The Belgian Pro League, the country's second tier, "approved a structural reform of its domestic club football," according to Samindra Kunti of INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL. In the future "there must be a strict division between professional and amateur football, according to the Pro League, with the number of professional teams being cut." For months a reform "had been on the cards." The clubs from the Belgian second division, the Proximus League, "demanded change last October as they have struggled financially with the current league format." Many clubs "may not meet the license requirements for next season." Roeselare Managing Dir Johan Plancke "proposed the far-reaching reform plans." The plan "allows for 24 professional clubs in Belgium." Pro League CEO Ludwig Sneyers said, "On the main principles of the Plan-Plancke everyone agrees. All first class clubs must have the noses in the same direction: the division between amateur and professional clubs is to give oxygen to the remaining professional clubs." In the lower leagues "the reaction to the proposed reform has been unanimously negative." Patro Eisden Maasmechelen captain Davy Sroka said, "In this way football at the base is destroyed, and all that to make the rich even richer and keep the poor poor. What will the amateur class represent? Becoming champion doesn't entail any promotion. What kind of competition is that?" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 3/13).
