| Competition: | Belgian First Division A |
| Season: | 2017–18 |
| Dates: | 28 July 2017 – 20 May 2018 |
| Winners: | Club Brugge |
| Relegated: | Mechelen |
| Continentalcup1: | Champions League |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Club Brugge Standard Liège |
| Continentalcup2: | Europa League |
| Continentalcup2 Qualifiers: | Anderlecht Gent Genk |
| League Topscorer: | Hamdi Harbaoui (22 goals)[1] |
| Matches: | 240 |
| Total Goals: | 687 |
| Biggest Home Win: | (17 December 2017) |
| Biggest Away Win: | (29 July 2017) |
| Highest Scoring: | (13 August 2017) (4 November 2017) (25 February 2018) |
| Longest Wins: | 5 matches[2] Club Brugge Charleroi |
| Longest Unbeaten: | 11 matches Club Brugge |
| Longest Winless: | 10 matches Excel Mouscron |
| Longest Losses: | 6 matches Mechelen |
| Highest Attendance: | Regular season 27,531[3] (17 February 2018) Play-offs 27,531 (2 April 2018) |
| Lowest Attendance: | Regular season 2,100 (16 December 2017) Play-offs 1,498 (31 March 2018) |
| Average Attendance: | Regular season 10,867 Play-offs 8,789 |
| Prevseason: | 2016–17 |
| Nextseason: | 2018–19 |
| Updated: | 11 March 2018 |
The 2017–18 Belgian First Division A was the 115th season of top-tier football in Belgium. The season began on 28 July 2017 and concluded on 20 May 2018. The fixtures were announced in early June 2017. Anderlecht were the defending champions but had to settle for third place with Club Brugge taking their 15th title.
| Matricule | Club | Location | Venue | Capacity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | Anderlecht | Constant Vanden Stock Stadium | 21,500 | ||
| 1 | Antwerp | Bosuilstadion | 12,975 | ||
| 22 | Charleroi | Stade du Pays de Charleroi | 14,000 | ||
| 3 | Bruges | Jan Breydel Stadium | 29,042 | ||
| 4276 | Eupen | Kehrweg Stadion | 8,363 | ||
| 322 | Genk | Luminus Arena | 24,956 | ||
| 7 | Ghent | Ghelamco Arena | 20,000 | ||
| 19 | Kortrijk | Guldensporen Stadion | 9,399 | ||
| 282 | Lokeren | Daknamstadion | 12,000 | ||
| 25 | Mechelen | AFAS-stadion Achter de Kazerne | 16,700 | ||
| 216 | Mouscron | Stade Le Canonnier | 10,571 | ||
| 31 | Ostend | Versluys Arena | 8,432 | ||
| 373 | Sint-Truiden | Stayen | 14,600 | ||
| 16 | Liège | Stade Maurice Dufrasne | 30,023 | ||
| 4068 | Beveren | Freethiel Stadion | 8,190 | ||
| 5381 | Waregem | Regenboogstadion | 12,500 |
| Club | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Sponsors | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anderlecht |  Hein Vanhaezebrouck | Leander Dendoncker | Adidas | BNP Paribas Fortis | |
| Antwerp |  László Bölöni | Faris Haroun | Jako | Star Casino | |
| Charleroi |  Francisco Martos | Hungaria | Proximus | ||
| Club Brugge | Ivan Leko | Ruud Vormer | Macron | Daikin | |
| Eupen |  Claude Makélélé | Luis García | Nike | Aspire Academy | |
| Excel Mouscron | Frank Defays | Dimitri Mohamed | Erima | Star Casino | |
| Genk | Philippe Clement | Thomas Buffel | Nike | Beobank | |
| Gent | Yves Vanderhaeghe |  Nana Akwasi Asare | Jartazi | VDK Spaarbank | |
| Kortrijk | Hannes Van der Bruggen | Jako | AGO Jobs & HR | ||
| Lokeren | Killian Overmeire | Jartazi | QTeam | ||
| Mechelen |  Dennis van Wijk | Seth De Witte | Jartazi | Telenet | |
| Oostende |  Adnan Čustović | Nicolas Lombaerts | Joma | Willems Veranda's | |
| Sint-Truiden | Steven De Petter | Kappa | Golden Palace | ||
| Standard Liège | Ricardo Sá Pinto | Sébastien Pocognoli | New Balance | BASE | |
| Waasland-Beveren | Dirk Geeraerd | Rudy Camacho | Kappa | Circus | |
| Zulte-Waregem | Francky Dury | Davy De fauw | Patrick | Record Bank |
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position | Replaced by | Date of appointment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waasland-Beveren |  Čedomir Janevski | Mutual consent | End of 2016–17 season | Pre-season | Philippe Clement | 24 May 2017 [4] | |
| Club Brugge | Michel Preud'homme | Mutual consent | End of 2016–17 season | Ivan Leko | 8 June 2017 [5] | ||
| Kortrijk | Karim Belhocine | Replaced | End of 2016–17 season | Yannis Anastasiou | 20 May 2017 [6] | ||
