A complicated set of tiebreakers, special edition, epilog

The final 10 minutes of the Jupiler Pro League came in heavy with the drama

Time to wrap up what I first wrote about on April 25.

Today was the final day of Belgium’s football season and as I wrote about it, the Belgian Pro League, aka the Jupiler Pro League, has playoffs where the top four teams play each other home and home to determine the league champ.

Coming into the final day, the standings were:

1. Antwerp - 46 points

2. Union St. Giloise - 46 points

3. Genk - 45 points

4. Brugge - 33 points

Each of the top three could win the championship. Antwerp would win with a win at Genk or they could win with a draw and a loss or draw by Union. Union would win only with a win over Brugge at home and an Antwerp draw or loss at Genk. Genk would win with a win over Antwerp and a Union draw or loss. The two matches were played simultaneously.

There was no scoring in either match until right before the end of the first half when Genk’s Tolu Arokodare knocked in a goal. At halftime for both matches, Genk was looking to be the apparent champ.

When the matches resumed, Union, which hadn’t won the title since 1935, got a goal from Simon Adingra in the first minute of the second half. And that put Union St. Gilloise into first place. Antwerp needed a win at this time to win the league. Genk needed to win and get some help.

Antwerp tied the match at Genk in the 58th minute. But all that did was must move Antwerp up from third to second. Antwerp needed a win to finish first and get its first title since 1957.

In the 75th minute at Genk, Bryan Heynen scored for the home team. And the league was now set to finish: Union, Genk, Antwerp.

Then it got a little nuts.

In the 89th minute in Brussels, Brugge tied the match on a Shion Homma goal. There was a lengthy VAR check (I don’t know what for since that match wasn’t on TV here.) but the goal stood.

So with Union in a draw, Genk was now set to be in first place. With Union second and Antwerp in third.

The scene at Genk kept showing the team box with the executives starting to smile and getting ready to enjoy a league championshp, which was going to be their fifth overall and first since 2019.

But the match was not over. Antwerp pulled more and more people forward. In the 94th minute, veteran defender Toby Alderweireld, who played several years in England with Spurs, struck home a shot from distance to tie the match.

Toby Alderwield celebrates his goal that gives his team a championship

And with that, the league standings turned again. It was now Antwerp, Union, Genk.

The television feed showed the crowd watching the match in Antwerp’s home stadium, swarming the pitch in celebration. Which no one minded since no one was playing. Antwerp could have clinched the title last week at home with a win, but gave up a late equalizer, which set up today’s dramatics.

In the final minutes, Genk could not get close to scoring against Antwerp. Meanwhile, Union, desperate for a goal to put them back ahead and into first place, overcommitted and gave up two more goals to Brugge.

Final standings

1. Royal Antwerp 47

2. Genk 46

3. Union Saint Gilloise 46

4. Club Brugge 36

   And it was over.

   66 years without a title for Royal Antwerp ended on a day where emotions went up and down in ways that roller coster designers could not envision. There were three different teams controlling first place in a matter of about five minutes.

The championship trophy was going to be handed out at the home stadium of whomever came out on top. According to the very excitable announcer, the trophy was on a helicopter in Leuven waiting for instructions. The helicopter will fly to Antwerp presumably faster than it will take the Antwerp team to go back by bus (Genk to Antwerp is about a one hour drive) and then 16,000 fans inside the Bosuilstadion will finally get to see their team lift the championship trophy for the first time since 1957, when Belgium’s king was named Baudoin.

Belgium’s playoff system gets a lot of criticism domestically because it’s hard to understand and people don’t seem to like the idea of the team with the best record through the first 34 games (which was Genk) losing out in a six-game tournament. But it was hard to beat the scenes that I saw today. And the fans of Royal Antwerp are certainly not going to complain.