Country Belgium Founded 2016 Level on pyramid 4 | Confederation UEFA Number of teams 48 | |
Promotion to Belgian First Amateur Division | ||
The Belgian Second Amateur Division is the fourth-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian First Amateur Division. It was created by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 2016, replacing the Belgian Third Division. The division consists of three separate leagues with 16 teams each, two of these leagues consist of teams playing with a license from the Voetbalfederatie Vlaanderen (VFV, the Dutch speaking wing of the RBFA) and one with teams with a license from the Association des Clubs Francophones de Football (ACFF, the French speaking wing of the RBFA).
Contents
History
The Belgian Second Amateur Division was created in 2016 as successor of the Belgian Third Division following an overhaul of the Belgian football league system which saw the number of professional clubs reduced to 24. As a result, from the third level and below only amateur clubs remain. The two remaining levels above the Belgian Provincial leagues were reformed into three amateur levels, namely the Belgian First Amateur Division, the Belgian Second Amateur Division and the Belgian Third Amateur Division. As a result, the Belgian Provincial leagues dropped to the sixth level of the league system.
Competition format
In each of the three separate leagues, the season is a regular round-robin tournament with 16 teams. The winners of each league are promoted to the Belgian First Amateur Division. The teams finishing in second place in each league and the three period winners (the season is divided into three periods) will playoff together with the 13th placed team from the Belgian First Amateur Division for the final promotion spot. Regarding relegation, the bottom two teams from each league are relegated to the Belgian Third Amateur Division, but the number of teams to be relegated can increase depending on the number of teams being relegated directly from the Belgian First Amateur Division.