| Competition: | Belgian Pro League |
| Season: | 2022–23 |
| Dates: | 22 July 2022 – 4 June 2023 |
| Winners: | Royal Antwerp |
| Relegated: | Oostende Zulte Waregem Seraing |
| Continentalcup1: | Champions League |
| Continentalcup2: | Europa League |
| Continentalcup2 Qualifiers: | Union SG |
| Continentalcup3: | Europa Conference League |
| Continentalcup3 Qualifiers: | Club Brugge Gent |
| League Topscorer: | Hugo Cuypers (27 goals) |
| Matches: | 330 |
| Total Goals: | 1011 |
| Biggest Home Win: | Club Brugge 7–0 Eupen (23 April 2023) |
| Biggest Away Win: | Oostende 1–6 Union SG (16 October 2022) |
| Longest Wins: | 10 (Genk) |
| Longest Unbeaten: | 17 (Union SG) |
| Longest Winless: | 11 (Oostende) |
| Longest Losses: | 7 (Seraing) |
| Highest Attendance: | 26,271 (Standard - Anderlecht) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 0 (Anderlecht - Zulte Waregem, behind closed doors) |
| Attendance: | 3,154,698 |
| Average Attendance: | 9,560 |
| Prevseason: | 2021–22 |
| Nextseason: | 2023–24 |
The 2022–23 Belgian Pro League (officially known as the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons) was the 120th season of top-tier football in Belgium. Royal Antwerp were crowned league champions for the first time in 66 years after pipping Genk and Union St-Gilloise on the final day,[1] [2] the first occasion since 1999 that three clubs were still contending the title going in the final match. All three Championship chasers were in the virtual lead in the table at different stages across the final five minutes before Toby Alderweireld's title-clinching goal.[3]
Genk's title-challenge was helped by a record-breaking 24 assists from Mike Trésor while Hugo Cuypers of Gent became the first Belgian winner of the Golden Bull for top scorer since Romelu Lukaku in 2009–10.[4] [5] [6]
Zulte Waregem, pipped for the title on the final day ten years earlier and subsequent Cup winners in 2017, were one of three sides relegated.
At the end of the 2019–20 Belgian First Division A, it was decided to exceptionally cancel any relegations as a result of the league being stopped early due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This caused the league to temporarily expand to 18 as promotions from a lower league did occur as originally planned. It was decided at that point that the goal was to eventually return to 16 teams, and at the end of the 2021–22 Belgian First Division A, the clubs agreed that the 2022–23 season will reduce the number of clubs at the highest level again to 16, as this season only three teams will face direct relegation instead of just one. Furthermore, a new format was also decided from 2023–24 onwards (with 16 teams), returning to a slightly altered version of the playoff structure used prior to the 2019–20 season, but most importantly also increasing the teams relegating each season from 1 to 2 direct plus an additional optional third team through a playoff.[7] A minor change was the renaming of the top two leagues, with the First Division A and First Division B now renamed Jupiler Pro League and Challenger Pro League respectively.
Eighteen teams competed in the league – the top seventeen teams from the previous season and 2021–22 Belgian First Division B champions Westerlo who returned after spending five seasons at the second tier following their relegation at the end of the 2016–17 season. They replaced Beerschot who had finished last by a very large margin and were relegated after two seasons at the highest level. No other changes happened as Seraing (who finished 17th) won the Relegation play-off against RWDM, and thus stayed in the top division.