| Standard Liège | José Jeunechamps (caretaker) | Caretaker replaced | End of 2016–17 season | Ricardo Sá Pinto | 11 June 2017 [7] | ||
| Sint-Truiden | Ivan Leko | Signed by Club Brugge | 8 June 2017 | Tintín Márquez | 22 June 2017 [8] | ||
| Antwerp | Wim De Decker | Demoted to assistant coach | 16 June 2017 [9] | László Bölöni | 16 June 2017 | ||
| Sint-Truiden | Tintín Márquez | Sacked | 7 August 2017 [10] | 8th | Jonas De Roeck | 10 August 2017 [11] | |
| Lokeren |  Rúnar Kristinsson | Sacked | 9 August 2017 [12] | 15th | Peter Maes | 9 August 2017 | |
| Anderlecht | René Weiler | Sacked | 18 September 2017 [13] | 9th |  Nicolás Frutos (caretaker) | 18 September 2017 | |
| Oostende | Yves Vanderhaeghe | Sacked | 19 September 2017 [14] | 16th | Adnan Čustović | 19 September 2017 | |
| Gent | Hein Vanhaezebrouck | Mutual consent | 27 September 2017 [15] | 14th | Yves Vanderhaeghe | 4 October 2017 [16] | |
| Anderlecht | Nicolás Frutos | Caretaker replaced | 3 October 2017 [17] | 7th | Hein Vanhaezebrouck | 3 October 2017 | |
| Mechelen | Yannick Ferrera | Sacked | 23 October 2017 [18] | 15th | Tom Caluwé (caretaker) | 23 October 2017 | |
| Mechelen | Tom Caluwé (caretaker) | Caretaker replaced | 1 November 2017 [19] | 16th |  Aleksandar Janković | 1 November 2017 | |
| Eupen | Jordi Condom | Sacked | 6 November 2017 [20] | 16th | Claude Makélélé | 6 November 2017 | |
| Kortrijk | Yannis Anastasiou | Sacked | 8 November 2017 [21] | 15th | Glen De Boeck | 8 November 2017 [22] | |
| Genk | Albert Stuivenberg | Sacked | 10 December 2017 [23] | 9th | Philippe Clement | 19 December 2017 [24] | |
| Waasland-Beveren | Philippe Clement | Signed for Genk | 19 December 2017 | 7th | Sven Vermant | 5 January 2018 [25] | |
| Mechelen | Aleksandar Janković | Sacked | 24 January 2018 | 15th | Dennis van Wijk | 24 January 2018 [26] | |
| Excel Mouscron | Mircea Rednic | Sacked | 14 February 2018 [27] | 12th | Frank Defays | 14 February 2018 [28] | |
| Waasland-Beveren | Sven Vermant | Sacked | 9 May 2018 [29] | Regular season: 12th Europa League POs: 6th | Dirk Geeraerd (caretaker) | 9 May 2018 |
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: Club Brugge 34 points, Anderlecht 28, Charleroi 26, Gent 25, Genk 22 and Standard Liège 22. The points of Club Brugge, Anderlecht and Charleroi were rounded up, therefore in case of any ties on points at the end of the playoffs, the half point would be 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 2017–18 Belgian First Division B. The teams finishing in positions 8, 10, 11, 13 and 15 joined the second placed qualifier from the 2017–18 Belgian First Division B in 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. Zulte Waregem received home advantage as they finished higher in the regular season. Despite going down twice with 10 men, Zulte Waregem won, which meant they advanced to the final to play for a spot in the second qualifying round of the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League.
The winners of the Europa League play-off semi-final and the fifth-placed team of the championship play-offs played one match to determine the Europa League play-off winners. The winners qualified for the second qualifying round of the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League.
| Number of teams | Province or region | Team(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Club Brugge, Kortrijk, Oostende and Zulte Waregem | ||
| 3 | Gent, Lokeren and Waasland-Beveren | ||
| 2 | Antwerp and Mechelen | ||
| Eupen and Standard Liège | |||
| Genk and Sint-Truiden | |||
| 1 | Anderlecht |
| Rank | Player | Club | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ruud Vormer | Club Brugge KV | 16 |
| 2 |  Ryota Morioka | Waasland-Beveren/RSC Anderlecht | 13 |
| 3 | Hans Vanaken | Club Brugge KV | 11 |
| 4 | Idir Ouali | KV Kortrijk | 8 |
| Răzvan Marin | Standard Liège | 8 | |
| Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Sinan Bolat | Royal Antwerp FC | 14 |
| 2 | Lovre Kalinić | KAA Gent | 13 |
| 3 |  Danny Vukovic | KRC Genk | 10 |
| 4 | Matz Sels | RSC Anderlecht | 9 |
| Nicolas Penneteau | Sporting Charleroi | 9 | |
