| Competition: | Belgian First Division A |
| Season: | 2016–17 |
| Dates: | 29 July 2016 – 31 May 2017 |
| Winners: | Anderlecht |
| Relegated: | Westerlo |
| Continentalcup1: | Champions League |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Anderlecht Club Brugge |
| Continentalcup2: | Europa League |
| Continentalcup2 Qualifiers: | Zulte Waregem Gent Oostende |
| League Topscorer: | Łukasz Teodorczyk (22 goals) |
| Matches: | 191 |
| Total Goals: | 525 |
| Prevseason: | 2015–16 |
| Nextseason: | 2017–18 |
| Updated: | 29 January 2017 |
The 2016–17 season of the Belgian First Division A was the 114th season of top-tier football in Belgium and the first following the structural changes in the Belgian football pyramid, reducing the number of professional teams to 24. It began on 29 July 2016 and finished on 31 May 2017. The fixtures were announced on 8 June 2016.[1] Club Brugge were the defending champions but had to settle for second place with Anderlecht taking their 34th title.
| Matricule | Club | Location | Venue | Capacity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | Anderlecht | Constant Vanden Stock Stadium | 21,000 | ||
| 22 | Charleroi | Stade du Pays de Charleroi | 14,000 | ||
| 3 | Bruges | Jan Breydel Stadium | 29,042 | ||
| 4276 | Eupen | Kehrweg Stadion | 8,363 | ||
| 322 | Genk | Cristal Arena | 24,956 | ||
| 7 | Ghent | Ghelamco Arena | 19,999 | ||
| 19 | Kortrijk | Guldensporen Stadion | 9,399 | ||
| 282 | Lokeren | Daknamstadion | 9,560 | ||
| 25 | Mechelen | AFAS-stadion Achter de Kazerne | 13,213 | ||
| 216 | Mouscron | Stade Le Canonnier | 10,571 | ||
| 31 | Ostend | Versluys Arena | 8,432 | ||
| 373 | Sint-Truiden | Stayen | 14,600 | ||
| 16 | Liège | Stade Maurice Dufrasne | 28,278 | ||
| 4068 | Beveren | Freethiel Stadion | 8,190 | ||
| 2024 | Westerlo | Het Kuipje | 8,035 | ||
| 5381 | Waregem | Regenboogstadion | 9,540 |
| Club | Manager | Captain | Kit Manufacturer | Sponsors | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anderlecht | René Weiler | Sofiane Hanni | Adidas | BNP Paribas Fortis | |
| Charleroi |  Francisco Martos | Hungaria | Proximus | ||
| Club Brugge |  Michel Preud'homme | Timmy Simons | Nike | Daikin | |
| Eupen | Jordi Condom Aulí | Luis García Fernández | BURRDA | Aspire Academy | |
| Excel Mouscron | Mircea Rednic | David Hubert | Patrick | Star Casino | |
| Genk | Albert Stuivenberg | Thomas Buffel | Nike | Beobank | |
| Gent | Hein Vanhaezebrouck |  Danijel Milićević | Jartazi | VDK Spaarbank | |
| Kortrijk | Bart Van Lancker | Nebojša Pavlović | Jako | AGO Jobs & HR | |
| Lokeren | Killian Overmeire | Jartazi | QTeam | ||
| Mechelen | Yannick Ferrera | Seth De Witte | Kappa | Telenet | |
| Oostende | Yves Vanderhaeghe |  Sebastien Siani | Joma | Willems Veranda's | |
| Sint-Truiden | Ivan Leko | Steven De Petter | Kappa | Golden Palace | |
| Standard Liège | Aleksandar Janković | Alexander Scholz | Kappa | BASE | |
| Waasland-Beveren |  Čedomir Janevski |  Ibrahima Seck | Kappa | Circus | |
| Westerlo | Jacky Mathijssen | Saller | Soudal | ||
| Zulte-Waregem | Francky Dury | Mbaye Leye | Patrick | Record Bank |
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position | Replaced by | Date of appointment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sint-Truiden | Chris O'Loughlin | Sacked | End of 2015–16 season[2] | Pre-season | Ivan Leko | 14 April 2016[3] | |
| Anderlecht |  Besnik Hasi | Mutual consent | End of 2015–16 season[4] |  René Weiler | 21 June 2016 | ||
