Belgium National Football Team

The Belgium national football team is the national football team of Belgium and is controlled by the Belgian Football Association.

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, who were almost beaten by Belgium in the knockout phase of the 2002 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. On August 16 of that year, they started their new campaign. They played awfully and did not manage to get past the team from Kazakhstan. The situation got worse after also losing the home game against Poland on November 15 of that year. This put the Red Devils into an all-time low 71st position in the FIFA World Rankings in June, 2007, and they failed to qualify for Euro 2008. Then they started the World Cup qualifiers well with 7 points from 4 matches, but then lost at home and in Bosnia-Herzegovina on March 28 and April 1 2009, prompting the decision on Tuesday April 7, 2009 to sack coach René Vandereycken.




Competitive record

FIFA World Cup record

1930 - Round 1
1934 - Round 1
1938 - Round 1
1950 - Withdrew
1954 - Round 1
1958 - Did not qualify
1962 - Did not qualify
1966 - Did not qualify
1970 - Round 1
1974 - Did not qualify
1978 - Did not qualify
1982 - Round 2
1986 - Fourth place
1990 - Round 2
1994 - Round 2
1998 - Round 1
2002 - Round 2
2006 - Did not qualify

UEFA European Championship record

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

Olympics Record
1900 - Bronze medal
1920 - Gold medal
2008 - Fourth Place