Belgium

Belgium was one of the very first continent European countries to participate in association football. The first practice in Belgium began on the 26th of October 1863, following an Irish student entered the Josephites College in Melle with a ball made of leather. At first, it was a pastime reserved for the elite, but in the years following, association football took over rugby as the most well-known football game. On the 1st of September, 1895, 10 clubs from cricket, athletics and football and cycling formed the Belgian sports board Union Belge des Societes de Sports Athletiques (UBSSA); one year later, UBSSA created the first ever year-long league for Belgian football.

On October 11, 1900 Beerschot AC honorary president Jorge Diaz announced that Antwerp will host a series of challenges between the best European football teams. Following some organisational issues, on April 28, 1901, the pitch at Beerschot was the site of its first competition where the Belgian A-squad and Dutch B-team played in this tournament, the Coupe Vanden Abeele. [13][14The result was that Belgium triumphed,[15] and defeated the Netherlands in the three subsequent matches. FIFA is not recognizing these results since Belgium played several English players. On May 1, 1904, Belgium's Belgians took part in their debut match in official competition, with France on the Stade du Vivier d'Oie in Uccle and their draw resulted in an Evence Coppee Trophy unclaimed. The next day the soccer boards from both countries were included in the seven FIFA founding members. At the time the Belgian team was picked by a selection committee made up of the country's seven or six major clubs. In 1906 the Belgian national team were given the name Red Devils because of their red uniforms. Four years afterward, Scottish ex-footballer William Maxwell took over his former UBSSA committee as manager. In in 1912 UBSSA had solely a football-related governing body and later renamed UBSFA. In during the Great War, the national team played in unrecognized friendly matches that included matches with and against France.

In the 20th Summer Olympics In their debut official Olympics appearance in the 1920 Summer Olympics, they Red Devils won the gold medal on their home turf following an unpopular final where their Czechoslovak opponents left the field. The 1920s saw three Summer Olympics they had decent outcomes (four victories in seven games) and also played their first international match against Argentina. But, in the next 10 years, Belgium lost all of their games at the initial three FIFA World Cup final tournaments. In the words of scholar Richard Henshaw, "[the growth of footballthat was taking place throughout Scandinavia, Central Europe, and South America left Belgium far behind". Even though World War II hindered international football matches in the 1940s Belgian team was still active in non-official matches against teams from other countries that were allies.

Belgium did not qualify for one major tournament in the 1950s and 1960s The 1954 World Cup. Before the tournament kicked off the RBFA was one of the three UEFA founding members. Dutch reporters regarded that draw for the Belgian team for their opening match with England as the biggest shocking result of the day's match as well as Switzerland's win over Italian "football players". The result was that Belgium lost to Italy following defeat in the second group match to Italy at the end of the second (and final) group game. One of the bright spots in the decades were wins over World Cup holders: West Germany in 1954 in addition to Brazil and Brazil in the year 1963. Between them, Belgium defeated Hungary's Golden Team in 1956. A combination of defeat in matches that were competitive, and victory in exhibition matches resulted in the Belgians the title mocked of "world champion of friendly matches".

Its performances improved in the 1970s' early years, under the direction of manager Raymond Goethals. Dressed in white, in the form of White Devils, Belgium had their first victory at the World as well as European Championships at the 1970 World Cup and Euro 1972. In the process of securing this Euro appearance the first time they played defeat of the reigning European Champions Italy with a victory in the quarter-finals in two legs in an aggregate. The final stage was when they placed third, winning their consolation match against Hungary. in 1973, the omission of a goal that could have won the match in their final game of 1974 FIFA World Cup qualification match for UEFA Group 3 cost Belgium their place in the finals. It caused Belgium to be the sole nation in history to not make it to an World Cup final round despite the fact that they did not allow a goal in the qualifying matches. The two subsequent attempts to reach the final were also unsuccessful.

