| Competition: | Jupiler Pro League |
| Season: | 2010–11 |
| Winners: | Genk |
| Relegated: | Charleroi Eupen |
| Continentalcup1: | Champions League |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Genk Standard |
| Continentalcup2: | Europa League |
| Continentalcup2 Qualifiers: | Anderlecht Club Brugge Westerlo |
| League Topscorer: | Ivan Perišić (22 goals) |
| Matches: | 300 |
| Total Goals: | 798 |
| Biggest Home Win: | Standard 7–0 Lierse (27 November 2010)[1] |
| Biggest Away Win: | Charleroi 0–5 Club Brugge (19 September 2010)[2] |
| Highest Scoring: | Gent 5–3 Zulte-Waregem (19 September 2010)[3] Gent 4–4 Westerlo (20 November 2010)[4] Westerlo 7–1 Zulte-Waregem (7 May 2011)[5] |
| Longest Wins: | 5 matches[6] Genk, Lokeren |
| Longest Unbeaten: | 15 matches[7] Anderlecht |
| Longest Losses: | 7 matches[8] Charleroi |
| Prevseason: | 2009–10 |
| Nextseason: | 2011–12 |
The 2010–11 season of the Belgian Pro League (also known as Jupiler Pro League for sponsorship reasons) is the 108th season of top-tier football in Belgium. It began on 30 July 2010 with the first match of the regular season and ended in May 2011 with the last matches of the playoff rounds. Anderlecht were the defending champions.
For the second time, a system of playoffs was used to determine the Belgian champions (contested by the top 6 teams after the regular season) and which teams would play in Europe the following season (teams ranked 7–14 playoff after the regular season with the winner entering a further playoff for the chance to 'steal' the European place of the lowest ranked team in the Top 6 playoff). In terms of relegation, a playoff was introduced between the 15th and 16th team after the regular season; those teams would play each other 5 times in a mini-league, with the team which finished fifteenth playing at home in matches 1, 3 and 5 and starting with a 3-point bonus. The loser of this playoff series would be relegated, whilst the winner would play the Second division relegation playoff with three teams from the Belgian Second Division for the chance to retain its place in first division.[9]
On 28 December 2009, during the previous season, Mouscron went bankrupt and was immediately relegated. Roeselare ended the season in 15th place, forcing them to take part in the relegation playoffs. As they lost these playoffs they were also relegated and replaced by playoff winners Eupen. With this, Eupen became the first ever team from the German community to play at the highest level of Belgian football. Earlier, Belgian Second Division champions Lierse had been directly promoted.
| Club | Location | Venue | Capacity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anderlecht | Constant Vanden Stock Stadium | 28,063 | ||
| Bruges | Jan Breydel Stadium | 29,945 | ||
| Charleroi | Stade du Pays de Charleroi | 24,891 | ||
| Bruges | Jan Breydel Stadium | 29,945 | ||
| Eupen | Kehrweg Stadion | 8,300 | ||
| Genk | Cristal Arena | 24,900 | ||
| Ghent | Jules Ottenstadion | 12,919 | ||
| Antwerp | Olympisch Stadion | 13,132 | ||
| Kortrijk | Guldensporen Stadion | 9,500 | ||
| Lier | Herman Vanderpoortenstadion | 14,538 | ||
| Lokeren | Daknamstadion | 10,000 | ||
| Mechelen | Veolia Stadium Achter de Kazerne | 13,123 | ||
| Sint-Truiden | Staaienveld | 11,250 | ||
| Liège | Stade Maurice Dufrasne | 30,000 | ||
| Westerlo | Het Kuipje | 10,790 | ||
| Waregem | Regenboogstadion | 8,500 |
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charleroi | Tommy Craig | Sacked | 14 April 2010[10] |  Jacky Mathijssen | 4 June 2010[11] | |
| Lokeren | Emilio Ferrera | Contract ended. | 26 April 2010[12] | Peter Maes | 20 May 2010[13] | |
| Germinal Beerschot | Jos Daerden | Contract ended. | End of 2009–10 season[14] | Glen De Boeck | 21 May 2010[15] | |
| Kortrijk | Georges Leekens | Signed as head coach of the Belgium national football team. | 5 May 2010[16] | Hein Vanhaezebrouck | 6 June 2010[17] | |
| Mechelen | Peter Maes | Signed for Lokeren. | 20 May 2010 | Marc Brys | 27 May 2010[18] | |
| Cercle Brugge | Glen De Boeck | Signed for Germinal Beerschot. | 21 May 2010 | Bob Peeters | 26 May 2010[19] | |
| Gent | Michel Preud'homme | Signed for Twente. | 23 May 2010[20] | Francky Dury | 10 June 2010[21] | |
| Zulte-Waregem | Francky Dury | Signed for Gent. | 10 June 2010 | Bart De Roover | 11 June 2010[22] |
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Position in table | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eupen | Danny Ost | Resigned | 4 September 2010[23] |  Ezio Capuano | 7 September 2010[24] | 16th | |
| Lierse | Aimé Anthuenis | Sacked | 19 September 2010[25] | Eric Van Meir | 19 September 2010 | 15th | |
