and the club in Serbia qualified for Europe in their first ever season in the top flight
Speaking of Serbia, Zvezda are really destroying that league. 33 wins and 3 ties so far on the season, crazy stats.
Anyway in the relegation playoffs finished in Belgium and the second team promoted to the top division (after D2 winners Union) will be RFC Seraing.
It's a small club based just outside of Liege, it has a small stadium, a small fanbase, it's an ugly town, and through the years they have gone bankrupt more times than I can count.
Also they are currently under investigation because a couple of months ago when some players tested positive for COVID, they exchanged those for negative tests from U21 players
So it's a club with a rocky past, their best spell came in the early '90s when a rich businessman took over. They finished in 3rd place in 1993 and played in the UEFA Cup the next season, however in 1996 the owner pulled the plug and the club dissolved. They had a pretty cool squad at the time, with a number of Brazilian players, some of you may remember former Ajax forward Wamberto, I think he started his career in Europe at Seraing.
Anyway, through all sorts of shady constructions and buying up amateur clubs they have clawed their way back up the Belgian football pyramid, last season they still played in the top amateur division (which they didn't win) however a few pro clubs got into financial problems and got relegated, and as a result Seraing were awarded promotion to the 2nd division.
They also have a collaboration going with L1 club FC Metz and they received a number of players on loan which really helped them compete this year. French/Georgian striker Georges Mikautadze especially had a brilliant season, I think he scored 24 goals in 25 games or something like that.
I'm not sure if they will be able to survive next season though, it's going to be really though, apart from being a Metz affiliate they don't have a lot of assets.
Btw with Union and Seraing being promoted, the four major city clubs now each have an in-town rival next season.
Bruges: Club Brugge -> Cercle Brugge
Brussels: Anderlecht -> Union SG
Antwerp: FC Antwerp -> Beerschot
Liege: Standard -> RFC Seraing