Belgian Pro League 2024-2025 Playoffs Predictions

The Playoffs in the Belgian Season start newt weekend week so it's time to make some general Predictions...

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Champion Playoffs

The top 3 teams in the Champion Playoffs are clearly of a better quality compared to the bottom 3. As always, the points got halved to make things more exciting and since Anderlecht play the Cup against Club Brugge, the top 5 should get European Football with the 5th having to play playoff matches against the best Playoff 2 team.

Racing Genk:

They saw an 8-point lead cut down to just 4 points with 10 matches to play and this often acts as a hit on the head for the teams who end the regular season as the winner. So nerves might be an issue and there is a chance that it will start playing in their head if they lose their first match against AA Gent. On the positive side, they are the team that is freshest with least matches played and they played a reference match against Union who normally they struggle against. At the same time in 3 o their 4 last matches, their performance was not the best. They are one of the teams who are capable of making the play. So my guess would be that if they become champion it will likely be a very close call despite the 4 points lead.

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Club Brugge:

Purely on Quality they are the best team even though substitutions in some positions come at a quality loss. In the Regular Season they had mostly the focus on Europe where they did well playing against teams who were willing to go forward. This caused oftentimes issues in the league where they played at 60% against teams who mainly came to defend. Also if they took the lead they too often did not push and gave points away still. However, with full focus now I do expect them to be the team who very much still can become the champion. I see them as the slight favorite in matches against Genk and also against Union. So I did take a small bet on Club Brugge Champion @ 3.50 which felt just a bit too high.

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Union SG:

6 points just feels a bit too much of a gap to recover from but if anything, Union have shown to be very capable. At the same time, they failed to confirm in that last match against Genk and their Goalkeeper Morris last season really lost them points and the championship which might make him rather uncertain. I expect them to be a team willing to go forward while opponents might want to exploit the counters.

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Anderlecht:

They have a new coach with Hasi for the Playoffs and I do expect him to play defensively trying to exploit the counters in these playoffs to get results that way as going full in attack most likely will get them crushed. 4th place feels like the best they are capable of especially since they still suffer some injured players. They also have the cup match where likely all hope will be at and focus might go to a bit too much.

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Antwerp:

Antwerp simply hasn't been good enough and I see them mostly needing to take points against the bottom 3. They haven't had the great form so far and it would be a surprise if they all of a sudden would do great out of nowhere.

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AA Gent:

They are the team by far with the most luck this season but they have started to play better recently and I don't rule them out to possibly take the 4th place if they can get the momentum going.

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The Regular Season Standings of Playoff 1 Teams against each other:

Place	Team	Points
1	Union	19
2	Genk	17
3	Club Brugge	15
4	AA Gent	13
5	Anderlecht	10
6	Antwerp	8

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Prediction

1. Club Brugge
2. Racing Genk
3. Union SG
4. Anderlecht
5. AA Gent
6. Antwerp

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Champion Playoffs

Only the 1st will get a chance in a double encounter against the Playoff 1 4th or 5th place team which they will likely end up losing so motivation isn't always going to be that high especially after a couple of weeks. Generally Playoff 2 becomes a real goalfest so I'm keeping my eye out on high over lines. Standard performed a miracle to end that high and I don't expect them and their coach to be that motivated especially in away matches. OHL in the past years always did well in playoff 2 but I'm not sure they will have the same drive this time around. Charleroi on paper I would argue have one of the more capable squads and it's already confirmed that they will take this very serious wanting to win it. Kv Mechelen remains a team with financial issues and some players that will leave so I don't think they will have what it takes. Westerlo is a team that has a forward approach so I do expect goals in their matches and they also have the quality to make something of it even though I don't trust their defense enough. Dender started the season very early which saved them and I would not be surprised to see them throw this Playoff 2 away giving some youngsters a chance while avoiding injuries an making sure they once again can start early next season.

Prediction:

1. Charleroi
2. Westerlo
3. OHL
4. Standard
5. Kv Mechelen
6. Dender

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Playdowns

There are 4 teams in the playdowns with the winner avoiding relegation and the 2nd team getting 2 playoff matches against the 2nd division team which always should keep them in the league as the quality difference is quite big. However, you never really know what the nerves will do in those matches.

Cercle Brugge is a team who are too good to play the playdowns and I do expect them to show this setting safe the 1st place sooner than later unless they somehow get crazy unlucky or get hit by nerves. Stvv has quality players but lack the real team spirit which might still leave an option for Kortrijk who kind of gotten in a good flow at the end of the season under their new coach stock. Beerschot is too far behind and after 1 match statistically could already be sure of relegation. In the regular season, they still managed to keep the motivation high but at some point especially in away matches it might just be noticeable that their faith is already sealed.

Prediction:

1. Cercle Brugge
2. Stvv
3. Kortrijk
4. Beerschot

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Conclusion

Things are set out in the next 10 weeks to have interesting playoffs, especially between the top 3 teams who all still could become the champion if they pick up the right form at the right time.

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