Belgian Division 3
| Founded | 2016 |
|---|---|
| Country | Belgium |
| Confederation | UEFA |
| Number of clubs | 64 |
| Level on pyramid | 5 |
| Promotionto | Belgian Division 2 |
| Relegationto | Belgian Provincial leagues |
| Domestic cup(s) | Belgian Cup |
| Current champions | Westhoek(A),Termien(B),Onhaye(C),Hutoise(D) (2023–24) |
| Current:2024–25 Belgian Division 3 | |
TheBelgian Division 3,commonly referred to as simplyDerde Afdeling(in Dutch) orDivision 3(in French) is the fifth-highest division in theBelgian footballleague system,one level below theBelgian Division 2.It was created by theRoyal Belgian Football Associationin 2016 as a new layer at the fifth level of the league system, at that time namedBelgian Third Amateur Division.From the 2020–21 season on it was renamed to Belgian Division 3, due to the negative connotation of the word amateur. The division consists of four separate leagues with 16 teams each, two of these leagues consist of teams playing with a license from theVoetbalfederatie Vlaanderen(VFV, the Dutch-speaking wing of theRBFA) and two with teams with a license from theAssociation des Clubs Francophones de Football(ACFF, the French-speaking wing of the RBFA).
History
[edit]The Belgian Third Amateur Division was created in 2016 following an overhaul of theBelgian football league systemwhich saw the number of professional clubs reduced to 24. As a result, from the third level and below only amateur clubs remain.[1]The two remaining levels above theBelgian Provincial leagueswere reformed into three amateur levels, namely theBelgian Second Amateur Division(reformedBelgian Third Division), the Belgian Third Amateur Division (reformedBelgian Fourth Division) and the newly created Belgian First Amateur Division. As a result, the Belgian Provincial leagues dropped to the sixth level of the league system.
In 2020, the levels three to five were renamed to Belgian National Division 1, Belgian Division 2 and Belgian Division 3 respectively.
Competition format
[edit]In each of the four separate leagues, the season is a regular round-robin tournament with 16 teams. The winners of each league is promoted to theBelgian Division 2.The teams finishing in second place in each Flemish-speaking league and the three period winners (the season is divided into three periods) of these leagues will playoff for two extra promotion spots. No extra promotion places are available for the French-speaking leagues as there is only one French-speaking league at the Belgian Division 2, compared to two Flemish-speaking ones. Regarding relegation, the bottom three teams from each league are relegated to theBelgian Provincial leagues,but the number of teams to be relegated can increase depending on the number of teams being relegated directly from the Belgian Second Amateur Division.[2]
Past winners
[edit]| Season | Division A winner (VV) | Division B winner (VV) | Division C winner (ACFF) | Division D winner (ACFF) | Promotion play-off VFV winners | Promotion play-off ACFF winner(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016–17 | Ingelmunster | Turnhout | RWDM47 | Durbuy | Ronse,City Pirates,Vosselaar,Sint-Lenaarts,Pepingen | Rebecq |
| 2017–18 | Menen | Heur-Tongeren | La Louvière | Tilleur | Diegem,Dikkelvenne,Eppegem | Couvin-Mariembourg,Francs Borains,Visé |
| 2018–19 | Merelbeke | Tienen | Namur Fosses | Stockay-Warfusee | Pepingen-Halle,Zwevezele | Givry,Onhaye,Verlaine |
| 2019–20 | Zelzate | Lyra-Lierse Berlaar | Ganshoren | Warnant | not held due tocoronavirus pandemic,extra promotions went toNinove,Brakel,Wetteren,City Pirates,Heur-Tongeren,Houtvenne,Jette | |
| 2020–21 | season cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic[3] | |||||
| 2021–22 | Oostkamp | Racing Mechelen | Namur FLV | Dison | Erpe-Mere United,Lebbeke,Turnhout,Lille,Torhout | Binche |
| 2022–23 | Overijse | Wezel | Mons | Rochefort | Voorde-Appelterre,Houtvenne | Tournai,La Calamine |
| 2023–24 | Westhoek | Termien | Onhaye | Hutoise | ||
| 2024–25 | ||||||
References
[edit]- ^"La réforme du championnat approuvée: une grande lessive se prépare en D2 (INFOGRAPHIE)"(in French). dh.be. 15 June 2015.Retrieved8 July2015.
- ^"Bondsreglement"(PDF)(in Dutch).Royal Belgian Football Association.14 April 2016. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 17 May 2018.Retrieved2 May2016.
- ^"Amateurcompetities definitief stopgezet, jeugdvoetbal tot U13 blijft mogelijk"[Amateur leagues cancelled definitively, youth matches until U13 remain possible] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 25 January 2021.Retrieved26 January2021.