''Note that the Belgian team's score is always given first.'' Champions
Standard Liège were directly qualified for the
Champions League while Anderlecht had to start in the qualification rounds. Starting in the new
UEFA Europa League were
Club Brugge,
Gent and
Genk. The Belgian teams had one of their best seasons of the final decade as both Anderlecht, Club Brugge and Standard were not eliminated before winter and played on far into 2010: • Standard was drawn in a Champions League group with Arsenal, Olympiakos and AZ and started very strong, leading 2–0 versus Arsenal in their first match. However they lost 2–3 and eventually only scored 4 points before the last match at home versus AZ, where they needed a draw not to be eliminated. Goalkeeper
Sinan Bolat scored the equalizer five minutes into extra time causing the stadium to burst into joy as Standard moved on into the Europa League knockout stages to meet Austrian team Red Bull Salzburg. After going down 0–2 in the first leg after twenty minutes it did not look good, however they came back to win 3–2 with a stunning goal by
Igor de Camargo. In Athens, they beat Panathinaikos 1–3, meaning that the second leg home victory was not even needed. In the quarter-finals, they dropped out of the competition to Hamburg.
Mladen Petrić ruined all hope of progressing when he scored a second away goal for Hamburg in Liège in the second leg, causing Standard to lose both matches. • Anderlecht started promising with a 5–0 victory versus Turkish unknowns Sivasspor but then failed to progress past the final qualifying stage of the Champions League as they were beaten by
Lyon. They thus dropped into the Europa League group stage. In this group stage they played decent scoring 8 out of 12 points which eventually meant they needed just a draw away to Ajax to qualify. With Ajax already qualified, many spectators feared a 0–0 draw. However youngster
Romelu Lukaku quickly put Anderlecht up 0–2 as Anderlecht overpowered Ajax. The match ended 1–3, meaning Anderlecht even won the group. Athletic Bilbao was held to a 1–1 draw in Spain before they were beaten 4–0 in Belgium in the knockout stages.
Jonathan Legear scoring the 4–0 with a beauty from at least 25 meters. After this Anderlecht fell to Hamburg, the 4–3 victory in Anderlecht not being enough after the 3–1 loss in Hamburg. • Club Brugge started rather weak in the Europa League qualifying rounds, squeezing past Finland's Lahti with a last-minute goal in Bruges and then needed penalty kicks to get past Poland's Lech Poznan. In the group stage they faced Shakhtar Donetsk, Toulouse and Partizan Belgrade. After a 1–4 home loss to Shakhtar Donetsk it looked dull, but hopes were back up as they scored a last minute equalizer in Toulouse through Perisic. Joseph Akpala had scored a stunning beauty earlier in the match, kicking the ball into the goal from about 25 meters. Two victories versus Partizan and a 0–0 draw versus Shakthar in Ukraine caused them just to need a draw in their last match at home versus Toulouse. Being the better team throughout the match but not being able to score it looked like a 0–0 was going to be the final score, however again Ivan Perisic gave the fans something to cheer about as he scored the 1–0 winning goal in the final few minutes. Club Brugge thus progressed to the knockout stage where they were massive underdogs versus Valencia. However, after a 1–0 win at home they believed they could go through. In Valencia it also ended 1–0 after 90 minutes, however in the extra-time Valencia managed to score two more. Goalkeeper
Stijn Stijnen was praised by players and supporters of both teams for his outstanding performance as Valencia had created dozens of chances throughout both matches. • In the Europa League qualifying rounds, Genk and Gent also took part: Genk lost twice to Lille, while Gent struggled to get past Naftan from Belarus, before getting clobbered 1–7 at home to AS Roma. ==European qualification for 2009–10 summary==