The
Belgium national football team is the national
football team of Belgium
and is
controlled by the Belgian
Football Association.
History
Belgium played its first official game on May 1, 1904 in a 3-3 draw
against
France. Prior
to this match, a Belgian selection played several matches, but the
squad contained some English players, so these are not added to the
caps. For example, Belgium beat
Netherlands by 8-0 on
April 28, 1901 with the help of some Englishmen.
It was then decided
that Belgium would play twice a year against Netherlands beginning
from 1905, generally once in Antwerp
and once in
Rotterdam
(later Amsterdam
). At that time, the national squad was
chosen by a committee of representatives of the 6 or 7 main
clubs.
The team was nicknamed
The Red Devils by journalist Pierre
Walckiers after its 3:2 victory over Netherlands (Rotterdam, 1906).
The nickname stems from the fact that from the beginning and up
until recently, the team's primary colours were all red.
Over the next six decades, Belgium established itself as a strong
second-tier team, rarely in the running for winning a major
tournament but never easy to handle at home or abroad. A key
strength of the team was its systematic use of the
offside trap, a defensive tactic developed in
the 1960s at
Anderlecht under
French coach Pierre Sinibaldi.
Their most successful period started when they finished second in
the
UEFA Euro 1980. The 1980s and
early 1990s are generally considered the golden age of the national
team. Under the lead of
Guy Thys, who
coached more than 100 official games, Belgium established a
reputation of being a physical, well-organized team that was
difficult to play against. The team's rigorous organization was
reinforced by several world-class players such as goalkeeper
Jean-Marie Pfaff, right-back
Eric Gerets, midfielder
Jan Ceulemans, and playmaker
Enzo Scifo. Performances were sometimes poor
against lower-ranked teams, but nearly always inspired against top
teams. Until as recently as 2002, world-class national teams did
not like the prospect of playing the
Red Devils--not even
eventual champions
Brazil. The Belgians nearly
beat favorites Brazil in the
2002
FIFA World Cup only for several debatable referee decisions and
controversially disallowed goals go against them; ironically, the
Brazilians went on to win the World Cup. Since then, however, the
team has steadily slipped down the rankings, and has not been able
to extend its past reputation.
After failing to qualify for the
FIFA
World Cup for the first time since 1978, the contract of
national coach
Aimé Anthuenis
was not renewed beyond 2005, and it was decided on December 22,
2005 that
René Vandereycken
would replace Anthuenis on January 1, 2006. But the performances of
the team did not improve and the Red Devils slipped into an
all-time low 71st position in the FIFA World Rankings in June,
2007. After failing to qualify for Euro 2008 and a generally poor
performance in the
2010 FIFA World
Cup qualifiers which ended with Belgium getting knocked out,
coach René Vandereycken was sacked on the 7 April 2009. After a
shocking 2-1 loss against Armenia on 9 September 2009, Vercauteren
resigned earlier than planned and made way for new coach
Dick Advocaat.
World Cup record
Belgium's World Cup appearance record reflects the unusual depth of
footballing talent for a country of this size, in the manner of the
Czech
Republic, the
Netherlands and
Sweden. The country qualified
for six successive World Cups from
1982 through
2002. Every other nation with an equal
or longer string of appearances has had the streak "interrupted" by
automatic qualification as the host or the defending champion. (The
2006 tournament was the first for which the defending champion did
not automatically qualify.)
The Belgian team reached the knockout phase five out of six times
from 1982 to 2002, including a streak of four tournaments.
One of
their most famous victories was a 1-0 win over defending champions
Argentina, in the
first game of the 1982 World Cup held at
Camp
Nou
with a great goal by Erwin Vandenbergh.
Four years later they achieved their best-ever World Cup run in
1986 when they
placed fourth under command of players like
Jan Ceulemans,
Eric
Gerets and
Jean-Marie Pfaff.
Belgium surprisingly won against favourites
Soviet-Union with stars such as
Igor Belanov and
Rinat Dasayev (3-4) after extra time. Belgium
also beat
Spain on
penalties, but they lost to eventual champions
Argentina in the semifinal
(0-2). In the third-place match Belgium lost to
France (2-4) after extra time.
Captain and midfielder
Jan Ceulemans
was the first Belgian player to be selected in the All-Star Team of
a World Cup.
Enzo Scifo was elected as
best young player of the tournament.
Despite being knocked out in the second round, the team's general
performance in the
1990 was considered
better still than that of 1986. Belgium dominated England, but
eventually lost in the last minute of extra time after a goal by
David Platt.
Enzo Scifo was elected as second best player of
the 1990 World Cup after
Lothar
Matthäus.
In the
1994 World
Cup Belgium lost to title defenders
Germany in round 2. This
match became most memorable because of a disputed decision by
referee
Kurt Röthlisberger.
The team was not awarded a penalty when
Josip Weber was tripped inside the penalty area.
Michel Preud'homme was elected as
best goalkeeper of the tournament and he was selected in the
All-Star Team.
In
1998 Belgium
was one of only two teams, together with world champion
France not to lose a single
game. Three draws in the first round - against
Netherlands,
Mexico and
South Korea - proved
not enough to reach the knock-out stage. In 1998
Enzo Scifo and
Franky Van Der Elst appeared in their
fourth World Cups, setting a Belgian record.
