1973–74 in Belgian football

The 1973–1974 season was the 71st season of competitive football in Belgium. RSC Anderlechtois won their 16th Division I title.^[1] KSV Waregem won the Belgian Cup against second division club KSK Tongeren (4-1).^[2] The Belgium national football team finished their 1974 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign at the second place of their group behind the Netherlands, with the same number of points but a smaller goal difference.^[3] They thus did not qualify for the 1974 FIFA World Cup finals in West Germany. The Belgian Women's First Division was won by R Saint-Nicolas FC Liège.

Overview

Belgium continued their qualifying campaign for the 1974 FIFA World Cup with a win over Norway and a draw against the Netherlands. They thus finished the qualifications with 10 points, level with the Netherlands. However, since the Netherlands had scored 24 goals for only 2 goals conceded, and Belgium had scored 12 goals (for 0 goals conceded), the Netherlands qualified for the World Cup finals instead of Belgium.

At the end of the season, the number of teams in Division I was increased from 16 to 20, and the Royal Belgian Football Association introduced the Belgian Second Division Final Round, a double round-robin tournament contested by 4 teams, the top 2 of which would qualify for the next season Division I. The bottom 2 teams of Division I (K Lierse SK and K Sint-Truidense VV) as well as the 4th and 5th-placed teams in Division II (KAS Eupen and KFC Winterslag) were invited to play this final round.^[4] K Lierse SK and KFC Winterslag finished respectively 1st and 2nd and qualified for the Division I, together with the top 3 teams in Division II (ROC de Montignies-sur-Sambre, ASV Oostende KM and KSC Lokeren) as well as R Charleroi SC (13th-placed team). The bottom 2 teams of the final round were relegated to Division II (K Sint-Truidense VV and KAS Eupen).

The last club in Division II (KAA Gent) was relegated to Division III, to be replaced by both Division III winners and runners-up as well as one of the two 3rd-placed teams (K Waterschei SV Thor Genk, VG Oostende, R Tilleur FC, R Albert Elisabeth Club Mons and RAA Louviéroise).
The bottom club of each Division III league (AS Herstalienne, RCS Verviétois, R Dinant FC and RCS La Forestoise) were relegated to the Promotion, to be replaced by the winner and runner-up of each Promotion league (K Stade Leuven, VC Rotselaar, CS Andennais, RJS Bas-Oha, KAV Dendermonde, K Willebroekse SV, K Zonhoven VV and KFC Verbroedering Geel).

National team

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score^[5]	Comp	Belgium scorers
October 31, 1973	Stade Emile Versé, Brussels (H)	Norway	2-0	WCQ	Léon Dolmans, Raoul Lambert
November 18, 1973	Olympic Stadium, Amsterdam (A)	Netherlands	0-0	WCQ
March 13, 1974	Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark, Berlin (A)	East Germany	0-1	F
April 17, 1974	Stade de Sclessin, Liège (H)	Poland	1-1	F	Wilfried Van Moer
May 1, 1974	Charmilles Stadium, Genève (A)	Switzerland	1-0	F
June 1, 1974	Klokke Stadion, Bruges (H)	Scotland	2-1	F	Roger Henrotay, Raoul Lambert

Key

H = Home match
A = Away match
N = On neutral ground
F = Friendly
WCQ = World Cup qualification
o.g. = own goal

European competitions

Club Brugge KV beat Floriana FC of Malta in the first round of the 1973–74 European Champion Clubs' Cup (won 8-0 at home, 2-0 away) but lost in the second round to FC Basel of Switzerland (won 2-1 at home, lost 4-6 away).

RSC Anderlechtois lost in the first round of the 1973–74 European Cup Winners' Cup to FC Zürich of Switzerland on away goals (won 3-2 at home, lost 0-1 away).

