# 1997–98 Belgian First Division

The 1997–98 season of the Jupiler League was held between August 8, 1997, and May 10, 1998. Club Brugge became champions.

## Promoted teams

These teams were promoted from the second division at the start of the season:
* Beveren (second division champions)
* Westerlo (playoff winner)

## Relegated teams

These teams were relegated to the second division at the end of the season:
* RWDM
* Antwerp

## Brugge's title success

Club Brugge ended in first place 18 points ahead of Racing Genk.

## Battle for Europe

Sporting Anderlecht finally qualified for the UEFA Cup by ending in 4th place as Genk (2nd) and Brugge (1st) played the Cup final. The third team to qualify for the UEFA Cup was Germinal Ekeren (3rd).

## The relegation dog fight

RWDM was relegated following a 1-1 draw at Charleroi as the newcomer Beveren managed to draw against Germinal Ekeren on the 33rd matchday. With 4 points more than RWDM the club from Waasland then lost to Anderlecht on the last matchday whereas RWDM easily beat Lokeren by 5-1.

## Final league table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Club Brugge | 34 | 26 | 6 | 2 | 78 | 29 | +49 | 84 | Qualified for 1998–99 UEFA Champions League |
| 2 | K.R.C. Genk | 34 | 20 | 6 | 8 | 65 | 40 | +25 | 66 | Qualified for 1998–99 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup |
| 3 | K.F.C. Germinal Beerschot | 34 | 17 | 7 | 10 | 60 | 48 | +12 | 58 | Qualified for 1998–99 UEFA Cup |
| 4 | R.S.C. Anderlecht | 34 | 16 | 9 | 9 | 53 | 37 | +16 | 57 | Qualified for 1998–99 UEFA Cup |
| 5 | Racing Club Harelbeke | 34 | 15 | 10 | 9 | 50 | 31 | +19 | 55 | Qualified for 1998 UEFA Intertoto Cup |
| 6 | K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen | 34 | 16 | 4 | 14 | 68 | 68 | 0 | 52 | |
| 7 | Lierse S.K. | 34 | 14 | 8 | 12 | 54 | 45 | +9 | 50 | |
| 8 | K.A.A. Gent | 34 | 11 | 14 | 9 | 50 | 44 | +6 | 47 | |
| 9 | Standard Liège | 34 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 53 | 50 | +3 | 43 | |
| 10 | R.E. Mouscron | 34 | 11 | 8 | 15 | 39 | 45 | −6 | 41 | |
| 11 | K.F.C. Lommel S.K. | 34 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 46 | 50 | −4 | 41 | Qualified for 1998 UEFA Intertoto Cup |
| 12 | K.V.C. Westerlo | 34 | 9 | 14 | 11 | 52 | 56 | −4 | 41 | |
| 13 | R. Charleroi S.C. | 34 | 9 | 12 | 13 | 46 | 57 | −11 | 39 | |
| 14 | K. Sint-Truidense V.V. | 34 | 8 | 13 | 13 | 32 | 45 | −13 | 37 | |
| 15 | K.S.C. Eendracht Aalst | 34 | 9 | 9 | 16 | 51 | 66 | −15 | 36 | |
| 16 | K.S.K. Beveren | 34 | 7 | 11 | 16 | 30 | 48 | −18 | 32 | |
| 17 | R.W.D. Molenbeek | 34 | 8 | 7 | 19 | 39 | 74 | −35 | 31 | Relegated to Division II |
| 18 | R. Antwerp F.C. | 34 | 6 | 7 | 21 | 38 | 71 | −33 | 25 | Relegated to Division II |
* ↑ Club Brugge competed in the UEFA Cup after losing their Champions League Second Qualifying Round tie.

## Results

| Home \ Away | AAL | AND | ANT | BEV | CLU | CHA | EKE | GNK | GNT | HAR | LIE | LOK | LOM | MOL | MOU | STV | STA | WES |
| Eendracht Aalst | | 2–3 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–4 | 7–2 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–2 | 1–3 | 1–5 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 2–3 |
| Anderlecht | 3–1 | | 2–2 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 4–0 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 5–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 |
| Antwerp | 1–1 | 0–1 | | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–4 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–4 | 3–5 | 0–0 |
| Beveren | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 2–0 |
| Club Brugge | 4–1 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 3–1 | | 3–2 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 5–0 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 6–0 | 0–0 | 3–1 |
| Charleroi | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 | | 3–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 3–3 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| Germinal Ekeren | 2–3 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 5–0 | | 4–3 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 4–2 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 1–0 |
| Genk | 3–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 4–0 | 4–2 | | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 5–5 |
| Gent | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 0–4 | 3–1 | 0–2 | 1–2 | | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–4 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 6–0 |
| Harelbeke | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | | 0–2 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 5–1 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 |
| Lierse | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–4 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | | 3–0 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 3–1 |
| Lokeren | 4–1 | 2–1 | 5–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 1–3 | 1–5 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 4–2 | | 2–1 | 5–0 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 3–0 |
| Lommel | 2–2 | 2–2 | 5–2 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–5 | | 3–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 |
| Molenbeek | 1–1 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 0–4 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 5–1 | 1–2 | | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–4 | 1–2 |
| Mouscron | 2–0 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 4–0 | | 1–3 | 3–2 | 0–2 |
| Sint-Truiden | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 3–3 | 1–2 | 0–5 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Standard Liège | 3–0 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 3–3 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | | 2–2 |
| Westerlo | 0–3 | 2–2 | 5–2 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 3–3 | 1–1 | 5–1 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 2–0 | |

## Top goal scorers

| Scorer | Goals | Team |
| Branko Strupar | 22 | Racing Genk |
| Tomasz Radzinski | 19 | Germinal Ekeren |
| Peter Lässen | 15 | Eendracht Aalst |
| Gunther Hofmans | 15 | Germinal Ekeren |
| Souleymane Oularé | 14 | Racing Genk |