The early exit of original cast members Walter Michiels and Carry Goossens occurred at the same time but had different reasons. Michiels and Goossens physically appear in 52 episodes. After their time on the show, both have only appeared in archive footage that was used for the Christmas special, which aired 27 years after they were written off.

Michiels (Pico Coppens) didn't leave but was fired due to disruption of production. He suffered from a drinking problem by the time the fourth season was in production (1993). During its course, his fellow actors complained about not being able to work with him. In many fourth season episodes, Michiels can be seen with bulged eyes. This was either due to him being under the influence of alcohol on stage or the make-up department unable to cover the signs of his alcohol addiction. His problems become infamously clear during the episode "Liefdesverdriet" (season 4, episode 8), however, also during "De scheidsrechter" (season 4, episode 10) and "Radiosterren" (season 4, episode 11). He would have made himself impossible much earlier though, as a low point would already have come when Michiels touched the bosom of the mother of an actress (daughter guest starred on the show). This occurred during production of the episode "De Motorfiets" (season 4, episode 1). The actress's name is Ann Ceurvels; she played the character Sylvia who works for a publicity agency. In "Love story" (season 4, episode 13) he must have been in such a bad way that screen time for Pico was limited to just two lines and three scenes. In "Rode vlekjes" (season 4, episode 4), for some unknown reason, he appears in just one scene though he appeared more emphatically in subsequent episodes. Michiels was dismissed off-season. His career then got in the doldrums. Years after his dismissal he ended up homeless after he'd committed numerous severe crimes eg. selling drugs to minors.

Goossens (Oscar Crucke), on the other hand, left the VRT show and signed with recently established commercial TV channel VTM. About in the middle of production of season 4, Goossens announced his departure to VTM. Odd would be the episode "Het jubileum" (season 4, episode 9), which deals with De Kampioenen celebrating the silver anniversary of Oscar and Pascale. By then, it was known Goossens would leave. Goossens said: "It felt weird filming this while everyone knew that I'd be gone in a few months." A month and a half after "Het jubileum" (season 4, episode 9), Goossens farewell episode caused a lot of controversy, though. The show's head writer Frank Van Laecke in 2021 expressed bitter disappointment over his decision to quit. Goossens's departure was written in a story and unlike Michiels, his character got a final send-off with the episode "Love story" (season 4, episode 13). The ending to his farewell episode was re-written because the original was way too surrealistic. Goossens would never return to the show between 1994 and 2011, when the plug was pulled (neither did Walter Michiels). He did make his comeback as Oscar Crucke in 2015, most notably co-starring as Oscar in the movie F.C. De Kampioenen 2: Jubilee General. However, the conscious way in which Goossens was written off caused Oscar to return as an antagonist rather than as a central character or a protagonist, which he clearly was on the show itself. In the movie, Oscar irrevocably caused trouble for Pascale and Bieke (in a comical environment) upon his return. Oscar abandoned his family and friends without letting them know. Neither is this for him anything to be proud of, nor is it for them anything to appreciate. Goossens insists he left because he didn't want to be remembered for just one role. He partly succeeded as he continues to be addressed for the role as late as 2022 although he effectively starred in several popular VTM sitcoms or in VTM shows of other genres later in his career but also on the big screen he's played major roles.

Balthazar Boma's voice changed considerably because actor Marijn De Valck had a real-life motorcycle accident in 1996, by the time season 6 was being produced. Boma's voice got a distinctive nasal tone but this is still Devalck merely playing his role like he did before. He began to rely heavily on Flemish entrepreneur Carlo Gepts' nasal voice. Gepts is co-founder of commercial broadcasting company VTM.

The motorcycle accident almost cut off Devalck's vocal chords, since he got electrocuted (reportedly a wire of a meadow) as he fell off his bike. De Valck, however, miraculously recovered from his injuries and retained his damaged voice. The accident forced him to stop singing for some years, as he was also a professional singer-songwriter under the name Marino Falco.

Production of season 6 was delayed but resumed when De Valck had fully recovered.