| Charleroi | Jacky Mathijssen | Sacked | 20 September 2010[26] |  Csaba László | 23 September 2010[27] | 14th | |
| Eupen | Ezio Capuano | Resigned | 24 September 2010[28] |  Albert Cartier | 24 September 2010[29] | 16th | |
| Zulte-Waregem | Bart De Roover | Sacked | 24 October 2010[30] | Hugo Broos | 27 October 2010[31] | 12th | |
| Germinal Beerschot | Glen De Boeck | Sacked | 29 November 2010[32] | Jacky Mathijssen | 2 December 2010[33] | 13th | |
| Lierse | Eric Van Meir | Caretaker replaced | 30 December 2010[34] |  Trond Sollied | 1 January 2011[35] | 15th | |
| Charleroi | Csaba László | Sacked | 17 March 2011[36] | Tibor Balogh | 17 March 2011 | 16th |
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Position in table | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charleroi | Tibor Balogh | Caretaker replaced | 24 March 2011[37] | Zoltan Kovács | 24 March 2011 | 2nd in Relegation Playoff | |
| Charleroi | Zoltan Kovács | Sacked | 4 April 2011[38] | Luka Peruzović | 4 April 2011 | 2nd in Relegation Playoff | |
| Eupen | Albert Cartier | Sacked | 13 April 2011[39] | Danny Ost | 13 April 2011 | 1st in Relegation Playoff |
Note: The classification was made after the weekend (or midweek) of each matchday, so postponed matches were only processed at the time they were played to represent the real evolution in standings. The postponed matches are:
The points obtained during the regular season will be halved (and rounded up) before the start of the playoff. As a result, the teams started with the following points before the playoff: Anderlecht 33 points, Genk 32, Gent 29, Club Brugge 27, Lokeren 25 and Standard 25.5. In the event of ties at the end of the playoffs, the half point was deducted if it had been added. Anderlecht, Gent, Club Brugge and Standard received this type of bonus due to rounding.
Below the positions per round are shown. As teams did not all start with an equal number of points, the initial pre-playoffs positions are also given.
Mechelen, Westerlo, Cercle Brugge, Kortrijk, Zulte-Waregem, Sint-Truiden, Germinal Beerschot and Lierse qualified for the Europa League Playoffs.
The winners of both playoff groups competed in a two-legged match. The winners on aggregate than will compete in another match (called Testmatch) against a team from the championship playoff (see below). If both teams are tied after two matches, the away goals rule will be applied. Should both teams still be tied afterwards, thirty minutes of extra time will be played and, if necessary, a penalty shootout will be conducted.
----Westerlo won 5–2 on aggregate.
The fourth-placed team from the championship playoff and the winners of the Europa League playoff would have competed for one spot in the third qualifying round of the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League.[58]
Before the match, both teams were already sure of qualification for European football. Westerlo because their opponent in the final of the 2010–11 Belgian Cup was Standard Liège, who were already qualified for the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League. Club Brugge because of their league position (4th). As a result, both teams agreed to drop the testmatches regardless of the result of the Belgian Cup final:
The teams finishing in the last two positions play each other 5 times. The team ending in 15th position starts with a three-point bonus and has three home matches.
In contrary to the previous season, which was the inaugural season with playoffs, the goals scored during the playoffs are valid to determine the league top scorer. As a result, Jelle Vossen, who was leading at the end of the regular season with 17 goals, still missed out on the top scorers' trophy.
Source: sporza.be and Sport.be
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ivan Perišić | Club Brugge | 22 | |
| 2 | Jelle Vossen | Genk | 20 | |
| 3 |  Paulo Henrique | Westerlo | 18 | |
| 4 | Romelu Lukaku | Anderlecht | 16 | |
| 5 | Marvin Ogunjimi | Genk | 15 | |
 Ronald Vargas | Club Brugge | 15 | ||
| 7 |  Elyaniv Barda | Genk | 14 | |
| 8 |  Mehdi Carcela | Standard Liège | 13 | |
| Julien Gorius | Mechelen | 13 | ||
| 10 |  Habib Habibou | Zulte Waregem | 12 |
Marvin Ogunjimi for Genk against Standard Liège (18 October 2010) Axel Witsel for Standard Liège against Kortrijk (17 December 2010).
Adnan Čustović for Germinal Beerschot against Charleroi (11 September 2010).
Ivan Perišić for Club Brugge against Charleroi (29 December 2010).
Victor Wanyama (yellow) at 90+9 minutes for Germinal Beerschot against Charleroi (10 September 2010).
Maged Samy