Sacred at the end of the suspense! Antwerp won the fifth Belgian championship title in its history, the first for 66 years, by beating RC Genk and Union Saint-Gilloise on Sunday. Belgium’s oldest club, the “Great Old”, thus achieved the double after winning the Cup last May.
The supporters of these three clubs went through all the emotions seeing themselves in turn winning the title during this 6th and last day of the play-offs with an unbreathable scenario. While at the start of the last 90 minutes of the season, Antwerp was in the lead (46 points) ahead of Union Saint-Gilloise (with the same number of points) and RC Genk (45), 120 seconds from the end of the competition, it was the Union which was about to ascend the throne of Belgium.
The Brussels side led 1-0 against Club Brugge while Genk dominated Antwerp 2-1. Joined then overtaken (1-2) by Bruges, the Union then lost its illusions in two minutes. Genk then saw themselves as champions at home in front of euphoric supporters but a goal from Antwerp’s Toby Alderweireld in the final seconds offered the title point to Antwerp! Unheard of in the history of the Pro League. In the final standings, Antwerp totals 47 points to 46 for Union and Genk.
The only downside for Mark Van Bommel’s men, their coronation does not automatically qualify them for the group stage of the Champions League, a first since 2012 for the Belgian champion, due to the insufficient UEFA coefficient of Belgian clubs.