From the second place finish at Euro 1980, the 1980s and the 1990s in the early years are widely regarded as the Belgians' initial golden years. The team was coached by Guy Thys, they achieved their place in the final of the tournament in 1980 by securing an undefeated record during the group stage. In the championship, they lost narrowly their title against West Germany with the score 1-1. Beginning in 1982 with the World Cup, and ending with the 2002 World Cup, the national team was able to qualify over six successive World Cup end stages and generally advanced to the second round. In this time, the players Guy Thys, Paul Van Himst and Robert Waseige all led the Belgian team through into the second round. In addition to individual FIFA awards and a place in the semi-finals in the 1986 World Cup. Following their appearance in their Euro 1980 final, they failed to make it to the subsequent European Championships, with early withdrawals from their participation in 1984 and 2000. In the latter part of 1990 they participated in three friendlies with Morocco, Cyprus and Japan as well as sharing with Japan the 1999 Kirin Cup with Peru during the latter. The best players from the Belgian team in this golden era were sacked from international soccer by the year 2000. On the eve of the World Cup in 2002, Belgium beat reigning champions of the world as well as European champions France. In the 2002 World Cup, Belgium defeated Russia and joined to host countries Japan along with Tunisia to advance to in the 16th round.

Following 2003's World Cup, the team suffered from the loss of more veterans as well as coach Waseige. They failed to make it through five major finals starting from UEFA Euro 2004 until UEFA Euro 2012 in 2012, and had a similar amount of coaches. A win in 2005 against the current European champions Greece did nothing more than provide an occasional sigh of relief. In the meantime the 2005 win, a promising young generation was maturing during the time of 2007's European U-21 Championship; Belgium's squad was selected to participate in the next season's Summer Olympics which took place in Beijing where they Young Red Devils squad finished fourth. Seventeen of them were in the national team's senior squad but did not make any immediate impact. Belgium came with a 2nd (and last) spot during the Kirin Cup in May 2009, but fell to the team ranked 125th by FIFA Armenian team in September of 2009. Following Georges Leekens' second stint as manager of the national team and his assistant Marc Wilmots became the caretaker in May 2012.

After two games as an in the role of interim coach Wilmots was able to take over from Leekens in the role of manager. In the months following Wilmots' appointment, team performances increased, to the point where some foreign media saw it as an additional Belgian golden age. The new Belgian team was without a loss in the group stage for 2014. World Cup finals, and secured Belgium's first-ever spot in the World Cup quarter-finals with a four-match winning streak. Belgium has qualified to play in UEFA Euro 2016 with a game left in October 2015. They also achieved the top position on the FIFA World Rankings for the first time in November of 2015 in order to remain to stay for five consecutive months. The subsequent calendar year Belgium were unable to confirm their position as an outsider at the European Championship with a quarter-final defeat by their 26th-ranked FIFA Welsh team. This led to the RBFA to sack Wilmots. As part of 2018, in the World Cup qualifying allocation, they were the first team in their group. They qualified for the finals in the hands of Spanish director Roberto Martinez, becoming the first European team other than hosts Russia to make it. Belgium was knocked out in the semi-finals against the eventual champions France however, they came third in the game against England. On the 16th of November, 2019 for only the second time in their history, the team was ranked first on in the World Football Elo Ratings, following a 1-4 win away against Russia in the Euro 2020 qualifiers.

Despite their impressive performance in this year's UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers as well as being thought of as the most likely challenger for to win the European award, this event ended up being a complete failure for Belgium. The country was in Group B with Russia, Denmark and Finland, Belgium easily conquered the group by winning three times. In the knockout stage, Belgium first played the reigning champions Portugal in the last 16 and came through by scoring a thunderous goal by Thorgan Hazard to give Belgium an 1-0 victory. In the quarterfinals, Belgium were again up against their old rivals Italy and lost, but Belgium did not get revenge for their defeat in 2016 after falling again to a 2-2 draw and a goal made by Romelu Lukaku. This ended Belgium's tournament on a sad note.