With three clubs being relegated, there was a major turnover in coaches with most clubs changing coach during the season. Out of the 18 Pro League sides, only seven kept the same coach from the opening day to the last. Seraing became the first club to be relegated, following a 2–0 away loss to Club Brugge on 7 April 2023. One week later, on 15 April 2023, Oostende also dropped as they went down 0–4 at home to OH Leuven. Yet another week later, on the final matchday of the regular season, Zulte Waregem became the third and final team relegated following a 2–3 home loss to Cercle Brugge.
| Matricule | Club | Location | Venue | Capacity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | Anderlecht, Brussels | Constant Vanden Stock Stadium | 21,500 | ||
| 1 | Antwerp | Bosuilstadion | 16,144 | ||
| 12 | Bruges | Jan Breydel Stadium | 29,042 | ||
| 22 | Charleroi | Stade du Pays de Charleroi | 14,000 | ||
| 3 | Bruges | Jan Breydel Stadium | 29,042 | ||
| 4276 | Eupen | Kehrwegstadion | 8,363 | ||
| 322 | Genk | Cegeka Arena | 24,956 | ||
| 7 | Ghent | Ghelamco Arena | 20,000 | ||
| 19 | Kortrijk | Guldensporen Stadion | 9,399 | ||
| 25 | Mechelen | AFAS-stadion Achter de Kazerne | 16,700 | ||
| 31 | Ostend | Versluys Arena | 8,432 | ||
| 18 | Leuven | Den Dreef | 10,000 | ||
| 167 | Seraing | Stade du Pairay | 8,207 | ||
| 373 | Sint-Truiden | Stayen | 14,600 | ||
| 16 | Liège | Stade Maurice Dufrasne | 30,023 | ||
| 10 | Saint-Gilles, Brussels | Stade Joseph Marien | 8,000 | ||
| 2024 | Westerlo | Het Kuipje | 8,035 | ||
| 5381 | Waregem | Regenboogstadion | 12,500 |
| Number of teams | Province or region | Team(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | ,,, and | |
| 3 | , and | |
| , and | ||
| 2 | and | |
| and | ||
| 1 | ||
| Club | Manager | Kit Manufacturer | Sponsors | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anderlecht | Joma | DVV Insurance (home) Candriam (away) | ||
| Antwerp | Mark van Bommel | Jako | betFIRST | |
| Cercle Brugge | Kappa | Napoleon Games | ||
| Charleroi | Kappa | Lotto | ||
| Club Brugge |  Rik De Mil (caretaker) | Macron | Unibet | |
| Eupen | Adidas | Qatar Airways | ||
| Genk | Wouter Vrancken | Nike | Beobank | |
| Gent | Hein Vanhaezebrouck | Craft | VDK Bank | |
| Kortrijk | Jako | AGO Jobs & HR | ||
| Mechelen | Erreà | Telenet | ||
| OH Leuven | Marc Brys | Stanno | Star Casino | |
| Oostende | Kipsta | Star Casino | ||
| Seraing | Kappa | Star Casino | ||
| Sint-Truiden | Bernd Hollerbach | Macron | DMM.com | |
| Standard Liège | Geoffrey Valenne (caretaker) | Adidas | VOO | |
| Union SG | Karel Geraerts | Union Soixante | Lotto | |
| Westerlo | Jonas De Roeck | Saller | Soudal | |
| Zulte-Waregem | Patrick | Napoleon Games |
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position | Replaced by | Date of appointment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anderlecht | Vincent Kompany | Mutual consent | End of 2021–22 season[8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] | Pre-season | Felice Mazzù | 31 May 2022[17] | |
| Antwerp | Brian Priske | Sacked | Mark van Bommel | 26 May 2022[18] | |||
| Club Brugge | Alfred Schreuder | Signed for Ajax | Carl Hoefkens | 25 May 2022[19] | |||
| Eupen |  Michael Valkanis | End of contract | Bernd Storck | 25 May 2022[20] | |||
| Genk | Bernd Storck | Mutual consent | Wouter Vrancken | 28 May 2022[21] | |||
| Mechelen | Wouter Vrancken | Danny Buijs | 1 June 2022[22] | ||||
| Seraing |  Jean-Louis Garcia | Resigned | José Jeunechamps | 20 May 2022[23] | |||
