# 2011–12 Belgian Second Division

The 2011–12 season of the Belgian Second Division (also known as EXQI League for sponsorship reasons) started in August 2011 and is the second tier football league in Belgium. The league is played by 18 teams, with 34 matchdays of 9 matches each, so each team plays the 17 other teams twice. The season is divided into 3 periods, the first period of 10 matches, the second of 12 matches and the third of 12 matches. Each period winner qualifies for the Belgian Second Division final round. On 14 April 2012, Charleroi became champions without playing as closest rivals Eupen and Oostende both did not manage to win their matches and thereby could no longer mathematically overtake Charleroi in the standings.

## Team changes

After promotion and relegation, only 13 teams remained in the league, with 5 other being replaced:

### Out

* Oud-Heverlee Leuven were promoted as champions of the previous season.
* Mons ended third, but won the second division final round and was therefore also promoted to the Pro League.
* Turnhout ended 16th, but lost the third division playoffs and was subsequently relegated.
* Rupel Boom was relegated to the Third Division after finishing 17th.
* Tournai was relegated to the Third Division after finishing 18th.

### In

* Charleroi was directly relegated from the Pro League.
* Eupen lost the second division final round and as a result they were also relegated from the Pro League.
* Aalst promoted as champions from Third Division A.
* WS Woluwe promoted as champions from Third Division B.
* Sint-Niklaas was promoted after winning the third division playoffs.

## Team information
### Personnel and locations

| Club | City | Current manager |
| V.C. Eendracht Aalst 2002 | Aalst | Bart Van Renterghem |
| Royal Antwerp F.C. | Antwerp | Bart Wilmssen |
| K.V. Red Star Waasland-Beveren | Beveren | Dirk Geeraerd |
| R. Boussu Dour Borinage | Boussu | Arnauld Mercier |
| FC Brussels | Sint-Jans-Molenbeek | Stéphane Demol |
| S. du Pays de Charleroi | Charleroi | Dennis van Wijk |
| F.C.V. Dender E.H. | Denderleeuw | Vital Borkelmans |
| K.A.S. Eupen | Eupen | Wolfgang Frank |
| K.S.K. Heist | Heist-op-den-Berg | Cis Bosschaerts |
| K.V. Oostende | Ostend | Frederik Vanderbiest |
| Lommel United | Lommel | Philip Haagdoren |
| K.S.V. Roeselare | Roeselare | Serhiy Serebrennikov |
| F.C.N. Sint-Niklaas | Sint-Niklaas | Alex Czerniatynski |
| K.V.K. Tienen | Tienen | Dany Ost |
| A.F.C. Tubize | Tubize | Dante Brogno |
| R.C.S. Visé | Wezet | Loris Dominissini |
| Standaard Wetteren | Wetteren | Kris Van Der Haegen |
| White Star Woluwe F.C. | Woluwe-Saint-Lambert | Felice Mazzu |

### Managerial changes
#### During summer break

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment |
| Eupen | Danny Ost | Contract Ended. | End of 2010-11 season | Wolfgang Frank | 4 July 2011 |
| Standaard Wetteren | Wim De Corte | Became assistant-trainer at Beerschot AC. | End of 2010-11 season | Kris Van Der Haegen | 28 June 2011 |
| Charleroi | Luka Peruzović | Contract Ended. | End of 2010-11 season | Jos Daerden | 29 June 2011 |
| Roeselare | Nico Vanderdonck | Contract Ended. | End of 2010-11 season | Serhiy Serebrennikov | 30 June 2011 |
| Visé | José Riga | Signed for Standard Liège. | 28 June 2011 | Vittorio Bevilacqua | 1 July 2011 |
| Visé | Vittorio Bevilacqua | Mutual Consent. | 8 July 2011 | Marc Grosjean | 9 July 2011 |

#### During regular season

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Position in table |
| Lommel United | Franky Van der Elst | Signed for Sint-Truiden. | 2 September 2011 | Philip Haagdoren | 6 September 2011 | 8th |
| Visé | Marc Grosjean | Fired. | 19 September 2011 | Loris Dominissini | 22 September 2011 | 8th |
| Charleroi | Jos Daerden | Fired. | 26 September 2011 | Tibor Balogh | 26 September 2011 | 8th |
| Tienen | Valère Billen | Fired. | 7 October 2011 | Ronny Schuermans | 19 October 2011 | 12th |
| Brussels | Michel De Wolf | Mutual Consent. | 9 October 2011 | Christian Rits | 9 October 2011 | 17th |
| Sint-Niklaas | Regi Van Acker | Fired. | 12 October 2011 | Chris Andries | 12 October 2011 | 12th |
| Antwerp | Bart De Roover | Fired. | 13 November 2011 | Bart Wilmssen | 15 November 2011 | 8th |
| Tubize | Dany Ost | Fired. | 20 November 2011 | Laurent Demol | 20 November 2011 | 18th |
| Sint-Niklaas | Chris Andries | Replaced. | 2 January 2012 | Alex Czerniatynski | 2 January 2012 | 17th |
| Brussels | Christian Rits | Caretaker replaced. | 15 February 2012 | Stéphane Demol | 15 February 2012 | 13th |
| Charleroi | Tibor Balogh | Fired. | 22 February 2012 | Mario Notaro | 23 February 2012 | 2nd |
| Tubize | Laurent Demol | Caretaker replaced. | 27 February 2012 | Dante Brogno | 27 February 2012 | 16th |
| Tienen | Ronny Schuermans | Caretaker replaced. | 27 February 2012 | Dany Ost | 27 February 2012 | 17th |
| Charleroi | Mario Notaro | Replaced. | 5 March 2012 | Dennis van Wijk | 5 March 2012 | 1st |

