Football in Belgium from centre to semi-periphery: Analyzing the financial ground

Abstract

The facts show that in the given economic environment a restructuring of the Belgian professional football league is necessary for several reasons. First, to provide some form of “limited” competition with other European countries. Second, the introduction of the licence system by the Belgian Football Association in 2000-01 and by the UEFA in 2004-05, because clubs would no longer be allowed to have debts to the social security system, inland revenue, players,etc, Third, to stop the gradually increasing number of bankruptcies since the introduction of the licence system. Historical reasons and conservatism make a transition very difficult.sports economics