The 1st division in 2009/10 (officially Jupiler Pro League ) was the 107th edition of the first Belgian soccer league. It began on July 31, 2009 and ended on May 8, 2010. RSC Anderlecht became Belgian champions for the 30th time in their club history .
In the 2009/10 season the format of the 1st division was drastically changed. The league was reduced from 18 to 16 teams and several play-offs were introduced after the regular season. On December 28, 2009, the Belgian association pronounced a suspension against Excelsior Mouscron , which was tantamount to a forced relegation to the double-track Division III - the third highest Belgian division. The club previously announced that for the third time in a row they could not muster a team in the league game taking place two days later. All league games of the 2009/10 season in which the team had participated were canceled. The final ranking of the season therefore only had 15 clubs.
16 teams took part in the 2019/10 season. These initially played out the regular season in a double round. The final table of this season served as the basis for qualifying for various placement rounds.
Championship final round
The first six teams qualified for the championship round and determined the Belgian champions. The participating teams were each credited with half of the points achieved in the regular season. The final round was played back and forth. Like the winner, the runner-up qualified for the third qualifying round of the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League . The third placed received a place in the play-offs of the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League , the winner of the Europa League qualification a place in the third qualifying round.
Play-offs
The teams that finished 7th to 14th in the regular season qualified for the play-offs. The eight participating clubs were divided into two groups of four teams each according to their placements using the following key:
Group A
7th
9
12
14th
Group B
8th
10
11
13
The group games of the play-offs were played back and forth, there was no point credit as in the championship final round. The winners of both seasons qualified for the finals. There, the winner of the play-offs was determined in the return leg, who received a starting place in the 2nd qualifying round of the UEFA Europe League.
Relegation
The last and penultimate place of the regular season denied the relegation. There were five games between the two teams. The penultimate of the regular season received a bonus of three points and was also allowed to play one more home game than the last. The loser of the relegation was relegated directly to the second division, the winner played an additional relegation round with three teams from the second division .