2025–26 Challenger Pro League


The 2025–26 season of the Challenger Pro League is scheduled to begin in August 2025 and end in May 2026. It will be the fourth season under its new name after being renamed from First Division B.

Team changes

This season, two teams will be automatically promoted to Belgian Pro League and promotion play-off winner will be matched against last placed top tier team with no direct relegation due to top tier's expansion to 18 teams from 2026–27 onwards.

Incoming

Outgoing

Name change

  • RWDM announced on 6 June 2025 that it would change name to Daring Brussels, a reference to the former now defunct club Daring Club de Bruxelles. However, following large protests by the fans, the club reinstated the letters RWDM and renamed itself again just one month later, to RWDM Brussels.
  • [K.S.C. K.S.C. Lokeren (2025)|Lokeren (2025)|Lokeren-Temse] announced on 1 July 2025 that it would change its name to KSC Lokeren, reverting to the original name by which the former club K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen was initially known. While maintaining close cooperation with neighbors Temse, the two municipalities diverged in their football club support, with the supporters of Temse predominantly choosing to support SV Blauw Wit Temse, a club founded in 2020 when KSV Temse and K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen merged to form the current team.

Jong Genk

By the end of February 2025, the Pro League voted in favor of a new competition format for the coming seasons, with part of the haggling between club presidents resulting in a new rule for the then ongoing season which entered with immediate effect, stating that a minimum of four U23 would always need to be present in the Challenger Pro League. At the time of the decision, there were still seven matchdays to play and Jong Genk was in a relegation spot, but due to this rule the club was anyhow spared of relegation. In the end, Jong Genk did finish in a relegation spot and was officially reported as being relegated, due to the fact that the new proposal had not yet passed all instances for approval. By the end of June approval was given and the club was officially spared. On 1 July 2025 however, Francs Borains, Lokeren and [R.F.C. R.F.C. Seraing (1922)|Seraing (1922)|Seraing] together launched a formal appeal against the reform citing it unfair that U23 cannot be relegated whilst non-U23 teams can. Meanwhile the new calendar, including Jong Genk, was already released on 3 July 2025. The Belgian Competition Authority ruled that they have a fair point, but somehow still ruled against them. Another similar appeal by Belgian champions Union SG is still open. On 9 October 2025, Francs Borains, Lokeren, and Seraing launched a new appeal, now with the Belgian Authority for Sports Arbitration.

Regular season

League table


Positions by round

The table lists the positions of teams after each round, with postponed matches and points deductions included only when they occur. Teams with fewer matches played are shown with their position underlined, with each line representing one fewer match.
  • Mid-way through the previous season, Francs Borains was penalized one point for not complying with financial fair-play.
  • The match between Jong Genk and RSCA Futures of 8 November was postponed to 9 December as Jong Genk had four players selected for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
Colored cells indicate promotion, participation in promotion play-offs, or relegation play-offs. Note that U23 teams are ineligible for promotion and playoffs, and the coloring is adjusted accordingly. Furthermore, these teams can only relegate if at the same time another U23 team from the same wing qualifies for promotion from the league below, or if the mother club is relegated from the level above, in which case the U23 would automatically take up one of the relegation spots as U23 teams always have to remain at least one level below their mother club. For simplicity, U23 teams in relegation spots are colored as if they can be relegated.

Season statistics

Top scorers

RankPlayerClubGoals
1