2015–16 Belgian Pro League

The 2015–16 season of the Belgian Pro League was the 113th season of top-tier football in Belgium. It started in the last week of July 2015 and finished in May 2016. Gent were the defending champions.
This marked the final season under the "Pro League" name, until the name was restored in 2022. A reorganization of the Belgian professional leagues ensued after the season, leading to the top league being renamed "First Division A" from the 2016–17 season.

Changes from 2014–15

Structural changes

Some changes have been introduced compared to the previous season, with the most significant one being the relegation rules. Instead of organizing a relegation playoff between the teams finishing in the two last positions, this season will see the last team relegated immediately, while the team placed 15th will not participate in any playoff and will remain in the renamed Belgian First Division A.
Several other smaller changes were introduced, namely:

The team finishing on top of the table following the regular season, will be assured at least place in the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League in case they drop out of the top two positions and thereby miss out on the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League. They will be awarded a spot in the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League Third qualifying round, or even the Group stage in case the 2015–16 Belgian Cup winners finish in the top two.
In case two or more teams finish with equal points after the Championship Playoff, the first tiebreaker will now be the finishing position during the regular season.
The disciplinary record will now be erased for all players after conclusion of the regular season. Any suspensions already obtained will be kept. In addition, during the playoffs, players will now pick up a one match ban already after three yellow cards, rather than five as during the regular season.

The first two of these rules were implemented as compensation for the rule that halves the points obtained during the regular season prior to the start of the championship playoff. This rule had been subject to complaints from several teams that had been leading after the regular season in recent seasons. The third rule was introduced to prevent players from intentionally receiving yellow cards near the end of the regular season. This tactic aimed to ensure they would be suspended before the playoffs, particularly against weaker teams, allowing them to start the deciding playoffs with a clean disciplinary record.

Team changes

[Cercle Bruges|Brugge K.S.V.|Cercle Brugge] and Lierse were relegated. Cercle Brugge after losing the relegation playoff series against Lierse, while Lierse lost the promotion playoff.
Sint-Truiden was promoted as 2014–15 Belgian Second Division champions.
OH Leuven who won the promotion playoff and returned to the Belgian Pro League just one season after their relegation.

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Club	Location	Venue	Capacity
	Anderlecht	Constant Vanden Stock Stadium	21,000
	Charleroi	Stade du Pays de Charleroi	14,000
	Brugge	Jan Breydel Stadium	29,042
	Genk	Cristal Arena	24,956
	Ghent	Ghelamco Arena	19,999
	Kortrijk	Guldensporen Stadion	9,399
	Lokeren	Daknamstadion	9,560
	Mechelen	AFAS-stadion Achter de Kazerne	13,213
	Mouscron	Stade Le Canonnier	10,571
	Ostend	Albertpark	8,000
	Leuven	Den Dreef	9,493
	Sint-Truiden	Stayen	14,600
	Liège	Stade Maurice Dufrasne	28,278
	Beveren	Freethiel Stadion	8,190
	Westerlo	Het Kuipje	8,035
	Waregem	Regenboogstadion	9,540

Regular season

League table

Positions by round

Note: The classification was made after the weekend of each matchday, so postponed matches were only processed at the time they were played to represent the real evolution in standings.

On matchday 16, the matches Lokeren - Anderlecht and Mouscron-Péruwelz - Charleroi were postponed due to increased safety measures following the November 2015 Paris attacks. These matches were played on 22 and 23 December, between matchdays 20 and 21.

Championship play-offs

The points obtained during the regular season were halved before the start of the playoff. As a result, the teams started with the following points before the playoff: Club Brugge 32 points, Gent 30, Anderlecht 28, Oostende 25, Genk 24 and Zulte Waregem 22.

Play-off table

Positions by round

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.

Europa League play-offs

Group A contains the teams finishing the regular season in positions 7, 9, 12 and 14. The teams that finish in positions 8, 10, 11 and 13 are placed in Group B.

Group A

Group B

Play off Semi finals

The winners of both playoff groups compete in a two-legged match to play the fourth-placed team of the championship play-offs, called 2015–16 Belgian Pro League#Play off final. The winner of this Testmatch was granted an entry to the second qualifying round of the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League.
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''Charleroi won 3–1 on aggregate.''

Play off final

The matches were played over two legs between the Europa League play-off final winners and the fourth-placed team of the championship play-offs. The winner qualified for the second qualifying round of the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League.
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Genk won 5–3 on aggregate.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank

Player

Club

Goals

Top assists

Rank

Player

Club

Assists

Multiple goals in one match

Player

For

Against

Goals

Match Result

Date

Attendances

Source:

No.	Club	Average attendance	Change	Highest
1	Club Brugge	26,129	0,5%	28,000
2	Standard de Liège	22,443	-8,6%	27,750
3	Anderlecht	20,118	-3,9%	21,500
4	Gent	19,911	7,8%	20,050
5	Genk	17,276	-0,8%	20,969
6	Mechelen	9,963	4,9%	12,000
7	STVV	8,910	36,9%	12,500
8	Charleroi	8,863	-3,4%	14,950
9	Zulte Waregem	8,616	2,5%	9,550
10	Lokeren	8,104	0,1%	10,700
11	Kortrijk	7,637	-4,1%	9,200
12	OH Leuven	7,173	36,3%	8,350
13	Westerlo	6,433	7,7%	8,000
14	Oostende	6,297	4,6%	7,450
15	Waasland-Beveren	5,031	-3,2%	7,900
16	Mouscron	3,283	-11,5%	7,500