While tomorrow is D-Day for all the supporters (and of course the club itself) to know where we stand for next season, this week hasn’t been all silent. First, there was an article written by someone working for our biggest university and the constitutional court (Dr David Keyaerts) who tore apart the intentions of the Pro League to retake the decision to relegate Beveren.
A well-researched piece on why this shouldn’t be an option and how Beveren is completely in their right to demand their place in the first division based on the verdict of the BAS two weeks ago. That this can’t just be ignored.
Then today a new bomb (as all Belgian media call it) dropped. On Monday Beveren started an “urgent” case before the corporate court to demand to be added to the calendar of the first division because the relegation was overturned by the BAS earlier and the Pro League didn’t act on it. Today the court has given its verdict that Beveren is in their right to claim their place in the first division. A fine of €2.5 million has to be paid for every game in first division that starts without Waasland-Beveren on the calendar.
All of this seems very positive for Beveren of course, but I’m not ecstatic yet. No one is commenting on the fact if a new vote to relegate Beveren tomorrow (the only thing on the agenda) cancels out this decision because then we’re “officially” relegated again, even if we go to court again to battle this second decision (and legal experts give us a big chance to win the case against that decision if they decide to ignore the verdict of the BAS). And what we learned from the last 2.5 months is that they don’t want to avoid the court battles, although they’re losing most of them against the lawyers of Beveren.
So tomorrow there will be a new article with more news about what happens in Belgium. The hope that Beveren will be added to the first division is growing among supporters of Waasland-Beveren, but the uncertainty is still considerable. We have a very stressy 24 hours ahead of us. Perhaps our battle ends tomorrow in a final victory, or the battle continues in the coming weeks, and you’ll be able to read a lot more about the mess in Belgian football. But let’s all hope that that isn’t necessary and we can close this case.