The following clubs qualified to play the 1973–74 UEFA Cup: Standard Club Liégeois (2nd-placed in the championship), R White Daring Molenbeek (3rd) and K Beerschot VAV (4th).
In the first round, Standard beat Ards FC of Northern Ireland (lost 2-3 away, won 6-1 at home) and RWDM beat RCD Espanyol of Spain (won 3-0 away, lost 1-2 at home), but K Beerschot VAV lost to Vitoria FC of Portugal (lost both legs 0-2).
In the second round, Standard beat FC Universitatea Craiova of Romania (won 2-0 at home, drew 1-1 away) but RWDM lost to Vitoria FC on away goals (lost 0-1 away, won 2-1 at home).
Standard were finally eliminated by Feyenoord Rotterdam of the Netherlands in the third round on away goals (won 3-1 at home, lost 0-2 away).

Honours

Competition	Winner
Division I	RSC Anderlechtois
Cup	KSV Waregem
Women Division I	R Saint-Nicolas FC Liège
Division II	ROC de Montignies-sur-Sambre
Division III	K Waterschei SV Thor Genk and VG Oostende
Promotion	K Stade Leuven, CS Andennais, KAV Dendermonde and K Zonhoven VV

Final league tables

Division I

Main article: 1973–74 Belgian First Division

1973-74 Top scorer: Hungarian Attila Ladynski (RSC Anderlechtois) with 22 goals^[6]
1973 Golden Shoe: Maurice Martens (RR White - R White Daring Molenbeek)^[7]

References

↑ http://www.footbel.com/documents/COMPETITIES/Eindklassementen/S1973-1974FR.pdf FA website
↑ http://www.footbel.com/fr/Competitites/statistieken/bekerfinales/heren_2.html FA Website
↑ http://www.footbel.com/fr/nationale_elftallen/statistieken_1/per_datum.html FA website
↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-05-14. Retrieved 2010-10-20. RSSSF Archive
↑ Belgium score given first
↑ http://www.footbel.com/fr/Competitites/statistieken/topschutters.html FA Website
↑ http://www.footbel.com/fr/Competitites/statistieken/gouden_schoen.html FA Website

Seasons in Belgian football

1895–96
1896–97
1897–98
1898–99
1899–1900
1900–01
1901–02
1902–03
1903–04
1904–05
1905–06
1906–07
1907–08
1908–09
1909–10
1910–11
1911–12
1912–13
1913–14
1914–19
1919–20
1920–21
1921–22
1922–23
1923–24
1924–25
1925–26
1926–27
1927–28
1928–29
1929–30
1930–31
1931–32
1932–33
1933–34
1934–35
1935–36
1936–37
1937–38
1938–39
1939–40
1940–41
1941–42
1942–43
1943–44
1944–45
1945–46
1946–47
1947–48
1948–49
1949–50
1950–51
1951–52
1952–53
1953–54
1954–55
1955–56
1956–57
1957–58
1958–59
1959–60
1960–61
1961–62
1962–63
1963–64
1964–65
1965–66
1966–67
1967–68
1968–69
1969–70
1970–71
1971–72
1972–73
1973–74
1974–75
1975–76
1976–77
1977–78
1978–79
1979–80
1980–81
1981–82
1982–83
1983–84
1984–85
1985–86
1986–87
1987–88
1988–89
1989–90
1990–91
1991–92
1992–93
1993–94
1994–95
1995–96
1996–97
1997–98
1998–99
1999–2000
2000–01
2001–02
2002–03
2003–04
2004–05
2005–06
2006–07
2007–08
2008–09
2009–10
2010–11
2011–12
2012–13
2013–14
2014–15
2015–16
2016–17

Football in Belgium

Royal Belgian Football Association

National teams

League system

Level 1	Belgian First Division A

Level 2	Belgian First Division B

Level 3	Belgian First Amateur Division

Level 4	Belgian Second Amateur Division (3 groups)

Level 5	Belgian Third Amateur Division (4 groups)

Levels 6–9	Belgian Provincial leagues (9 groups: Antwerp, Brabant, East Flanders, Hainaut, Liège, Limburg, Luxembourg, Namur and West Flanders)

Defunct	Belgian Second Division, Belgian Third Division, Belgian Fourth Division

Women's League system

Super League Vrouwenvoetbal
First Division
Second Division
Third Division
BeNe League (2012–2015, with the Netherlands)

Domestic cups

Men	Belgian Cup Belgian Super Cup defunct: Belgian League Cup

Women	Belgian Women's Cup BeNe Super Cup (2011–2012, with the Netherlands)

Awards

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/14/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.