About Challenger Pro League
History, Format, Organization, Media Coverage
The Challenger Pro League is the second highest level of professional football in Belgium, ranking behind the first-tier Belgian Pro League. It was created in 2016 by the Royal Belgian Football Association to replace the Belgian Second Division, which had been founded in 1909 and then was dissolved in 2016.
Between the 2016 and 2020, the Challenger Pro League was initially known as the Proximus League before undergoing a name change. The league has undergone several changes since its inception in 2016, and currently operates on a relegation-promotion format. At the end of each season,the top two teams from the Challenger Pro League are promoted to the Belgian Pro League while a set number of worst-performing teams feature in a mini play-off competition to determine who is demoted to the Belgian National Division 1 (the third tier).
In terms of media broadcasts, Eleven Sports first held TV broadcast and live-streaming rights for the Challenger Pro League since the early years of the competition. In 2022, DAZN started the process to acquire Eleven Sports’ sports media business and as such, after fully completing their deal in July 2023, now hold live-streaming rights for the Challenger Pro League in Belgium as well as several other countries.
