Like last season, the eight matches of the penultimate day of the classic phase will take place in eight different time slots, contrary to the tradition which wanted all the meetings of the last two weekends to be played simultaneously, at one or the other rare exception. “It was the league that offered it itself during the last call for tenders for its broadcasting rights,” explains Nils Van Brantegem, schedule manager. The goal is to offer the television broadcaster, Eleven Sports therefore, a maximum of different “slots”, to make profitable an audience which is necessarily down over the whole weekend when all the matches are played at the same time.
Result: the Union will perhaps go up on the lawn of Sclessin, Sunday (1:30 p.m.) knowing that Bruges, which plays this Friday at Beerschot, can no longer catch up with it in first place. More embarrassing: the Cercle, which still believes in the playoffs 2, may face Ghent by being demobilized on Sunday, because Saint-Trond will have beaten Zulte on Saturday afternoon, thereby definitively preventing it from reaching eighth place . However, we know that Ghent is competing for a ticket for the “playoff champions” with Anderlecht and Antwerp.
Change announced Monday or Tuesday for the last day?
Moreover, like last year, the matches of the 34th day may not all be played simultaneously, either, even if they are still all scheduled for Sunday April 10 at 6:30 p.m. to date. “It will depend on the sporting results of the 33rd day”, continues Nils Van Brantegem. “We will postpone matches without stakes if there are any. For example, if Union Saint-Gilloise is already guaranteed to finish in first place, then it is possible to bring their match forward. is not the case, they will play at the same time as Brugge. We could shift up to three games to Saturday, depending on the results of this weekend, therefore.” A year ago, the League announced on the Monday following the 33rd day that two meetings of the last weekend with limited stakes were brought forward to Saturday.
Important nuance: there were no spectators in the stadiums in the spring of 2021. This time, some subscribers or ticket holders may well learn at the start of next week that they will finally go to the stadium on Saturday, rather than Sunday.
