The first professional football league in Belgium was founded in 1896, featuring seven fledgling teams who competed in a round-robin format. The first champions were RFC Liege, a club that boasts a proud history full of European adventures against the likes of Juventus and Real Zaragoza.
Presently they reside in the second tier of Belgium football and for what it’s worth have one of the coolest nicknames in the sport. They are defiantly ‘The Blood and Marine’.
Interestingly, only one of the clubs celebrated below was part of the original seven – Club Brugge – though another member marginally misses out in our ranking.
Royal Antwerp are regarded as the oldest Belgium club, existing a full 15 years before the league was formed. The Reds are five-time league winners and even at this late juncture of compiling this list there is a strong temptation to extend it to six entries. That’s how close they just miss out.
By 1906 a structure was put in place to facilitate promotion and relegation and by this point Union Saint-Gilloise – the club that edges out Antwerp in our list - ruled supreme, crowned as champions for four years running.
RUSG, as they are sometimes abbreviated to, continued to dominate the Belgian footballing landscape – along with Antwerp, and other notable names such as Beerschot and Daring Club de Bruxelles – until the second world war whereupon new names came to the fore. Enter the ‘Big Three’.
In 1947 Anderlecht won their first league title, a feat they have gone on to replicate 34 times over. No other club are within touching distance of that figure.
Biggest Clubs In Belgian Football:
- Anderlecht
- Club Brugge
- Standard Liege
- KRC Genk
- Royale Union Saint-Gilloise
Standard Liege meanwhile rose to prominence in the late-Fifties and have been prominent ever since, a behemoth of the lowlands.
In fairness, Club Brugge were around from the get-go but from the Sixties on they have been a formidable trophy-winning, football odds-busting enterprise. They are the only Belgian club to reach two European finals.
All told, these trio of giants have won a shade over half of the championships ever competed for within this passionate footballing nation.
5) Royale Union Saint-Gilloise
All 11 of RUSG’s league titles were secured prior to the Second World War which ordinarily would count against them when gauging the biggest clubs currently operating in Belgium.
History after all matters but pales to the present which is why Huddersfield or Preston are no longer considered among the elite in England.
A transformative takeover in 2018 however places their historic achievements into greater context, the club being reborn in recent years and once again challenging at the very summit.
In 2021, the Brussels side were promoted back to the top-fight after an absence of half a century – bouncing around the lower divisions for much of that time – and Les Unionistes can count themselves extremely unlucky after twice falling at the final hurdle in a title race.
Victories in recent times over their mightier neighbours Anderlecht will at least sugar that pill, as well as holding their own in last season’s Europa League.
Make no mistake about it, Union Saint-Gilloise are back.
4) KRC Genk
Forged in 1988 from the merger of two clubs – Thor Waterschei and KFC Winterslag – Racing may only be 36 years young but boy have they packed a lot in during that time.
Four league titles, the most recent occurring in 2019, is the most obvious impact they’ve made but it’s impossible to mention Genk without giving due props to their outstanding youth academy, one that has brought through Yannick Carrasco, Steven Defour, Dennis Praet, Christian Benteke, Divock Origi, Leandro Trossard, Timothy Castagne, and Kevin De Bruyne.
The five-time cup winners are no slouches either when it comes to scouting gems, unearthing the likes of Wilfred Ndidi, Leon Bailey and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic in the last decade alone.
The best run club in Belgium is also one of the most successful and there is a direct correlation between the two.
3) Standard Liege
Les Rouches have been residents of the top-flight since 1921, longer than any other club, and their omnipresence has almost inevitably resulted in silverware, including ten league titles and eight domestic cups.
In 1982 they reached the final of the European Cup Winners Cup, losing to Barcelona.
Indeed, that era could be measured as Standard’s finest, winning two league crowns on the bounce, inspired by the ‘Lion’ Eric Gerets, one of the greatest right-backs of all time, and presided over by Raymond Goethals, whose scientific approach helped influence Belgian football at large for the better.
A lean spell in recent years marks them down, but with their ‘Clasico’ against Anderlecht being one of the highlights on the Belgian calendar, and blessed as they are with fervent, scary Ultras, there is simply no ignoring the occupants of the Stade Maurice Dufrasne.
2) Club Brugge
Last season’s title triumph made it 19 league crowns for the Blue-Blacks, a tremendous number but still miles behind their nemesis Anderlecht.
With no love lost between the two giants of Belgian football, it naturally follows that each of their meetings are referred to as the ‘hate game’.
Where Brugge do hold an ace over their bitter rivals is via their European record, reaching two continental finals, including a European Cup clash with Liverpool at Wembley settled by a Kenny Dalglish dink.
Both finals took place in the Seventies which is apt because this arguably was the club’s zenith, winning their domestic league five times in eight years.
1) Anderlecht
Is it any wonder that Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht – to give them their full name – begin each campaign priced up as favourites in the sports betting to once again top their peers?
Since 1947, the Purple and White have lifted the Jupiler Pro League trophy 44% of the time. On the occasions they don’t win it, they’re invariably second.
Anderlecht then are the Bayern of Belgium, boasting the most trophies, the most fan clubs, the highest profile.
It naturally follows too that they’ve been blessed with some exceptional talents down the decades, with Paul Van Himst, Rob Rensenbrink and the fabulous Enzo Scifo springing to mind.
Surprisingly, Anderlecht have failed to win the league now for seven years. That this is their longest drought for 70-plus years is testament to their staggering, sustained dominance.
*Credit for the photos in this article belongs to Alamy*