## Regular season
### League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Charleroi (C, P) | 34 | 23 | 5 | 6 | 64 | 34 | +30 | 74 | Belgian First Division |
| 2 | Waasland-Beveren (P) | 34 | 21 | 5 | 8 | 61 | 34 | +27 | 68 | Qualification for Promotion play-off |
| 3 | Eupen | 34 | 19 | 11 | 4 | 61 | 34 | +27 | 68 | Qualification for Promotion play-off |
| 4 | Oostende | 34 | 19 | 9 | 6 | 61 | 29 | +32 | 66 | Qualification for Promotion play-off |
| 5 | Lommel | 34 | 15 | 7 | 12 | 48 | 42 | +6 | 52 | |
| 6 | Woluwe | 34 | 14 | 9 | 11 | 48 | 43 | +5 | 51 | |
| 7 | Aalst | 34 | 13 | 7 | 14 | 46 | 52 | −6 | 46 | |
| 8 | Heist | 34 | 11 | 13 | 10 | 46 | 46 | 0 | 46 | |
| 9 | Visé | 34 | 12 | 8 | 14 | 44 | 41 | +3 | 44 | |
| 10 | Antwerp | 34 | 12 | 7 | 15 | 39 | 42 | −3 | 43 | |
| 11 | Borinage | 34 | 12 | 6 | 16 | 44 | 54 | −10 | 42 | |
| 12 | Tubize | 34 | 12 | 5 | 17 | 36 | 55 | −19 | 41 | |
| 13 | Roeselare | 34 | 9 | 13 | 12 | 46 | 51 | −5 | 40 | |
| 14 | Brussels | 34 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 44 | 46 | −2 | 38 | |
| 15 | Sint-Niklaas | 34 | 8 | 10 | 16 | 41 | 54 | −13 | 34 | |
| 16 | Tienen (R) | 34 | 9 | 6 | 19 | 34 | 61 | −27 | 33 | Qualification for Relegation play-off |
| 17 | Dender (R) | 34 | 6 | 15 | 13 | 33 | 43 | −10 | 33 | Relegation to 2012–13 Belgian Third Division |
| 18 | Wetteren (R) | 34 | 4 | 9 | 21 | 19 | 54 | −35 | 21 | Relegation to 2012–13 Belgian Third Division |

### Period winners

The season is divided into three periods. The first ten matchdays together form the first period, matchdays 11 to 22 form period two and the last 12 form period three. The three period winners take part in the Belgian Second Division final round together with the winner of the 2011–12 Belgian Pro League relegation playoff. The winner of this final round gets to play in the 2012–13 Belgian Pro League. In case one or more periods are won by the team winning the league or in case one team wins multiple periods, the extra places go the teams finishing the highest in the league not already qualified. So in the theoretical case that one team wins all three periods and becomes the league champion, then the teams in positions 2, 3 and 4 will take part in the final round.

#### Period 1

Already after the first nine matches of the season, Eupen clinched the first period title.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Eupen | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 25 | 9 | +16 | 26 | Belgian Second Division final round |
| 2 | Charleroi | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 22 | 15 | +7 | 20 | |
| 3 | Waasland-Beveren | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 8 | +7 | 19 | |
| 4 | Oostende | 10 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 19 | 11 | +8 | 19 | |
| 5 | Lommel | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 14 | 9 | +5 | 18 | |

#### Period 2

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Charleroi | 12 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 18 | 6 | +12 | 28 | Belgian Second Division final round |
| 2 | Eupen | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 19 | 9 | +10 | 24 | |
| 3 | Oostende | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 23 | 10 | +13 | 21 | |
| 4 | Waasland-Beveren | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 18 | 17 | +1 | 21 | |
| 5 | Heist | 12 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 22 | 16 | +6 | 20 | |

#### Period 3

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Waasland-Beveren | 12 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 25 | 8 | +17 | 28 | Belgian Second Division final round |
| 2 | Charleroi | 12 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 24 | 13 | +11 | 26 | |
| 3 | Oostende | 12 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 19 | 5 | +14 | 26 | |
| 4 | Tubize | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 17 | 14 | +3 | 23 | |
| 5 | Woluwe | 12 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 15 | 14 | +1 | 18 | |

## Top goalscorers

Including matches played on 29 April 2012; Source: Soccerway
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Hervé Onana | Waasland-Beveren | 18 |
| 2 | Moussa Gueye | SC Charleroi | 17 |
| 3 | Samy Houri | FC Brussels | 15 |
| 3 | Christian Santos | AS Eupen | 15 |
| 5 | Janis Coppin | FC Dender | 14 |
| 5 | Anthony Di Lallo | SV Roeselare | 14 |
| 5 | Ioannis Masmanidis | AS Eupen | 14 |
| 5 | Mickael Seoudi | Waasland-Beveren | 14 |
| 9 | Davy Brouwers | Lommel United | 13 |
| 9 | Stavros Glouftsis | Sportkring Sint-Niklaas | 13 |
| 9 | Bart Webers | K.S.K. Heist | 13 |
| 12 | Koffi | Boussu Dour Borinage | 12 |
| 12 | Daniel Rodrigo de Oliveira | White Star Woluwe F.C. | 12 |
| 14 | Emmanuel Françoise | C.S. Visé | 11 |
| 14 | Raphaël Lecomte | C.S. Visé | 11 |