| Kortrijk | Patrick De Wilde | Mutual consent | End of 2015–16 season[5] | Karim Belhocine | 1 July 2016 | ||
| Kortrijk | Karim Belhocine | Did not possess Pro-licence diploma | 29 August 2016[6] | 8th | Bart Van Lancker | 29 August 2016 | |
| Standard Liège | Yannick Ferrera | Sacked | 6 September 2016[7] | 10th |  Aleksandar Janković | 6 September 2016 | |
| Mechelen | Aleksandar Janković | Signed by Standard Liège | 6 September 2016 | 7th | Yannick Ferrera | 12 September 2016[8] | |
| Westerlo | Bob Peeters | Sacked | 13 September 2016[9] | 16th | Jacky Mathijssen | 14 September 2016[10] | |
| Lokeren | Georges Leekens | Sacked | 26 October 2016[11] | 12th |  Rúnar Kristinsson | 28 October 2016[12] | |
| Waasland-Beveren | Stijn Vreven | Sacked | 28 October 2016[13] | 14th | Čedomir Janevski | 7 November 2016[14] | |
| Excel Mouscron | Glen De Boeck | Sacked | 5 December 2016[15] | 15th | Mircea Rednic | 6 December 2016[16] | |
| Genk | Peter Maes | Sacked | 26 December 2016[17] | 9th | Albert Stuivenberg | 27 December 2016 | |
| Kortrijk | Belhocine obtained Pro-licence diploma | 8 March 2017[18] | 10th | Karim Belhocine | 8 March 2017 | ||
| Standard Liège | Aleksandar Janković | Sacked | 17 April 2017[19] | Regular season: 9th Europa League POs: 5th | José Jeunechamps (caretaker) | 17 April 2017 |
The points obtained during the regular season were halved (and rounded up) before the start of the playoff. As a result, the teams started with the following points before the playoff: Anderlecht 31 points, Club Brugge 30, Zulte Waregem 27, Gent 25, Oostende 25 and Charleroi 25. The points of Anderlecht, Club Brugge and Charleroi were rounded up, therefore in case of any ties on points at the end of the playoffs, the half point would have been deducted for these teams.
Group A of the play-offs consisted of the teams finishing in positions 7, 9, 12 and 14 during the regular season and the first and third placed team in the qualifying positions in the 2016–17 Belgian First Division B. The teams finishing in positions 8, 10, 11, 13 and 15 joined the second placed qualifier from the 2016–17 Belgian First Division B to form group B.
The winners of both play-off groups competed in one match to play the fourth-placed or fifth-placed team of the championship play-offs for a spot in the final. This match was played on the field of the highest ranked team in the regular competition. The winner of the semi-final advanced to the final to play for a spot in the third qualifying round of the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League.
The winner of the Europa League play-off semi-final and the fourth-placed team played one match to determine the Europa League play-off winner. KV Oostende qualified for the third qualifying round of the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League, where they were eliminated by Olympique Marseille.
| Number of teams | Province or region | Team(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Club Brugge, Kortrijk, Oostende and Zulte Waregem | ||
| 3 | Gent, Lokeren and Waasland-Beveren | ||
| 2 | Mechelen and Westerlo | ||
| Eupen and Standard Liège | |||
| Genk and Sint-Truiden | |||
| 1 | Anderlecht | ||
| 0 | ,, and | / |
Football clubs with an average home attendance of at least 10,000:[23]
| Team | Home average |
|---|---|
| Club Brugge | 26,691 |
| Standard de Liège | 21,802 |
| KAA Gent | 19,807 |
| RSC Anderlecht | 18,333 |
| KRC Genk | 16,104 |
| KV Mechelen | 11,991 |
