12th Best League in the World and no fans?

Actually, Belgium is one of the best leagues in the world in terms of footie supporters per capita.

I believe only Scotland scores better in Europe.

 

well, there are already several forums on belgian sites.
I think belgians are too ashamed of their league to discuss about it with others.
The belgian league is really sliding away from the topleagues.
It's a huge problem. The only possible remedy , for me, is the BeNe-ligue, a joint competition with the Dutch.
best players, imo, are:
Biglia, Hassan, Defour, Jovanovic, Serhat,
Fellaini, Barda, Van Heerden, Losada, Ruiz, Stoica, Gillet
Vadis, Pareja, Frutos, Witsel, Zitka, ...

 

I don't believe in the Be-Ne league solution, nor in the trimmed down 1st division ideas. I actually think this year is one of the more interesting and entertaining ones in years. Standard and Club are doing great, and a lot of the smaller clubs (Cercle, Beerschot) have stepped up to the plate and are doing greatly.

 

are you kidding me ?
the number one in the league (club brugge) couldn't even win against a third-division team in england. The level is so unbelievably low. I can only feel terribly ashamed after seeing a game of my club (anderlecht) and then watching Match of the Day.
The hype, of the moment , Cercle Brugge, plays decent football , but when a team pulls up the pace, they're nowhere. You'll see that next year when they play in the UEFA-Cup quals.
Bruges is absolute shi-te, just like Anderlecht. I can't believe that a team like anderlecht has sunk so terrifyingly low.

I don't mind being sixth in the Bene-ligue, if that means that we play against az, standard, bruges, feyenoord, ajax, psv, ...
that would make our competition even better than the french and about at the same level of the german.

 

That last part is really delusional. Do you even watch French football? The average level of technical ability there is much higher than in the Belgian league, how will Belgium+Holland > France?

And I don't even have to start on the German league, do you even realize how much money is thrown around in that one? The Be-Ne league would still be a small league.

And excuse me if I enjoy this season. We're at the top of the league, Cercle's resurgance means that the derby games are suddenly interesting again, and we have another surprising team in GBA. Add to that the fact that Standard has played some good football as well, I don't really see a lot of reason to complain about this season, unless if you're an Anderlecht fan, I guess.

 

Living in the US as a Belgian, it is very hard to get to see any playtime, the only way I can keep up is online...club websites, fifa etc..., sometimes a video of game on youtube. PS belgian guy, this is a good season, but AA gent should whip cercle's ass

 

"That last part is really delusional. Do you even watch French football? The average level of technical ability there is much higher than in the Belgian league, how will Belgium+Holland > France?

And I don't even have to start on the German league, do you even realize how much money is thrown around in that one? The Be-Ne league would still be a small league."


I wanted to quote this, because I do feel there are huge possibilities with this Belgian/Dutch league. This league would incline a joint target 'population' of 25 millon people. This offers huge possibilities for sponsors and other investors. This would obviously increase the budgets of the clubs. Not to mentions the huge differene in tv income.
Games will only be played in decent, big stadions, where clubs will play matches on a sufficient level most of the time -not like it is now, when anderlecht has to play Lierse, Westerlo, Lokeren etc... in stadions that only hold place for 10.000 people. Fields will be heated in the cold winter period, there will be a lot of clubs that play with partially artificial grass...
But most of all, the international attention and reputation of our leagues would increase tremendously. This means: better players wil join our league in higher numbers and will stay for a longer period of time.
I'm not saying that the level clubs in belgium and holland have right now will suffise to reach the level of the bundesliga if they were to fuse today, but in time, when all the clubs concerned start to grow, it will definitely be as good as the french or even better, because French football really isn't all that. It would be an amazing impulse for soccer in the lowlands

 

According to Uefa ruling, a BeNe liga would be impossible to set up.
However I like the idea very much

 

You have no idea about the value of French football. NO. IDEA.
Last year the revenue of Ligue 1 was 910 million €. Tell me when BeNe-league would be able to match that? And that's assuming Ligue 1 doesn't keep on growing. Which it has for the past four years.

