The Belgium Pro League kicks off on Friday as the top flight of Belgian football returns for another campaign. Club Brugge have won back-to-back Pro League titles and go into the season as the favourite to win the trophy once more.
While Club Brugge won the title, they didn’t finish the regular season at the top of the table. Union SG ended the regular season in first place, which meant Club Brugge needed the playoffs to win the trophy.
Who will be on top of the league at the end of the season? 🤔Let us know in the comments! ⬇️#jupilerproleague pic.twitter.com/tFwH7XGaE8— Pro League ⚽️🇧🇪 (@ProLeagueBE) July 20, 2022
Who will be on top of the league at the end of the season? 🤔Let us know in the comments! ⬇️#jupilerproleague pic.twitter.com/tFwH7XGaE8
With the new season starting this weekend, Forebet takes a look at the Pro League’s stats from 2021-22 to gain further insight into the new season.
Belgian teams played 332 matches in the Belgium Pro League last season, regular season and playoffs, combined. Of those matches, 137 were won by the home team, for a 41% home win rate.
Away teams claimed 36% of the wins while only 22% of matches were draws. Betting double chance home win/away win could be a smart punt on Belgium Pro League fixtures this season.
The most common scoreline in Pro League matches in 2021-22 was 1-1. 10.24% of the time, matches in the Pro League ended 1-1. Thirty-four of the 332 games were stalemates with under 2.5 goals.
The most common scoreline for an away win was 0-1 (9.64%), while the most common score for home wins was 2-0 (8.43%).
In 52% of Pro League matches in 2021-22, both teams scored goals. This means that 48% of matches in the Pro League ended with NO both teams scoring.
The indication from these figures show that the Pro League can be defensive. Union SG, who topped the regular season table, allowed just 27 goals in 34 games. Pro League champions, Club Brugge, allowed 37 goals in 34 regular season games.
Not only did Union SG conceded the fewest regular season goals, but they scored the most with 78. Anderlecht and Club Brugge were joint-second with 72 goals for.
The top eight teams in the Pro League make the playoffs. Of the eight teams to reach the playoffs in 2021-22, Mechelen conceded the most goals with 71 in regular season and playoffs combined.
The worst attack in the regular season and playoffs belonged to Royal Antwerp. Although the Reds finished fourth in the regular season, they lacked goals, despite their big spending. Antwerp have spent heavily again this offseason.
Antwerp scored just 58 times in the regular season and playoffs for an average of 1.45 goals per game. Again, they had the worst offence of the eight teams that made the playoffs.
The easiest fixture list to start the new campaign belongs to Racing Genk. Genk will face off with:
The toughest fixture list to start the new campaign belongs to Standard Liege. Liege finished eight points ahead of the relegation zone last season.
Get the latest info on the 2022-23 Belgium Pro League at Forebet today!