The 2012–13 season of the Belgian Pro League (also known as Jupiler Pro League for sponsorship reasons) was the 110th season of top-tier football in Belgium. It started on 28 July 2012 with the first match of the regular season between Kortrijk and defending champions Anderlecht,^[5] and ended on 26 May 2013, which was the return leg of the European playoff.

During the regular season, Club Brugge took the early lead but then started struggling, eventually leading to the sacking of head coach Georges Leekens when they dropped out of the top 6 in November. Anderlecht and overachievers Zulte Waregem took over the top two positions and comfortably held these until the playoffs.

The title playoffs started with Anderlecht on 34 points and Zulte Waregem just behind them on 32. Due to the division of the points by two, they held a smaller lead over Genk (28 points), Club Brugge (27), Lokeren (26) and Standard (25). To the surprise of many, Zulte Waregem took the lead about halfway through the playoffs and with Anderlecht not performing well and suffering a penalty kick trauma (missing no less than 10 penalty kicks over the course of the season and going out on penalties to Genk in the Belgian Cup), both Genk, Club Brugge and Standard Liège rapidly close the gap. Anderlecht managed to overtake Zulte Waregem again and went into the final match on 19 May 2013, at home against Zulte Waregem, with a two-point lead. Anderlecht equalized after going down 0-1 and under pressure managed to hold on, even though losing Cheikhou Kouyaté due to a red card. With that, Anderlecht won its 32nd title.^[6][7] The draw allowed Zulte Waregem to remain just in front of Club Brugge, thereby gaining access to the Champions League. Club Brugge and Genk qualified for the Europa League, due to finishing 3rd and winning the Cup respectively.

The Europa League playoff groups were won by Gent and Oud-Heverlee Leuven, with Gent easily beating OH Leuven for the overall win. Gent had played a disappointing season, initially aiming for the top 6 but eventually finishing 12th. By winning the Europa League playoff, they won the right to play against Standard Liège for the final Europa League ticket. Gent won the first match 1-0 but lost the return 7–0, allowing Standard to take the last European ticket.

In the bottom end of the table, Cercle Brugge faced a miserable season after finishing 7th the previous season, as now only three wins and five draws out of thirty matches caused them to end dead last. Lierse narrowly held of Beerschot, causing Cercle Brugge and Beerschot to play the relegation playoff. Beerschot initially extended their lead, but Cercle Brugge came back and on 20 April 2013, a 2–1 win by Cercle caused Beerschot to be relegated. Beerschot had been playing in the top division since 1989–90, initially as Germinal Ekeren, then as Germinal Beerschot. A few days after the relegation it was announced that Beerschot was in severe financial trouble and was not given a licence for professional football. On 21 May, Beerschot was officially declared bankrupt and dissolved as a whole. Cercle Brugge on the other hand, had to play the Belgian Second Division final round with second division teams Mouscron-Péruwelz, Westerlo and WS Woluwe. On 23 May 2013, Cercle Brugge became the first team succeeding in avoiding relegation after playing the relegation playoff, since the installation of the playoffs system in 2009–10.

Teams

Following the 2011–12 Belgian Pro League, Sint-Truiden were relegated to the 2012–13 Belgian Second Division after losing their relegation playoff series against Westerlo, ending a three-season tenure in the league. Sint-Truiden were replaced by 2011–12 Second Division champions Charleroi, who made their immediate comeback to the highest Belgian football league. In the 2012 Belgian Second Division final round, Westerlo faced Second Division teams Eupen, Oostende and Waasland-Beveren. On 17 May 2012, Westerlo were relegated after a 0–0 draw away to Oostende. Also in Oostende, Waasland-Beveren secured the promotion one week later after a 1–1 draw.

Stadia and locations

Anderlecht

Beerschot

Cercle Brugge

Club Brugge

Charleroi

Genk

Gent

Kortrijk

OH Leuven

Standard Liège

Lierse

Lokeren

Mechelen

Mons

Zulte Waregem

W.-Beveren

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Location of the 2012–13 Belgian Pro League teams

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Club Brugge	Christoph Daum	Mutual consent	10 May 2012[8]	Pre-season	Georges Leekens	13 May 2012[9]
Anderlecht	Ariël Jacobs	Resigned	End of 2011–12 season[10]		John van den Brom	30 May 2012[11]
Standard Liège	José Riga	Resigned	End of 2011–12 season[12]		Ron Jans	29 May 2012[13]
Mechelen	Marc Brys	Sacked	End of 2011–12 season[14]		Harm van Veldhoven	25 May 2012[15]
Charleroi	Dennis van Wijk	Resigned	End of 2011–12 season[16]		Yannick Ferrera	13 July 2012[17]
Standard Liège	Ron Jans	Mutual consent	22 October 2012[18]	12th	Mircea Rednic	27 October 2012[19]
Gent	Trond Sollied	Sacked	23 October 2012[20]	7th	Bob Peeters	1 November 2012[21]
Cercle Brugge	Bob Peeters	Sacked	27 October 2012[22]	16th	Foeke Booy	5 November 2012[23]
Club Brugge	Georges Leekens	Sacked	4 November 2012[24]	7th	Juan Carlos Garrido	15 November 2012[25]
Lierse	Chris Janssens	Sacked	12 November 2012[26]	14th	Hany Ramzy	12 November 2012[27]
Waasland-Beveren	Dirk Geeraerd	Sacked	18 November 2012[28]	16th	Glen De Boeck	19 November 2012[29]
Beerschot	Adrie Koster	Sacked	29 November 2012[30]	12th	Wim De Corte	29 November 2012[31]
Gent	Bob Peeters	Sacked	3 January 2013[32]	12th	Víctor Fernández	9 January 2013[33]
Beerschot	Wim De Corte	Resigned	22 January 2013[34]	15th	Jacky Mathijssen	23 January 2013[35]
Charleroi	Yannick Ferrera	Resigned	14 February 2013[36]	11th	Luka Peruzović	14 February 2013[36]
Lierse	Hany Ramzy	Became technical director	14 March 2013[37]	14th	Eric Van Meir	14 March 2013[37]
Charleroi	Luka Peruzović	Replaced	18 March 2013[38]	11th	Mario Notaro Michel Iannacone Philippe Simonin	18 March 2013[38]
Cercle Brugge	Foeke Booy	Sacked	2 April 2013[39]	2nd in Relegation Playoff	Lorenzo Staelens	2 April 2013[39]

Regular season

League table