Belgian First Division
Season2003–04
ChampionsAnderlecht
RelegatedHeusden-Zolder
Antwerp
Champions LeagueAnderlecht
Club Brugge
UEFA CupStandard Liège
Beveren
Matches played306
Goals scored824 (2.69 per match)
Top goalscorerLuigi Pieroni
(28 goals)

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

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

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 W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Anderlecht (C) 34 25 6 3 77 27 +50 81 Qualification to Champions League third qualifying round
2 Club Brugge 34 22 6 6 77 31 +46 72 Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round
3 Standard Liège 34 18 11 5 68 31 +37 65 Qualification to UEFA Cup first round
4 Genk 34 17 8 9 58 40 +18 59 Qualification to Intertoto Cup second round
5 Mouscron 34 15 14 5 64 42 +22 59
6 Westerlo 34 14 10 10 51 45 +6 52 Qualification to Intertoto Cup second round
7 Germinal Beerschot 34 11 11 12 34 40 −6 44
8 La Louvière 34 10 14 10 45 46 −1 44
9 Gent 34 8 16 10 33 34 −1 40 Qualification to Intertoto Cup first round
10 Sporting Lokeren 34 10 9 15 45 54 −9 39
11 Lierse 34 8 15 11 33 40 −7 39
12 Beveren 34 11 5 18 45 58 −13 38 Qualification to UEFA Cup second qualifying round
13 Sint-Truiden 34 9 11 14 36 50 −14 38
14 Cercle Brugge 34 7 14 13 28 52 −24 35
15 Charleroi 34 8 9 17 35 47 −12 33
16 Mons 34 7 12 15 29 52 −23 33
17 Heusden-Zolder (R) 34 7 7 20 36 68 −32 28 Relegation to 2004–05 Belgian Second Division
18 Antwerp (R) 34 7 6 21 30 67 −37 27
Source:
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away AND ANT GBA BEV CER CLU CHA GNK GNT HZO LIE LOK LOU MON MOU STT STA WES
Anderlecht 3–1 4–0 1–0 3–2 1–1 3–2 2–1 2–0 6–0 2–1 2–1 1–1 4–1 0–0 3–0 1–4 5–1
Antwerp 0–2 0–4 0–3 2–2 0–4 3–1 3–1 0–1 1–1 3–1 0–3 1–3 0–0 3–1 1–2 0–4 2–1
Germinal Beerschot 1–0 1–0 2–1 2–1 2–0 3–1 2–2 0–2 1–3 1–1 2–1 0–0 1–0 2–2 0–0 1–2 0–2
Beveren 2–3 5–2 0–0 1–1 1–3 1–0 3–1 2–4 2–0 0–1 1–1 1–0 2–0 0–3 1–4 0–2 0–3
Cercle Brugge 0–2 1–2 1–0 0–4 0–2 3–2 0–0 1–0 2–3 0–0 2–2 2–1 0–1 1–1 2–1 2–0 0–0
Club Brugge 1–0 4–0 2–1 3–0 5–0 1–0 1–0 1–1 3–0 3–0 2–1 3–3 2–0 4–2 2–1 1–0 4–0
Charleroi 0–1 0–1 0–1 0–1 0–0 1–1 4–3 2–0 2–1 0–1 1–2 2–2 1–0 1–0 1–1 0–1 3–1
Genk 0–1 3–1 1–1 1–0 3–1 1–0 2–0 1–0 4–1 2–0 3–1 1–1 0–0 2–0 4–0 1–1 1–0
Gent 1–3 1–1 1–1 2–1 1–1 0–1 1–1 1–1 2–0 1–1 1–1 3–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 0–2
Heusden-Zolder 2–4 0–0 2–0 1–4 0–0 4–2 3–1 2–3 1–1 0–0 2–3 1–3 2–0 1–1 0–1 1–1 0–1
Lierse 1–1 1–0 0–0 1–0 0–0 1–1 1–1 3–5 0–0 4–0 2–1 1–1 0–2 2–2 1–1 0–1 0–1
Lokeren 0–6 3–0 0–1 1–2 0–2 2–0 0–2 2–1 1–1 3–0 2–0 3–0 0–0 1–1 0–0 1–1 1–3
La Louvière 1–4 1–1 0–0 3–2 2–0 0–4 0–0 5–2 2–2 2–0 0–1 3–2 1–1 1–2 0–0 3–2 1–1
Mons 0–2 1–0 3–0 2–2 0–0 0–9 2–2 0–1 0–1 1–2 1–3 1–1 1–0 3–3 3–4 1–1 0–0
Mouscron 0–1 2–0 3–2 5–0 4–0 1–1 3–0 3–1 2–1 2–1 1–1 3–0 2–1 3–2 2–1 2–2 3–2
Sint-Truiden 1–3 2–1 0–0 1–1 0–0 3–2 1–2 0–3 0–2 2–1 3–2 1–2 1–2 1–2 1–1 1–2 0–0
Standard Liège 1–1 3–0 2–1 4–0 7–0 3–1 1–1 0–2 2–0 4–1 1–1 1–0 0–2 4–0 3–3 1–1 3–0
Westerlo 0–0 2–1 3–1 3–2 1–1 2–3 2–1 1–1 2–2 2–0 2–1 7–3 0–0 0–1 1–1 3–0 2–4
Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top goal scorers

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

See also

References

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