2003–04 Belgian First Division

The 2003–04 season of the Belgian First Division was held between August 8, 2003 and May 15, 2004. Sporting Anderlecht became champions on April 24, 2004.

Promoted teams

These teams were promoted from the second division at the start of the season:

Cercle Brugge K.S.V. (second division champions)
K. Heusden-Zolder (playoff winner)

Relegated teams

These teams were relegated to the second division at the end of the season:

Anderlecht's title success

The battle for the title was not great as Anderlecht had a big lead over their opponents (mainly Club Brugge). However, a bad finish from Anderlecht kept the suspense until the 31st matchday when Club Brugge drew with Mouscron while the team from Brussels also drew (1-1) at Herman Vanderpoortenstadion, the homeground of Lierse.

Battle for Europe

The next week, Club Brugge was sure to enter the UEFA Champions League Preliminary Round with a 1-0 win against Standard Liège, then lying third. In spite of this defeat, Standard managed to qualify for the UEFA Cup as they were 6 points ahead of Mouscron after the 32nd matchday. The suspense was killed after a 1-1 draw against Charleroi the next Saturday.

The relegation dog fight

The end of the league was thus centered on the battle against relegation. Four teams were concerned : R.A.E.C. Mons and Charleroi, which finally saved themselves, R. Antwerp F.C. and K. Beringen-Heusden-Zolder finishing respectively 6 and 5 points adrift.

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld	Won	Drw	Lst	GF	GA	Pts	GD	Notes
1	R.S.C. Anderlecht	34	25	6	3	77	27	81	+50	Qualified for 2004-05 UEFA Champions League.^[1]
2	Club Brugge	34	22	6	6	77	31	72	+46	Qualified for 2004-05 UEFA Champions League.^[1]
3	Standard Liège	34	18	11	5	68	31	65	+37	Qualified for 2004-05 UEFA Cup.
4	K.R.C. Genk	34	17	8	9	58	40	59	+18	Qualified for 2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup.
5	R.E. Mouscron	34	15	14	5	64	42	59	+22
6	K.V.C. Westerlo	34	14	10	10	51	45	52	+6	Qualified for 2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup.
7	K.F.C. Germinal Beerschot	34	11	11	12	34	40	44	-6
8	R.A.A. Louviéroise	34	10	14	10	45	46	44	-1
9	K.A.A. Gent	34	8	16	10	33	34	40	-1	Qualified for 2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup.
10	K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen	34	10	9	15	45	54	39	-9
11	Lierse S.K.	34	8	15	11	33	40	39	-7
12	K.S.K. Beveren	34	11	5	18	45	58	38	-13	Qualified for 2004-05 UEFA Cup.
13	K. Sint-Truidense V.V.	34	9	11	14	36	50	38	-14
14	Cercle Brugge K.S.V.	34	7	14	13	28	52	35	-24
15	R. Charleroi S.C.	34	8	9	17	35	47	33	-12
16	R.A.E.C. Mons	34	7	12	15	29	52	33	-23
17	K. Beringen-Heusden-Zolder	34	7	7	20	36	68	28	-32	Relegated to Division II.
18	R. Antwerp F.C.	34	7	6	21	30	67	27	-37	Relegated to Division II.

^[1] Club Brugge competed in the UEFA Cup First Round after being eliminated in the Champions League Third Qualifying Round.

Top goal scorers

Scorer	Goals	Team
Luigi Pieroni	28	Mouscron
Émile Mpenza	21	Standard Liège
Tosin Dosunmu	16	Westerlo
Aruna Dindane	15	Anderlecht
Gert Verheyen	15	Club Brugge
Andrés Mendoza	14	Club Brugge
Cédric Roussel	14	Racing Genk

References

(French) Sport.be website - Archive

First League / Pro League / First Division A

2016–17 teams	Anderlecht Charleroi Club Brugge Eupen Excel Mouscron Genk Gent Kortrijk Lokeren Mechelen Oostende Sint-Truiden Standard Liège Waasland-Beveren Westerlo Zulte Waregem

Statistics	Teams Champions Top scorers Current managers Belgian Golden Shoe

Championship Cup (1895–1904)	1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04

First Division (1904–1926)	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

Division of Honour (1926–1952)	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 1939–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52

First Division (1952–1993)	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

Belgian League (1993–2008)	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

Belgian Pro League (2008–2016)	2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16

Belgian First Division A (2016–present)	2016–17

2003–04 in European football (UEFA)

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Domestic cups	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia Faroe Islands '03 '04 Finland '03 '04 France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '03 '04 Israel Italy Kazakhstan '03 '04 Latvia '03 '04 Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '03 '04 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland '03 '04 Romania Russia San Marino Scotland Serbia and Montenegro Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden '03 '04 Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales

League cups	England Finland '03 '04 France Germany Iceland '03 '04 Israel Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland '03 '04 Scotland Wales

UEFA competitions	Champions League (Qualifying rounds, Group stage, Knockout stage, Final) UEFA Cup (Final) Intertoto Cup Super Cup

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