2003–04 Belgian First Division
# 2003–04 Belgian First Division

The 2003–04 season of the Belgian First Division was held between 8 August 2003 and 15 May 2004. Sporting Anderlecht became champions on 24 April 2004.

## Promoted teams

These teams were promoted from the second division at the start of the season:

* Cercle Brugge K.S.V. (second division champions)
* K. Heusden-Zolder (playoff winner)

## Relegated teams

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

* K. Heusden-Zolder
* R. Antwerp F.C.

## Anderlecht's title success

The battle for the title was not great as Anderlecht had a big lead over their opponents (mainly Club Brugge). However, a bad finish from Anderlecht kept the suspense until the 31st matchday when Club Brugge drew with Mouscron while the team from Brussels also drew (1-1) at Herman Vanderpoortenstadion, the homeground of Lierse.

## Battle for Europe

The next week, Club Brugge was sure to enter the UEFA Champions League Preliminary Round with a 1-0 win against Standard Liège, then lying third. In spite of this defeat, Standard managed to qualify for the UEFA Cup as they were 6 points ahead of Mouscron after the 32nd matchday. The suspense was killed after a 1-1 draw against Charleroi the next Saturday.

## The relegation dog fight

The end of the league was thus centered on the battle against relegation. Four teams were concerned : R.A.E.C. Mons and Charleroi, which finally saved themselves, R. Antwerp F.C. and K. Beringen-Heusden-Zolder finishing respectively 6 and 5 points adrift.

## Final league table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Anderlecht (C) | 34 | 25 | 6 | 3 | 77 | 27 | +50 | 81 | Qualification to Champions League third qualifying round |
| 2 | Club Brugge | 34 | 22 | 6 | 6 | 77 | 31 | +46 | 72 | Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round |
| 3 | Standard Liège | 34 | 18 | 11 | 5 | 68 | 31 | +37 | 65 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |
| 4 | Genk | 34 | 17 | 8 | 9 | 58 | 40 | +18 | 59 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup second round |
| 5 | Mouscron | 34 | 15 | 14 | 5 | 64 | 42 | +22 | 59 | |
| 6 | Westerlo | 34 | 14 | 10 | 10 | 51 | 45 | +6 | 52 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup second round |
| 7 | Germinal Beerschot | 34 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 34 | 40 | −6 | 44 | |
| 8 | La Louvière | 34 | 10 | 14 | 10 | 45 | 46 | −1 | 44 | |
| 9 | Gent | 34 | 8 | 16 | 10 | 33 | 34 | −1 | 40 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup first round |
| 10 | Sporting Lokeren | 34 | 10 | 9 | 15 | 45 | 54 | −9 | 39 | |
| 11 | Lierse | 34 | 8 | 15 | 11 | 33 | 40 | −7 | 39 | |
| 12 | Beveren | 34 | 11 | 5 | 18 | 45 | 58 | −13 | 38 | Qualification to UEFA Cup second qualifying round |
| 13 | Sint-Truiden | 34 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 36 | 50 | −14 | 38 | |
| 14 | Cercle Brugge | 34 | 7 | 14 | 13 | 28 | 52 | −24 | 35 | |
| 15 | Charleroi | 34 | 8 | 9 | 17 | 35 | 47 | −12 | 33 | |
| 16 | Mons | 34 | 7 | 12 | 15 | 29 | 52 | −23 | 33 | |
| 17 | Heusden-Zolder (R) | 34 | 7 | 7 | 20 | 36 | 68 | −32 | 28 | Relegation to 2004–05 Belgian Second Division |
| 18 | Antwerp (R) | 34 | 7 | 6 | 21 | 30 | 67 | −37 | 27 | Relegation to 2004–05 Belgian Second Division |

## Results

| Home \ Away | AND | ANT | GBA | BEV | CER | CLU | CHA | GNK | GNT | HZO | LIE | LOK | LOU | MON | MOU | STT | STA | WES |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Anderlecht | | 3–1 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 6–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 1–4 | 5–1 |
| Antwerp | 0–2 | | 0–4 | 0–3 | 2–2 | 0–4 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 0–3 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 0–4 | 2–1 |
| Germinal Beerschot | 1–0 | 1–0 | | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–2 |
| Beveren | 2–3 | 5–2 | 0–0 | | 1–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–4 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–3 | 1–4 | 0–2 | 0–3 |
| Cercle Brugge | 0–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–4 | | 0–2 | 3–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–3 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 |
| Club Brugge | 1–0 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 5–0 | | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 3–3 | 2–0 | 4–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 4–0 |
| Charleroi | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | | 4–3 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 3–1 |
| Genk | 0–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | | 1–0 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Gent | 1–3 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 |
| Heusden-Zolder | 2–4 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–4 | 0–0 | 4–2 | 3–1 | 2–3 | 1–1 | | 0–0 | 2–3 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 |
| Lierse | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–5 | 0–0 | 4–0 | | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 |
| Lokeren | 0–6 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | | 3–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–3 |
| La Louvière | 1–4 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 0–4 | 0–0 | 5–2 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 3–2 | | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 1–1 |
| Mons | 0–2 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 0–9 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 1–0 | | 3–3 | 3–4 | 1–1 | 0–0 |
| Mouscron | 0–1 | 2–0 | 3–2 | 5–0 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 3–2 | | 2–1 | 2–2 | 3–2 |
| Sint-Truiden | 1–3 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | | 1–2 | 0–0 |
| Standard Liège | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 7–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 4–0 | 3–3 | 1–1 | | 3–0 |
| Westerlo | 0–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 7–3 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–4 | |

## Top goal scorers

| Scorer | Goals | Team |
| - | - | - |
| Luigi Pieroni | 28 | Mouscron |
| Émile Mpenza | 21 | Standard Liège |
| Tosin Dosunmu | 16 | Westerlo |
| Aruna Dindane | 15 | Anderlecht |
| Gert Verheyen | 15 | Club Brugge |
| Andrés Mendoza | 14 | Club Brugge |
| Cédric Roussel | 14 | Racing Genk |