 

The jupiler league suffers because no one supports their local sides. The only four well supported sides are Standard, Brugge, Anderlecht and Genk. Supporters would rather travel an hour or two than go see their local sides. Just look how many supporters clubs are found far away from Brugge Liege and Brussels. I know there are Anderlecht supporters clubs in Mons, Charleroi, Antwerp and even Oostende. If these supporters would support their local sides, there would be more revenue, and more competition.

 

Yes, but the big clubs would have fewer fans, which would result in a "levelling" of the budget/fanbase/quality, while the difference between the good and the bad should be getting bigger in Belgium, to ensure there are still a handfull of clubs that can still play a role in the European competitions.

 

Yes I do. cuckeloo

1) money isn't everything. England has the biggest revenue, but yet Spain has the best competition in the world. Another example is Russia, rich as a mother********er, but a pretty mediocre league at the moment.
2) The potential budget of the belgian and dutch clubs combined could perfectly reach up to 75% of the French, in relation, because the French have a bigger competition than the hypothetical BeNeligue.
That is enough. You don't have to be as rich as the top level to be able to compete. Sometimes, being an alternative is enough.
If beautifull football (like in spain for instance) would be the trademark of this league, there would be enough international attention to recruit fans and good players

 

The beautiful footballing Spanish league is actually bigger than France and has clubs (Barca, Real) that have been spending money like there's no tomorrow since the early 90s. That might have more to do with the influx of quality players than the prospect of playing "beautiful football".

And you honestly believe that the BeNe-league could generate revenue up to 650 million € a year...

 

in relation... :
France has 20 clubs in the Ligue 1.
The Beneleague would have (at best) 8 or 10 dutch teams and 6 belgian teams.
if I calculate even further, that would result in 70% percent of the 75% of the French league I mentioned earlier.
that's about 450-500 Million. Yes, that should be possible.
And you really can't forget the huge increase of TV-budgets this would entail.

 

at a rough estimate :

PSV 65
Ajax 65
Feyenoord 40 (hard to be precise, due to their bad financial situation the past few years)
AZ 30 (they do have their own Ambramovich)
Anderlecht 30
Heerenveen 25
Club Brugge 17,5
Twente 16,5
Racing Genk 16
Standard 15
Groningen 15
Vitesse 14

keeping the big development possibilities in mind,
All these teams could grow 30% percent, following a study by the UA (2007).
This would imply that teams like PSV and Ajax could become topteams in the world (top 25-30) in the field of budget, nearly catching up with teams like Marseille and Werder Bremen.
You could say those 2 clubs could play the role Barcelona and Real are playing in Spain

I can't understand your scepsis. Perhaps it's too big an idea.
too good to be true ?

 

the beneleague is an interesting idea, but let's be realistic - the Jupiler League needs its own clean-up, and sure as hell the smaller Dutch clubs would not like the idea of being relegated to see Standard de Liege, Mouscron or Charleroi playing Ajax or PSV. It's not that they speak French (though it could be one reason), but also they lose out in big revenue from TV rights.

which leads me on to the other issue - the restructing of the Belgian league. From what I hear, the lower clubs obviously don't want it for obvious reasons. But let's be honest there's 10-12 decent clubs in Belgium, the 6-8 cannon fodder with the occasional shock win. Apparently it'll be down to 16 clubs (from 18), then a playoff in the top 6 teams, I guess roughly similar to what Scotland or what they do in the Eredivisie. Personally I would go a step further they copy the SPL structure, strip it down to 12 teams (maybe 14), and then around March-April the league splits into to, the top half facing each other twice. But that's just my two cents

if restructing doesn't happen the eerste klasse won't be the 12th best league in the world, and it'll still have no fans.

 

restructuring our own league will have no effect (Austria, Scotland .. ?)
what will happen if we don't play KV Mechelen, Mons, Sint-Truiden, but Westerlo four times in a year ? nothing.
We need bigger clubs, bigger stadions, more money.

 

And pray, do tell, where will those bigger clubs come from?

 

Holland of course
no more westerlo, sint-truiden, mons, mouscron, roeselare
but PSV, Ajax, Feyenoord, AZ & Heerenveen
these are much bigger clubs