2013–14 Belgian Pro League

The 2013–14 season of the Belgian Pro League (also known as Jupiler Pro League for sponsorship reasons) was the 111th season of top-tier football in Belgium. It started on 27 July 2013 with the match between Club Brugge and Charleroi and finished on 18 May 2014 with Anderlecht grabbing their 33rd title due to a 3–1 at home against Lokeren.

Jupiler Pro League
Season2013–14
ChampionsAnderlecht
RelegatedMons
OH Leuven
Champions LeagueAnderlecht
Standard Liège
Europa LeagueLokeren
Club Brugge
Zulte Waregem
Matches played299
Goals scored810 (2.71 per match)
Top goalscorerHamdi Harbaoui (22 goals)
Biggest home winAnderlecht 5–0 Mechelen
Biggest away winCercle Brugge 0–5 Standard Liège
Lierse 0–5 Standard Liège
Highest scoringZulte Waregem 4–3 Anderlecht
Anderlecht 5–2 Charleroi
Genk 5–2 Zulte Waregem
Kortrijk 3–4 Lierse
OH Leuven 2–5 Club Brugge
Longest winning run9 matches
Standard Liège
Longest unbeaten run16 matches
Standard Liège
Longest winless run16 matches
Mons
Longest losing run6 matches
Genk

During the regular season, Standard Liège started by winning their first nine matches, putting pressure on their main challengers Anderlecht, Club Brugge, Genk and Zulte Waregem. At the halfway point, Genk was closing in on Standard, trailing by one point, but following a series of losses they dropped several places in the standings and eventually they narrowly held on to sixth place and just made it into the title playoffs. Towards the end of the regular season, mainly Club Brugge proved to be a threat as they had narrowed the gap to Standard, closing in to only four points.

The playoffs started with Standard leading on 34 points and Club Brugge right behind them on 32. Both Anderlecht (29 points) and Zulte Waregem (27 points) were at that point considered long shots for the title, while Lokeren on 26 and Genk on 23 were considered to be out of contention. Early in the playoffs, Standard immediately beat Anderlecht and knocked them down to eight points behind, seemingly setting up a final title race between them and Club Brugge. Although Standard had been in the lead since the start of the season, they somehow starting struggling, allowing Club Brugge to overtake them in the standings and become the main title favorite with just four games to go. On 4 May 2014, Club Brugge had the chance to permanently knock Anderlecht out of the race, but somehow lost at home against 10 men, putting Standard back into the lead with Anderlecht now a close second. Standard in turn then lost against Club Brugge, putting Anderlecht into the lead with two games to go, a lead which they kept until the end, winning their 33rd title in a season in which they lost no less than 11 games.

The Europa League playoff groups were won by Oostende and Kortrijk, with Oostende overcoming Kortrijk on penalty kicks although they knew they had not been given a licence for European football. As a result, the fourth placed team in the league, Zulte Waregem, were granted access directly.

In the bottom end of the table, Mons started miserably after finishing 7th the previous season, scoring only three points out of their first 15 matches. Their better second half of the season did not help in avoiding the last place. They were thereby forced to play the relegation playoff together with Oud-Heverlee Leuven, who had been struggling to set up a series of decent results, mainly driven by their horrendous away form, drawing only three matches away from home the whole season, while losing all the others. Mons were relegated on 12 April after yet another 2–0 away to OH Leuven, while Leuven themselves faced relegation on 18 May as they could no longer win the Belgian Second Division final round. Both OH Leuven and Mons had been playing in the Belgian Pro League for three seasons.

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