| Standard Liège |  Luka Elsner | Sacked |  Ronny Deila | 13 June 2022[24] | |||
| Union SG | Felice Mazzù | Signed for Anderlecht | Karel Geraerts | 9 June 2022[25] | |||
| Zulte Waregem | Davy De fauw & Timmy Simons | Replaced |  Mbaye Leye | 17 May 2022 | |||
| Kortrijk | Karim Belhocine | Sacked | 29 August 2022[26] | 17th |  Adnan Čustović | 1 September 2022[27] | |
| Cercle Brugge |  Dominik Thalhammer | Replaced | 19 September 2022[28] | Miron Muslic | 19 September 2022 | ||
| Mechelen | Danny Buijs | Sacked | 17 October 2022[29] | 13th | Steven Defour | 17 October 2022 | |
| Charleroi | Edward Still | 22 October 2022[30] | 11th | Frank Defays (caretaker) | 28 November 2022 | ||
| Eupen | Bernd Storck | 23 October 2022[31] | 14th | Kristoffer Andersen and Mario Kohnen (caretakers) [32] | |||
| Anderlecht | Felice Mazzù | 24 October 2022[33] | 12th | Robin Veldman (caretaker) | 24 October 2022 | ||
| Oostende | Yves Vanderhaeghe | 31 October 2022[34] | 14th | Dominik Thalhammer | |||
| Seraing | José Jeunechamps | 31 October 2022[35] | 17th | Jean-Sébastien Legros (caretaker) | |||
| Kortrijk | Adnan Čustović | 14 November 2022[36] | Bernd Storck | 18 November 2022 [37] | |||
| Eupen | Kristoffer Andersen and Mario Kohnen | End of caretaker spell | 24 November 2022[38] | 15th | Edward Still | 24 November 2022 | |
| Charleroi | Frank Defays | 28 November 2022[39] | 12th | Felice Mazzù | 28 November 2022 | ||
| Anderlecht | Robin Veldman | 2 December 2022[40] | 11th | Brian Riemer | 2 December 2022 | ||
| Club Brugge | Carl Hoefkens | Sacked | 28 December 2022[41] | 4th | Scott Parker | 31 December 2022[42] | |
| Scott Parker | 8 March 2023[43] | Rik De Mil (caretaker) | 8 March 2023 | ||||
| Zulte Waregem | Mbaye Leye | 15 March 2023[44] | 17th | Frederik D’Hollander & Davy De fauw | 15 March 2023 | ||
| Standard Liège | Ronny Deila | Signed for Club Brugge | 25 May 2023[45] | 7th | Geoffrey Valenne (caretaker) | 25 May 2023 |
The table lists the positions of teams after the completion of each round.
Points obtained during the regular season were halved (and rounded up in the event of half-points) before the start of the playoff. Genk and Union SG, therefore, started on 38 points, Antwerp on 36, and Club Brugge on 30. Only Antwerp did not see their points rounded up, hence in case of ties they were always ranked above the other teams. Any other ties were broken by regular season finishing order (Genk, then Union SG, then Club Brugge).
Points obtained during the regular season will be halved (and rounded up) before the start of the playoff. Gent and Standard started on 28 points, Westerlo on 26, and Cercle Brugge on 25. As the points of Standard and Westerlo were rounded up, in case of ties they would always be ranked below the team (or teams) they are tied with. The deciding factor after that would be finishing position in the regular season.
Prizes awarded cover all 40 rounds of the season, i.e. the 34 rounds of regular season football plus the six weeks of Champions Play-Offs and Europe Play-Offs.
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals[46] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hugo Cuypers | Gent | 27 |
| 2 |  Ayase Ueda | Cercle Brugge | 22 |
| 3 | Gianni Bruno | Sint-Truiden | 18 |
| Vincent Janssen | Antwerp | ||
| 5 |  Joseph Paintsil | Genk | 17 |
| 6 |  Paul Onuachu | Genk | 16 |
| 7 | Gift Orban | Gent | 15 |
| 8 | Hans Vanaken | Club Brugge | 14 |
| 9 |  Dorgeles Nene | Westerlo | 13 |
 Mario González | OH Leuven | ||
| Ferran Jutglà | Club Brugge |
See main article: other.
