2018–19 Belgian First Amateur Division
# 2018–19 Belgian First Amateur Division

The 2018–19 Belgian First Amateur Division was the third season of the third-tier football league in Belgium, as it was established in 2016. While Tessenderlo won the regular season, Virton became champions by virtue of winning the promotion play-offs. Defending champions Knokke finished last and were relegated together with Aalst and Geel. Oudenaarde was also relegated after losing the play-offs with teams from the Belgian Second Amateur Division.

## Team information

### Team changes

**In**

* Rupel Boom was promoted after winning the 2017–18 Belgian Second Amateur Division A.
* Tessenderlo was promoted after winning the 2017–18 Belgian Second Amateur Division B.
* RWDM47 was promoted after winning the 2017–18 Belgian Second Amateur Division C.
* RFC Liège was promoted after winning the Promotion play-offs.

Note that no team from the 2017–18 Belgian First Division B was relegated into the 2018–19 Belgian First Amateur Division due to the fact that Lierse went bankrupt.

**Out**

* Lommel were promoted from the 2017–18 Belgian First Amateur Division as they were the only team which had obtained a license.
* Berchem Sport and Patro Eisden Maasmechelen finished in the relegation zone (15th and 16th) in the 2017–18 Belgian First Amateur Division and were therefore relegated to the 2018–19 Belgian Second Amateur Division. Patro Eisden Maasmechelen had not applied for a Belgian remunerated football license and would have been relegated irrespective of their finishing position.
* Hamme lost the relegation play-offs and was thus relegated.

**Merger**

* Oosterzonen Oosterwijk merged with the bankrupt team Lierse to form Lierse Kempenzonen. As such it relocated from Westerlo to Lier.

## Regular season

### League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Tessenderlo | 30 | 19 | 5 | 6 | 62 | 28 | +34 | 62 | Qualification for the promotion play-offs |
| 2 | Deinze | 30 | 17 | 8 | 5 | 53 | 30 | +23 | 59 | Qualification for the promotion play-offs |
| 3 | Virton | 30 | 15 | 9 | 6 | 42 | 20 | +22 | 54 | Qualification for the promotion play-offs |
| 4 | Lierse Kempenzonen | 30 | 13 | 9 | 8 | 42 | 36 | +6 | 48 | Qualification for the promotion play-offs |
| 5 | Rupel Boom | 30 | 13 | 6 | 11 | 44 | 40 | +4 | 45 | |
| 6 | RFC Liège | 30 | 11 | 8 | 11 | 41 | 35 | +6 | 41 | |
| 7 | Seraing | 30 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 46 | 40 | +6 | 41 | |
| 8 | RWDM47 | 30 | 11 | 7 | 12 | 39 | 45 | −6 | 40 | |
| 9 | Dender EH | 30 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 42 | 40 | +2 | 40 | |
| 10 | Heist | 30 | 10 | 8 | 12 | 29 | 44 | −15 | 38 | |
| 11 | Châtelet | 30 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 30 | 37 | −7 | 36 | |
| 12 | Dessel | 30 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 30 | 39 | −9 | 35 | |
| 13 | Oudenaarde (R) | 30 | 10 | 4 | 16 | 37 | 59 | −22 | 34 | Qualification for the Second Amateur Division Promotion play-offs Final |
| 14 | ASV Geel (R) | 30 | 9 | 4 | 17 | 42 | 62 | −20 | 31 | Relegation to the Second Amateur Division |
| 15 | Aalst (R) | 30 | 7 | 10 | 13 | 35 | 49 | −14 | 31 | Relegation to the Second Amateur Division |
| 16 | Knokke (R) | 30 | 6 | 6 | 18 | 35 | 45 | −10 | 24 | Relegation to the Second Amateur Division |

* ↑ After the season, Châtelet merged with Olympic Charleroi to become Olympic Charleroi Châtelet Farciennes, officially a continuation of Olympic Charleroi which will take the place of Châtelet in the 2019–20 Belgian First Amateur Division, while the team of Châtelet ceased to exist.

### Results

| Home \ Away | AAL | CHA | DEI | DEN | DES | GEE | HEI | KNO | LIE | OUD | RFC | RUP | RWD | SER | TES | VIR |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Aalst | — | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 |
| Châtelet | 1–1 | — | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 2–3 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 2–2 | 1–0 |
| Deinze | 3–2 | 3–1 | — | 2–2 | 0–0 | 5–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 |
| Dender EH | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | — | 2–0 | 4–1 | 5–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 3–3 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 0–2 | 2–1 |
| Dessel | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | — | 3–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–4 | 4–3 | 3–2 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 0–3 |
| ASV Geel | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 3–3 | 2–1 | — | 5–0 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 1–3 |
| Heist | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 3–1 | — | 0–3 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 0–4 | 1–3 |
| Knokke | 4–1 | 3–1 | 4–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 4–2 | 0–2 | — | 1–2 | 3–4 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 2–3 | 0–1 |
| Lierse Kempenzonen | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 1–1 | — | 3–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 0–2 |
| Oudenaarde | 2–2 | 2–2 | 1–4 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–3 | — | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 0–4 | 3–2 |
| RFC Liège | 3–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | — | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–5 | 0–1 |
| Rupel Boom | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–0 | — | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 |
| RWDM47 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 3–2 | 4–1 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 1–4 | — | 2–0 | 4–3 | 1–1 |
| Seraing | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 5–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–3 | 2–2 | 3–3 | 1–1 | — | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| Tessenderlo | 5–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 4–0 | — | 1–2 |
| Virton | 3–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | — |

## Promotion play-offs

The teams finishing in the top four positions entered the promotion play-offs. The points obtained during the regular season were halved (and rounded up) before the start of the playoff, as a result, Tessenderlo started with 31 points, Deinze with 30 points, Virton with 27 points and Lierse Kempenzonen with 24 points. Deinze was the only team for which the points were rounded up, therefore in case of equal points at the end of the playoffs they will always be ranked below the other teams. Going into the playoffs, only Deinze and Lierse had received a license, meaning that only those two teams are eligible for promotion, although Virton has successfully appealed the decision of not being handed a license and is thus also eligible for promotion.

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | VIR | TES | LIE | DEI |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Virton (C, P) | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 4 | +10 | 41 | Promotion to the 2019–20 Belgian First Division B | — | 2–2 | 3–1 | 2–0 |
| 2 | Tessenderlo | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 14 | −4 | 36 | | 0–2 | — | 2–4 | 4–1 |
| 3 | Lierse Kempenzonen | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 14 | 0 | 34 | | 0–4 | 2–2 | — | 4–1 |
| 4 | Deinze | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 14 | −6 | 34 | | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–3 | — |

## Number of teams by provinces

| Number of teams | Province or region | Team(s) |
| - | - | - |
| 5 | Antwerp | Dessel, Geel, Heist, Lierse Kempenzonen and Rupel Boom |
| 4 | East Flanders | Aalst, Dender EH, Deinze and Oudenaarde |
| 2 | Liège | RFC Liège and Seraing |
| 1 | Brussels | RWDM47 |
| 1 | Limburg | Tessenderlo |
| 1 | Luxembourg | Virton |
| 1 | Hainaut | Châtelet |
| 1 | West Flanders | Knokke |
