The following site has league tables for Belgium first division
soccer:
http://www.rsssf.com/tablesb/belg03.html
There are links for tables back to 1992/93 season.

I would like to know how they work out the rank for each team,
particularly if there is a tie in the number of points between two
teams.

---

Request for Question Clarification by leli-ga on 13 Sep 2003 13:30 PDT

Hi willyb

Would you be happy with the current (2003) ranking rules for Belgian
football? I couldn't find anything about earlier years when you asked
your previous question about ranking going back to 1996.

If the 2003 ranking system is enough for you, would it be OK to link
to the rules in Flemish or would you need them translated?

Just let us know!

Thanks - Leli

---

Clarification of Question by willyb-ga on 13 Sep 2003 23:17 PDT

Leli,

I would accept the current rules as an answer. I would need them translated.

Willyb.

Thanks for getting back to me, willyb.

Luckily, I've now found the rules in French, which I can translate
much more easily than Flemish/Dutch.
It looks as if the ranking regulations date from 1995, which I hope
will be good news for you.

Your comment below is absolutely correct. The number of wins is indeed
the deciding factor when two teams have an equal number of points. The
key sentence from the rules says:

When several teams end up with equal points, they will be ranked by
the number of matches won.
"Quand plusieurs équipes terminent à égalité de points, elles sont
classées selon le nombre de matches gagnés."

If there's still a tie, then the teams involved have to play a
deciding match. (I hope it's OK with you that I've used the word
"match" throughout, not "game", since I'm British and it's also the
word used in the original French!)



Below I've translated sections from the rules which are relevant to
your question. Please feel free to ask me more about my translation if
anything is unclear.



Royal Belgian Football Association Rules
========================================

RANKING
-------

Determining criteria


Final Championship Ranking
--------------------------

Championships will be played by home and away matches in each division
and, as the case may be, in each series.

24.06.95 [Looks as if this is the date of this rule?]

For each match, three points are given to the winning team. In the
case of a draw, each team receives one point.

The team with the most points over the total number of matches is
ranked first in its division or, as the case may be, in its series.

When several teams end up with the same number of points, they will be
ranked by the number of matches won.

If there is still a tie and a tie-break is needed, matches will be
played according to the methods laid out below . .

[...]

The clubs concerned meet together with the competent association
authorities and are invited to agree on arrangements for the deciding
match(es).

If the clubs cannot agree or if their agreement doesn't observe rules
on the latest possible date, then the association authorities have the
power to arrange the tie-break(s) . .


Rules of the Royal Belgian Football Association: Ranking
http://212.100.191.196/reglementen_fr/livrev-60.htm#P3391_152344

Links to other sections of the regulations (le règlement):
http://212.100.191.196/reglementen_fr/index.htm#P330_15231
http://212.100.191.196/reglementen_fr/index.htm#P307_14301

Search page for rules in French:
http://212.100.191.196/searchweb_fr/index.jsp

The Royal Belgian Football Association homepage in English
http://www.footbel.com/content/rbfa/index_en.asp



If you're planning to check out more of the rulebook, you can put
pages in French through Google's automatic translator to get a rough
and ready idea of their meaning:
://www.google.co.uk/language_tools?hl=en

The page with the ranking rules comes out like this:
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2F212.100.191.196%2Freglementen_fr%2Flivrev-60.htm%23P3391_152344&langpair=fr%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools

This site is helpful for looking up individual words:
http://wordreference.com/fr/en/translation.asp?fren=

I hope this gives you all the information you need, but please don't
hesitate to ask if you would like me to clarify something.


Best Wishes - Leli


Search strategy:

Many unsuccessful searches before I decided to look for an official
association.
"Belgian Football" led me to the right website:
://www.google.co.uk/search?q=belgian+football&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

Then I explored the site looking for the ranking rules.

This is exactly what I want, thankyou :-)

Usually, when there's a tie on points the ranking is determined either
by goals scored or by goal difference (goals scored minus goals
conceded). However, I've been unable to find anything on the web
detailing the exact rules the Belgian league uses.

Hi Jeeagle,

Thanks for your comments. One of the interesting examples is in
2001/02:

..
12.R Charleroi SC                34 11  6 17  40-63  39
13.KFC Lommelse SK               34 10  9 15  54-66  39
..

Here the ranks apparently are not decided by goal difference (ie 40-63
= -23 vs 54-66 = -12), instead perhaps by total wins (ie 11 vs 10)?

I think you're right, willyb. The other system that's sometimes used
is the head-to-head results between the two teams. However, as far as
I can see Charleroi lost home and away to Lommel in the 01/02 season.

Thank-you very much, Willy B, for the tip and nice feedback. It's good
to know this is exactly what you wanted.

Leli