Season | 1976–77 | |
---|---|---|
The 1976–77 season was the 74th season of competitive football in Belgium. Club Brugge KV won their 4th Division I title [1] and they also won the Belgian Cup against RSC Anderlechtois (4-3). [2] RSC Anderlechtois reached the final of the 1976–77 European Cup Winners' Cup for the second consecutive season, while R White Daring Molenbeek reached the semifinals of the 1976–77 UEFA Cup. The Belgium national football team started their 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign with two victories over Iceland and Northern Ireland and a defeat against the Netherlands. [3] The Belgian Women's First Division was won by Standard Fémina de Liège for the 3rd time. [4] The first Belgian Women's Cup was organised, and won by Astrio Begijnendijk against Standard Fémina de Liège (0-0 and 7-6 after penalty shootout).
Belgium was drawn in Group 4 of the 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification with Iceland, Northern Ireland and the Netherlands. After two wins over Iceland and Northern Ireland, Belgium lost once again to the Netherlands. At the end of the season, the Netherlands were on top of the group with 5 points, ahead of Belgium (4 points), Iceland (2 points) and Northern Ireland (1 point).
At the end of the season, the bottom 2 teams in Division I ( ASV Oostende KM and Yellow Red KV Mechelen) were relegated to the Division II. The Division II champion ( K Boom FC) as well as the Belgian Second Division final round winner ( RAA Louviéroise) were promoted to the Division I. The bottom 2 teams in Division II ( KFC Turnhout and KAS Eupen) were relegated to Division III while both Division III winners ( KSC Eendracht Aalst and KSC Hasselt) qualified for the Division II. The bottom 2 clubs of each Division III league ( K Olse Merksem SC, K White Star Club Lauwe, K Wit-Ster Beverst and K Zonhoven VV) were relegated to the Promotion. The winner of each Promotion league was promoted to the Division III: KRC Harelbeke, K Wuustwezel FC, KFC Herentals and RA Marchiennoise des Sports.
Date | Venue | Opponents | Score [5] | Comp | Belgium scorers |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
September 5, 1976 | Laugardalsvollur, Reykjavík (A) | Iceland | 1-0 | WCQ | François Van Der Elst |
November 10, 1976 | Stade de Sclessin, Liège (H) | Northern Ireland | 2-0 | WCQ | Roger Van Gool, Raoul Lambert |
January 26, 1977 | Stadio Olimpico, Rome (A) | Italy | 1-2 | F | Christian Piot |
March 26, 1977 | Bosuilstadion, Antwerp (H) | Netherlands | 0-2 | WCQ |
Key
Club Brugge KV beat
FC Steaua Bucuresti of
Romania in the first round of the
1976–77 European Champion Clubs' Cup (won 2-1 at home, drew 1-1 away).
In the second round, they surprisingly eliminated
Real Madrid CF of
Spain (drew 0-0 away, won 2-0 at home).
In the quarter-finals, they could not beat
Borussia Mönchengladbach of
West Germany and were thus eliminated (drew 2-2 away, lost 0-1 at home).
For the first time, Belgium had 2 clubs in the
1976-77 European Cup Winners' Cup, with RSC Anderlechtois qualified as the competition holder and
K Lierse SK being qualified as Belgian Cup finalist (since the Cup winner, RSC Anderlechtois, was already qualified).
In the first round, RSC Anderlechtois beat
Roda JC of the
Netherlands (won 2-1 at home, 3-2 away), but K Lierse SK were eliminated by
HNK Hajduk Split of
Yugoslavia (won 1-0 at home, lost 0-3 away).
In the second round, Anderlecht overclassed
Galatasaray SK of
Turkey ( won 5-1 home and away).
In the quarter-finals, they eliminated
Southampton FC (won 2-0 at home, lost 1-2 away) and then
SSC Napoli of
Italy in the semi-finals (lost 0-1 away, won 2-0 at home) to reach the final for the second consecutive season.
This time, RSC Anderlechtois lost the
final 0-2 to
Hamburger SV of West Germany.
R White Daring Molenbeek (3rd-placed in the championship) and
KSC Lokeren (4th) qualified for the
1976–77 UEFA Cup.
In the first round, RWDM easily eliminated
Næstved BK of
Norway (won 3-0 away, 4-0 at home), while Lokeren beat
FA Red Boys Differdange of
Luxembourg (won 3-0 away, 3-1 at home).
In the second round, RWDM beat
Wisla Krakow of
Poland on penalty shootout (after two 1-1 draws), but Lokeren drew
FC Barcelona and were eliminated (lost 0-2 away, won 2-1 at home).
RWDM then eliminated
FC Schalke 04 of West Germany in the third round (won 1-0 at home, drew 1-1 away) and
Feyenoord Rotterdam of the Netherlands in the quarter-finals (draw 0-0 away, won 2-1 at home) to reach the semifinals of the UEFA Cup.
At this stage, RWD Molenbeek lost on away goals to
Athletic Bilbao (drew 1-1 at home, 0-0 away).