# 2020–21 Waasland-Beveren season

The 2020–21 Waasland-Beveren season was the club's 85th season in existence and its ninth season in the top flight of Belgian football. In addition to the domestic league, Waasland-Beveren participated in this season's edition of the Belgian Cup. The season covered the period from 3 August 2020 to 30 June 2021.

## Players
### First-team squad

    As of 28 February 2021
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | BEL | Nordin Jackers |
| 2 | DF | BEL | Vladimir Van De Wiel |
| 3 | DF | BEL | Brendan Schoonbaert |
| 4 | MF | CMR | Georges Mandjeck |
| 6 | MF | SUI | Leonardo Bertone |
| 7 | DF | GER | Andreas Wiegel |
| 8 | MF | RWA | Djihad Bizimana |
| 9 | FW | FRA | Jordan Faucher |
| 10 | FW | LUX | Danel Sinani (on loan from Norwich City) |
| 11 | FW | USA | Joseph Efford |
| 12 | FW | BEL | Alessandro Albanese |
| 14 | MF | BEL | Denzel Jubitana |
| 15 | DF | BEL | Dries Wuytens |
| 16 | MF | NOR | Sivert Heltne Nilsen |
| 17 | FW | BEL | Aboubakary Koita |
| 18 | MF | BEL | Daan Heymans |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 20 | MF | BEL | Nikola Pejcic |
| 21 | GK | BEL | Lucas Pirard |
| 23 | DF | CMR | Serge Leuko |
| 24 | DF | MAR | Amine Khammas |
| 26 | DF | SRB | Aleksandar Vukotić |
| 27 | DF | BEL | Jenthe Mertens |
| 37 | DF | POR | Miguel Vieira (on loan from İstanbul Başakşehir) |
| 44 | GK | BEL | Brent Gabriël |
| 52 | DF | BEL | Jur Schryvers |
| 77 | MF | BEL | Tom Reyners |
| 88 | MF | BEL | Milan De Mey |
| 98 | FW | ALB | Din Sula |
| 99 | FW | SUI | Michael Frey (on loan from Fenerbahçe) |
| — | FW | CUW | Jeremy Cijntje (on loan from Heracles Almelo) |

### Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | DF | CRC | Alexis Gamboa (at Alajuelense) |
| — | MF | BEL | Matthias Verreth (at Kolding IF) |
| — | FW | MNE | Stefan Milošević (at Riga) |

## Pre-season and friendlies

Win  Draw  Loss

## Competitions
### Overview

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Belgian First Division A | 9 August 2020 | 18 April 2021 | Matchday 1 | 17th | 34 | 8 | 7 | 19 | 44 | 70 | −26 | 023.53 |
| Belgian First Division A relegation play-off | 1 May 2021 | 8 May 2021 | First leg | Runners-up | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 000.00 |
| Belgian Cup | 3 February 2021 | 3 February 2021 | Sixth round | Sixth round | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 000.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 37 | 8 | 8 | 21 | 49 | 79 | −30 | 021.62 |
Source: Soccerway

### Belgian First Division A
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 14 | Kortrijk | 34 | 11 | 6 | 17 | 44 | 57 | −13 | 39 | |
| 15 | Sint-Truiden | 34 | 10 | 8 | 16 | 41 | 52 | −11 | 38 | |
| 16 | Cercle Brugge | 34 | 11 | 3 | 20 | 40 | 51 | −11 | 36 | |
| 17 | Waasland-Beveren (R) | 34 | 8 | 7 | 19 | 44 | 70 | −26 | 31 | Qualification for the Relegation play-off |
| 18 | Excel Mouscron (R) | 34 | 7 | 10 | 17 | 32 | 54 | −22 | 31 | Relegation to First Division B |
* ↑ On 14 April 2021 news was released that both Excel Mouscron and Oostende had not received a Belgian professional football license for the coming season, a requirement to play at the top two levels of Belgian football. For Oostende, a lack of financial transparency, together with generally poor quality and incompleteness of the submitted report, was given as the main reason by the committee for not awarding a license, while Excel Mouscron was refused a license as besides insufficient transparency, the committee also questioned several cash flows and whether the club was creditworthy in general, also due to the fact that the wages for the months of February and March had not yet been paid at that point. For Excel Mouscron, it was already the sixth year running the license was (initially) refused, however, the club has appealed the decision with the Belgian Court for Sports Arbitrage (BAS) successfully on each occasion and intended to do so again. Oostende was planning to launch an appeal as well, with the BAS to rule on the matter for both clubs before the 10th of May. Both clubs were allowed to add new documents to their case, but in case they however still did not receive a license after appeal, knew they would have been forced to relegate to the 2021–22 Belgian Division 2 and start the season with a 3-point penalty. Both Excel Mouscron and Oostende were however eventually awarded a license after appeal, meaning Oostende remained at the top level, while Excel Mouscron only dropped one level.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Source: Jupiler Pro League

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| Ground | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | H | A | H | H | A | H | A |
| Result | W | L | L | L | L | L | L | D | W | W | L | D | L | D | W | W | L | L | D | L | L | D | D | L | L | L | W | D | L | L | L | W | L | W |
| Position | 1 | 8 | 13 | 15 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 17 |

#### Matches

The league fixtures were announced on 8 July 2020.

#### Relegation play-off
### Belgian Cup
## Statistics
### Squad appearances and goals

    Last updated on 9 August 2020.
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Belgian Division | Belgian Division | Belgian Cup | Belgian Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||||
| 21 | GK | BEL | Lucas Pirard | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 44 | GK | BEL | Brent Gabriël | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Defenders ||||||||||
| 3 | DF | BEL | Vladimir Van De Wiel | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | BEL | Brendan Schoonbaert | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | DF | GER | Andreas Wiegel | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | BEL | Dries Wuytens | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | DF | CRC | Alexis Gamboa | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | MNE | Andrija Vukčević | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | DF | BEL | Maximiliano Caufriez | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 26 | DF | SRB | Aleksandar Vukotić | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | DF | BEL | Jenthe Mertens | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | DF | BEL | Daam Foulon | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 52 | DF | BEL | Jur Schryvers | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Midfielders ||||||||||
| 8 | MF | RWA | Djihad Bizimana | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | JPN | Yuki Kobayashi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | MF | BEL | Denzel Jubitana | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | BEL | Daan Heymans | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | BEL | Nikola Pejcic | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | MF | BEL | Matthias Verreth | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 77 | MF | BEL | Tom Reyners | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 88 | MF | BEL | Milan De Mey | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Forwards ||||||||||
| 9 | FW | FRA | Jordan Faucher | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | FW | USA | Joseph Efford | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | FW | BEL | Alessandro Albanese | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | FW | BEL | Aboubakary Koita | 1 | 1 | 0+1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 98 | FW | ALB | Din Sula | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 99 | FW | MNE | Stefan Milošević | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Players who have made an appearance this season but have left the club ||||||||||

### Goalscorers

    As of 17 August 2020
| Rank | No. | Pos | Nat | Name | Pro League | Belgian Cup | Total |
| 1 | 19 | MF | | Daan Heymans | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2 | 52 | DF | | Jur Schryvers | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | 17 | FW | | Aboubakary Koita | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | 4 | 0 | 4 |