Jakob Beks, the successor of Jacques Vermeire (Dimitri De Tremmerie aka DDT), had stated he wanted to quit the show. His character Bernard Theofiel Waterslaeghers was extremely unpopular. The character displayed a certain amount of arrogance, loudness and self-proclaimed wisdom on a weekly basis, which wasn't appreciated by a significant amount of viewers. Moreover, as Bernard, Beks was spoken to personally on the street - and in a negative way - about portraying the character. Beks stated this badly affected him as a person. Years later, Beks would indicate he never liked playing Bernard. Mitigating circumstance was he had to fill Jacques Vermeire's big shoes.

As far as bad ratings were concerned, season 10 prevails. Ratings dropped massively for the first time since the outset of the series in 1990. The screenwriters and directors recognized they made a mistake by creating the character. Even though Beks was still a cast regular, the writers introduced Fernand Costermans. Fernand, played by Jaak Van Assche, first appeared when Bernard was still there, namely the last two episodes of season 10, and buys Bernard's restaurant for a song.

Despite being Xavier's cousin, Bernard did not appear in any latter episodes and was only mentioned one more time. That was until he had a cameo in the fourth film, "Viva Boma", which shows him working as a pâtissier.

The show became rather infamous for containing two very different implementations during its existence of 21 years. For the vast majority of its run, it has presented a caricatural, stereotypical representation of reality. However, when it started it showed the opposite as the situations were realistically taken from life. The younger generations grew up with the later seasons. The current 2010's born generation is the first to not have watched it when it aired in primetime.

The point from which they started has never changed. That was a poorly performing enthusiasts soccer team playing soccer as leisure, rather than very competitive to move their way up in the national leagues. They don't play in those leagues but in leagues within their association. The main focus was soccer uniting the characters on this show or their mutual friendships, the obstacles they overcome as they stand strong together. The way in which delivered changed to the point of soccer - in terms - being 'sidelined', playing second fiddle.

A few major differences between the first five seasons and the conscious moment on which writer Frank Van Laecke left (and all of the subsequent seasons) can be spotted. First and foremost, the complete absence of an "everyman" and "everywoman" in their prime, or the average man and woman, namely in the person of Pico and Doortje. The "Doortje" character was caricatured as a prudish woman while Pico was no longer there. Differences between the "Pico" character and the "Pol" character are in fact monumental. Pol is more living in a dream world, with unattainable ideals escaping reality on quite a few occasions, whereas Pico always keeps his feet on the ground adhering to what the observable world has to offer. Just before Frank Van Laecke left and Walter Michiels was fired, they seemed to have depth and development more than any other character (eg they had a child together, his flirtation challenged their marriage). Their counterparts Xavier and Carmen are the only characters to have remained what they originally were, with Carmen bossing Xavier around. The characters "Bieke" and "Marc" developed significantly but then at the same time they were greatly flattened compared to the early seasons. Bieke being a "Karen"-type and Marc became the "eternal child" with naivety. Boma's character wasn't that of a sexist womanizer at all. He was more of a cultured yet often absent-minded businessman with a lot of aura; Boma was looked up to by the others a lot more. The 'antagonist', Dimitri, had much more 'human' character traits, often siding with the other main characters instead of always working against them like his two successors Bernard and Fernand would. Lastly, the Crucke family actually stood central (Oscar, Pascale and Bieke). The family's stuck in the middle since Boma is their landlord; Boma put Oscar's life under pressure. The element died with Carry Goossens's departure. After that, characters appear to be equally common. In the beginning the opposite seemed true, however, with the others appearing as if they were in support of the Crucke family.