The
FIFA World Cup
2002 did not start well for Belgium, but the
team improved during the tournament. Captain
Marc Wilmots was notable for scoring in every
match of the first round. In the second round they had to play
against eventual champions
Brazil. Similar to 1994, the
outcome of the match was strongly influenced by a disputed referee
decision. To the surprise of the Brazilians themselves, referee
Peter Prendergast
cancelled a valid goal by Marc Wilmots that would have given
Belgium a 1-0 lead. After this, the match went in favour of Brazil.
Brazilian coach
Luiz Felipe
Scolari would declare after the tournament that the match
against the Red Devils had been the hardest for Brazil to win. The
team did win the tournament's fair-play award.
Marc Wilmots equalled the record of
Enzo Scifo and
Franky Van Der Elst by appearing in 4
World Cup squads, although he didn't play in his first World Cup in
1990. Wilmots also scored his 5th World Cup goal against
Russia, which made him
Belgium's top scorer in World Cup Finals matches.
European Championship record
Belgium's performance in the
European Championship does
not match its World Cup record.
The best result is no doubt the unexpected
second place at the 1980 edition in Italy
after a
narrow defeat (1-2) to West Germany
in the final. Belgium hosted or co-hosted
the event twice, finishing third in
1972 (when they were
chosen amongst the four semi-finalists to actually host the event)
and being one of the major disappointments of the
2000 edition with a
first-round exit. Belgium first won against Sweden 2-1 via goals
from
Bart Goor in the 43rd minute and
Emile Mpenza in the 46th minute against
Sweden's one by
Johan Mjallby in the
53rd minute after a terrible error of goalkeeper
Filip De Wilde. But then, Belgium lost 2-0
against Italy (goals from
Francesco
Totti in the 5th minute and
Stefano
Fiore in the 66th minute) and 2-0 against Turkey (two goals
from
Hakan Sukur in the 45th after
another error of goalkeeper
Filip De
Wilde, and 70th minute). In the 83rd minute of that last group
match,
Filip De Wilde even ended his
Euro 2000, being sent off for attacking
Arif Erdem outside the penalty
area.
- 1960 -
Did not enter
- 1964 -
Did not qualify
- 1968 -
Did not qualify
- 1972 - Third
place (became host after qualifying)
- 1976 -
Did not qualify
- 1980 -
Runners-up
- 1984 - Round
1
- 1988 -
Did not qualify
- 1992 -
Did not qualify
- 1996 -
Did not qualify
- 2000 - Round
1 (entered as host)
- 2004 -
Did not qualify
- 2008 -
Did not qualify
Olympic record
Belgium won the
Olympic Gold Medal in
1920
Gold Medal winners 1920: -
Félix
Balyu -
Désiré Bastin
-
Mathieu Bragard -
Jean De Bie -
Robert Coppée -
André Fierens -
Emile Hanse -
Georges
Hebdin-
Henri Larnoe -
Joseph Musch(c) -
Armand Swartenbroeks -
Fernand Nisot -
Louis
Van Hege -
Oscar Verbeek. coach:
Raoul Daufresne
- 1920:
Gold medal
- 1924:
Second Round (1/16 finals)
- 1928:
Quarter-finals
- 2008:
Fourth Place
Current squad
Caps and goals are correct as of 15 November 2009.
The following players are the 21-man squad who were called up for
the friendly matches against Hungary and Qatar on 14 and 17
November 2009. Vincent Kompany got sent home for the match against
Qatar because he was late twice, Igor De Camargo didn't play in
both matches because of a toe injury and Moussa Dembélé went home
because he got ill before the match against Hungary.
Recent call-ups
Youngest Players
The 10 youngest players in history
The youngest players who made their debut for the national football
team of Belgium.
2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
Caps
As of 13 August 2009 the 68 most capped players for Belgium
are:
the * denotes a player still playing or available for
selection.
Top Belgium goalscorers
As of February 11, 2009:
the * denotes a player still playing or available for
selection.
Coaches
Before 1910, a committee of the Belgian federation selected the
players.
- 1910-1913: William
Maxwell
- 1914: Charles Bunyan,
Sr.
- 1920-1928: William
Maxwell
- 1928-1930: Victor
Löwenfelt
- 1930-1934: Hector Goetinck
- 1935: Jules Turnauer
- 1935-1940: Jack
Butler
- 1944-1946: François
Demol
- 1947-1953: Bill Gormlie
- 1953-1954: Dougall
Livingstone
- 1955-1957: André
Vandeweyer
- 1957 (caretaker): Louis Nicolay
- 1957-1958: Geza Toldi
- 1958-1968: Constant Vanden
Stock
- June 19, 1968-April 26, 1976: Raymond Goethals
- May 22, 1976-June 9, 1989: Guy
Thys
- July 23, 1989-February 21, 1990: Walter Meeuws
- May 26, 1990-May 1, 1991: Guy Thys
- September 1, 1991-March 25, 1996: Paul Van Himst
- October 8, 1996-December 27, 1996: Wilfried Van Moer
- February 11, 1997-August 18, 1999: Georges Leekens
- August 20, 1999-June 30, 2002: Robert
Waseige
- August 21, 2002-December 31, 2005: Aimé Anthuenis
- January 1, 2006-April 7, 2009: René Vandereycken
- May 5, 2009-September 9, 2009: Franky Vercauteren
- October 1, 2009 - : Dick
Advocaat
Captains
See also
External links
Top topics
Wikis
Quiz
Facts
Map
Search
