A combined population of just under 28.5 million people, with The Netherlands edging it, you have two football leagues that are different in their own ways. The Dutch has famously been skillful and technical, whereas Belgium have been direct and in your face. More physical. But what’s good and bad about each? I’m not saying I have the answers, but with all things, there are always pros and cons.
This season, it hasn’t been great on the European stage for either. Both countries had one team each in the Champions League and Europa League. Pitiful really. The only qualifiers were automatically in there through winning their respected leagues and cup competitions. Ajax, PSV and Utrecht all took a season off from Europe this season, as did Club Brugge, Gent and Oostende. Adding to that, Anderlecht and Feyenoord were as bad as each other in the Champions League, with Zulte Waregem beating Vitesse Arnhem in their Europa League group, but ultimately both are already out.
I’m not expecting any of them to win the competitions, but Ajax made the Europa League final last season, with Anderlecht and Genk making the quarter finals, with Les Mauves going out in extra time to overall winners Manchester United. On their day, anyone can of course beat anyone. But there is quality in these teams otherwise their players wouldn’t always get picked off season in, season out.
Which brings me to a major positive. Both leagues produce not only the best players in Europe, but some of the best players in world football. Even though the Dutch national team has faulted recently, that isn’t entirely down to the Eredivisie. Poor management at national team levels has a lot of questions to answer for. And the Belgian Red Devil’s have plenty who have come from the Pro League, into the national team via a huge European clubs now. The negative being that not many other than Leander Dendoncker feature regularly in the national team.
*Not the real logo, just a visual*
Historically, both leagues have always been dominated by two or three clubs. Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord have always dominated. Same situation applies in the Pro League. Anderlecht and Club Brugge have the majority of league titles in the country. But in the past decade, other than splitting between the five in their respective leagues, it’s been shared out a bit more. AZ Alkmaar came onto the scene, although briefly, as did FC Twente. Same in Belgium. Five different teams have won the league including the aforementioned two. Standard Liège, Genk and Gent have all won the league too over the past decade.
You need these new teams challenging because nobody likes the same old clubs constantly winning it. There are countries steeped in tradition and style of football where you expect Bayern Munich always winning the Bundesliga, or Barcelona and Real Madrid sharing La Liga. But when Borussia Dortmund and Atlético Madrid upset the odds, like Leicester City in the Premier League, the world loves it! Somebody saying that there are other clubs here!
The difference in leagues, and this is the unique thing I kind of love about Belgian football, it splits into 3 groups. A Championship group, Playoff 1 and Playoff 2. All have six teams in fighting for the league and European places. It’s different to anywhere else and titles have been snatched because of this. Gent stole the league from Club Brugge in 2014/15 because of the Playoffs. The negative, although unrelated to the league structure, is that there are only 24 professional football clubs in Belgium, meaning now and again a merger between two clubs often happen and a whole new history is made, losing decades already created.
I could find a whole lot more in terms of positive and negative regarding both leagues. But they’re both special. Both passionate. Both countries share a language yet are different on mindset. If a BeNe League does become introduced, people will be fascinated. It may set a trend and make Scotland join with England, have Scandinavia sit up and think ‘What if we…?’ All I know is, I’ll be taking a keen interest as new bitter rivals will be created, not just through patriotism, but through history. The one thing they have in common, other than a language, is their love of football!
Tacticomotion 