Eligibility
The 34 regular-season games are grouped into 3 periods: the first period contains the first 10 rounds of matches, the next period matches 11 to 22, and the other 12 matches are part of the third and last period. The overall leader after 34 games is automatically promoted as second division champion. The four qualifiers for the play-offs are the winners of the three periods, and the second-last team in the first division.
However, no team can play in the first division without a professional license. It is also frequently the case that the overall champion wins one or several periods. Theoretically, a period winner might be near the bottom of the overall rankings, either relegated to the third division or in the third division playoff: such a team would be ineligible for the second division playoff. In all these circumstances, any space in the playoffs is filled by the next-highest team in the overall regular-season.
Read more about this topic: Belgian Second Division Final Round