td>13</td><td>33</td><td>39</td><td>−6</td><td>34</td></tr><tr><td>11</td><td>Seraing</td><td>29</td><td>7</td><td>10</td><td>12</td><td>33</td><td>41</td><td>−8</td><td>31</td></tr><tr><td>12</td><td>RWDM Brussels</td><td>29</td><td>8</td><td>9</td><td>12</td><td>45</td><td>47</td><td>−2</td><td>30</td></tr><tr><td>13</td><td>Francs Borains</td><td>29</td><td>8</td><td>7</td><td>14</td><td>29</td><td>41</td><td>−12</td><td>30</td><td>Relegated to National Division 1</td></tr><tr><td>14</td><td>Jong Genk</td><td>29</td><td>7</td><td>7</td><td>15</td><td>37</td><td>54</td><td>−17</td><td>28</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>15</td><td>RSCA Futures</td><td>29</td><td>6</td><td>10</td><td>13</td><td>40</td><td>48</td><td>−8</td><td>28</td></tr><tr><td>16</td><td>Club NXT</td><td>30</td><td>4</td><td>6</td><td>20</td><td>32</td><td>54</td><td>−22</td><td>18</td></tr><tr><td>17</td><td>Olympic Charleroi (R)</td><td>29</td><td>3</td><td>7</td><td>19</td><td>25</td><td>60</td><td>−35</td><td>16</td><td>Relegated to National Division 1</td></tr></tbody></table>

Positions by round

The table lists the positions of teams after each round, with postponed matches and points deductions included only when they occur. Teams with fewer matches played are shown with their position underlined, with each line representing one fewer match.

• Midway through the previous season, Francs Borains was penalized one point for not complying with financial fair-play. • The match between Jong Genk and RSCA Futures of 8 November (matchday 13) was postponed to 9 December (between matchdays 16 and 17) as Jong Genk had four players selected for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup. • On 15 February 2026 (matchday 25), the match between Jong KAA Gent and Olympic Charleroi was stopped after 53 minutes at a score of 1–1 due to excessive snow. The day after, it was decided the match was to be continued from minute 53 and will be played on 24 February 2026, between matchdays 26 and 27. • On 21 February 2026 (matchday 26), the match between Seraing and Kortrijk was postponed for safety reasons as there was a neighbouring restaurant on fire. A few weeks later, during matchday 29, Kortrijk was awarded a 0–3 forfeit away win as Seraing was deemed not to have done enough to allow the match to be played. • On 3 March 2026 (between matchdays 27 and 28), RWDM Brussels was penalized three points for being unable to prove payment of debts.

Colored cells indicate promotion (green), participation 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, these teams can only relegate if at the same time another U23 team from the same wing (ACFF or VV) qualifies for promotion from the league below, or if the mother club is relegated from the level above, in which case 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. In the table below, it is assumed that the U23 teams will stay up, and hence the two lowest non-U23 teams are assumed to be relegated.

Promotion play-offs

Promotion/relegation play-offs

The promotion/relegation play-offs will be contested by the four highest-eligible finishers who are not already promoted directly. Normally, this will be the teams in positions 3 to 6 in the 2025–26 Challenger Pro League, unless one of the U23-teams would end up in the top six positions, in which case the next eligible team will take their spot. These four teams are to meet in a knockout tournament with both quarter-finals and semi-finals over two legs, and the highest season finisher always has home advantage in the return leg. The winner of the semi-finals will play the 16th place finisher of the 2025–26 Belgian Pro League over two legs. The Belgian Pro League team will have home advantage in the return leg; the winner of the final will qualify to play in the 2026–27 Belgian Pro League, with the loser playing in the 2026–27 Challenger Pro League.

Season statistics

Top scorers

<table><thead><tr><th>Rank</th><th>Player</th><th>Club</th><th>Goals</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1</td><td>Lennart Mertens</td><td>Beveren</td><td>8</td></tr><tr><td>2</td><td>Gaëtan Robail</td><td>RWDM Brussels</td><td>7</td></tr><tr><td>3</td><td>Thierry Ambrose</td><td>Kortrijk</td><td>6</td></tr><tr><td>Oumar Diouf</td><td>RFC Liège</td></tr><tr><td>Lucas Schoofs</td><td>Lommel</td></tr><tr><td>6</td><td>Aaron Bibout</td><td>Jong Genk</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td>Isaac Nuhu</td><td>Eupen</td></tr><tr><td>Leandro Rousseau</td><td>Patro Eisden Maasmechelen</td></tr><tr><td>Jannes Van Hecke</td><td>Beveren</td></tr><tr><td>10</td><td>Bryan Adinany</td><td>Lierse</td><td>4</td></tr><tr><td>Mohamed Salah</td><td>Lommel</td></tr><tr><td>Ralf Seuntjens</td><td>Lommel</td></tr><tr><td>Usman Simbakoli</td><td>RWDM Brussels</td></tr><tr><td>Yentl Van Genechten</td><td>Eupen</td></tr></tbody></table>

Number of teams by provinces

2025–26 Challenger Pro League

<table><thead><tr><th>Number of teams</th><th>Province or region</th><th>Team(s)</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>3</td><td>East Flanders</td><td>Beveren, Jong KAA Gent and Lokeren</td></tr><tr><td>Liège</td><td>Eupen, RFC Liège and Seraing</td></tr><tr><td>Limburg</td><td>Jong Genk, Lommel and Patro Eisden Maasmechelen</td></tr><tr><td>2</td><td>Antwerp</td><td>Beerschot and Lierse</td></tr><tr><td>Brussels</td><td>RSCA Futures and RWDM Brussels</td></tr><tr><td>Hainaut</td><td>Francs Borains and Olympic Charleroi</td></tr><tr><td>West Flanders</td><td>Club NXT and Kortrijk</td></tr></tbody></table>