When head writer Frank Van Laecke quit his work on the show, visually this is approximately when the original method is abandoned. It was 1995, or as of season 6. Until then, Frank Van Laecke, Peter Cnop and Anton Klee wrote most of the episodes, along with René Swartenbroekx, father of An who played Bieke Crucke. The idea of having the slices of life represented on the show came from its script editor Luc Beerten and (supervising) director Willy Vanduren. Willy Vanduren stopped working on the show after the third season. About a year later two main characters were written off; Oscar and Pico. Eric Taelman, who was one of the original directors, remained when Vanduren left. However, Taelman and Swartenbroekx would quietly be succeeded by Stef Desmyter and Wout Thielemans, who respectively have directed and written most episodes from the final seasons featuring Dimitri and then those featuring Bernard (BTW). They already seemed to be looking for the edge of what is realistically possible while the most obvious change was a blatant stereotypical portrayal of their characters, which they likely added to attract a larger audience mainly children. While the original formula never lost interest from viewers, the same can't be said from the new. Applicant for children, it worked when DDT was around. A big success at first, compared to Beerten, Vanduren and Van Laecke's original, it lost function after Jacques Vermeire left. Because of his departure the show lost about an average 700,000 viewers which by Flemish standards is a grotesque decline. The people involved have then acknowledged their mistake to add an unsympathetic know-it-all for an 'antagonist', in the person of Bernard played by Jakob Beks. Then around the turn of the century came Knarf Van Pellecom, to join the writing department. When Fernand Costermans got involved in the debates, order was restored but one had already deviated far from its original line. People were able to reconcile with the situation as Fernand became the new 'antagonist'. In Flanders, there is now consensus that the later seasons took the form of a children's show, with merch even aiming at the target group.

The outdoor shots were filmed on the soccer pitch of K.F.C. Sint Michiel along the Ranstsesteenweg in Emblem. Emblem is a town within the municipality of Ranst, province of Antwerp, in Flanders, Belgium. In 2008, however, the original soccer pitch was sold to a Golf & Country Club. For the last season (2010-2011), one moved to Haasrode, province of Flemish Brabant, in Flanders, Belgium. This pitch belonged to the local soccer team Stormvogels Haasrode.

Pico Coppens, a character played by Walter Michiels only from 1990 to 1993, was basically the personification of everything the show stood for in the beginning. Back in Pico's day, it seemed a tragicomedy rather than a sitcom, with occasional punch lines that were meant to target an adult audience. It tends not to appeal to younger viewers when Pico (and at the same time Oscar) is there. Moreover, the show's popularity from the early days has been widely attributed to Jacques Vermeire, who played DDT. Pico is acclaimed by an adult audience, but tends to be disliked by younger viewers as can be read in online comments.

To start off, quite a lot of people cannot see the actor separately from the character, usually these are children but adults can do it as well. Walter Michiels ended up having a rough life path. Many have believed whoever burns his seat, is bound to sit on the blisters but there are also people who support him who're convinced he didn't receive the care he needed in later years. It was then decided to remove the character and to not have him played by another actor. Possibly because one had felt Walter Michiels was the only actor one could see Pico play or simply to reboot everything as ultimately happened in 1994. As far as popularity of Pico concerned, mostly (young) adolescents or adults could relate to Pico or feel sympathy and that might well be for reasons listed below.

Pico Coppens is what Jim Halpert is for The Office US, character-wise. The personalities differ greatly but the principle is more or less the same. He's the normal guy, at most not excessively flawed. His wife Doortje appears to have exactly the same purpose at first, only she's the female opposite. They are the "normal couple". The other characters have much more flaws compared to them. Pico serves as the average, established middle-class man. Generally a cynical and witty character, his maturity was not really toned down like with other characters on the show.

The character Pico is overly self-confident. He's very determined. It seems Pico can't be messed around with. He acts like a smart-ass at times. Pico tends to come across as unfriendly or very cynical, although Pico's usually right when he is that. Examplary the episode "Operatie parkiet" (season 2, episode 9), during which he comments on Balthasar Boma and other self-employed people from various sectors throwing a party at Boma's: "The middle class association has probably done well again / profited well from it again." Sometimes, Pico uses ironic phrase, like the car mechanic Dimitri De Tremmerie would do most of the time. "Koopjes" (season 1, episode 2), commenting on his friend the Corporal Xavier Waterslaeghers who uses his army jeep off duty to straighten the football team's scoreboard: "So this is who we pay taxes for, huh?", because Xavier had sleep during night shift and bribed a senior officer to get the jeep. Pico is or was by far the character children are / were least able to understand.