Belgium team image

When playing at home outfield players of the team typically wear the colors from the Belgian flag which are black, yellow and red. Red dominating the strip and is usually the only color of the jersey. The away colours are generally black, white, or both. In 2014, the team introduced an additional yellow kit. The shirts are typically embellished with tricolores along the edges. Since 1981 when since 1981, the RBFA emblem has served as the badge of the national team; the previous badge featured the yellow lion on an black shield, like the escutcheon on the coat of arms of the country. On the 8th of November, 2019 on the 8th of November, 2019, Royal Belgian Football Association revealed the new logo, which retained the key components of the previous logo which included the crown royal as well as the wreath and Belgian tricolor.

For their first official match in 1901 The Belgian team donned white uniforms with tricolored bands across their upper arms. After their third game that was unofficial around 1902 the decision was made to wear an "shirt that wore the national colors ... (which could indicate] stripes, how many times that each player was involved in a match". From 1904 onwards, Belgium's traditional red-and-white jersey was altered twice. In the years 1904-1905, the Belgian team temporarily wore satin shirts that had three horizontal bands of black, yellow, and red According to reporter Victor Boin, the shirts were the first to set "the ugly record". In the 1970s, coach Raymond Goethals chose an all-white combination to boost the team's visibility in games in the evening.

Six different clothing companies have provided the official strip of the team. Adidas has been the manufacturer from 2014 and has since concluded a partnership with the RBFA until 2026. It was also the provider from 1974 until 1980 as well as from 1982 until 1991. The previous kit makers include Umbro (early 70s), Admiral (1981-1982), Diadora (1992-1999), Nike (1999-2010) and Burrda (2010-2014).

The first live broadcast of an Belgian sporting event was on the 3rd of May 1931 in which reporter Gust De Muynck commentated on the soccer contest of Belgium as well as the Netherlands on the radio. Later football broadcasts also became broadcast on television. As 60 percent of Belgians speak Dutch and 40 percent French Commentaries on national team games are broadcast for both of the languages. The broadcasts are not in German, Belgium's third official language. In Belgium's appearances at tournaments during the 1980s as well as the beginning of the 1990s, Rik De Saedeleer became the most well-known football analyst by his humorous and emotional reportage.

The first time the games were broadcast, they were predominantly on television stations that were public: the earlier BRTN (now VRT) in Dutch and RTBF on French. Since 1994 commercial channels, such as VTM, as well as the sister channels Kanaal 2 along with VIER in Flanders have acquired broadcasting rights. In the Euro 2016 round-of-16 match against Hungary was the most watched show in Belgian television history, with an average of more than four million viewers, out of 11.3 million Belgian citizens.

The VRT began broadcasting in April 2014. VRT began transmitting a nine-part documentary on the behind-the-scenes of the national team, filmed in the course of 2014's World Cup qualifiers, titled Iedereen Duivel (Everybody Devil). The cable broadband provider Telenet released an eight-part documentary about the individual players, titled Rode Helden (Red Heroes).

Many events were organized to attract supporters during the team's peak popularity in the decade of 2010. For the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, a series of events that were interactive, known as"the Devil Challenges were organised. The idea is that small teams of international athletes would perform a favor by completing every one of five extensive tasks that their followers had to perform ("colour Belgium red", "gather 500 000 decibels" and others. ) All of which were achieved. In June 2013 in June 2013, it was the Belgian national team's very first Fan Day attracted over 20,000 fans. Another took place following that year's World Cup. In the days leading up to the 2014 World Cup group matches, massive dance events called Dance with the Devils took place in three Belgian cities. The same type of event was repeated in the Belgian team's Euro 2016 group matches.

At times occasionally, the Belgian team was directly involved in charity. In the period between 1914 and 1941, they played at least five non-official games, of which the proceeds were for charitable causes Two of them were against France and three games against the Netherlands. In the mid-1986 period, after the Belgian team reached their Mexico World Cup semi-finals, the team started a new project called Casa Hogar, an idea of the team's director Michel D'Hooghe. Casa Hogar is a home for children who live located in Toluca, a Mexican industry-based city Toluca and to which the players donated a portion of their tournament winnings. In August 2013 the national team backed four social initiatives through The charity foundation Football Foundation, by playing an A-match, with an " " sign on their jerseys, and auctioning off the jerseys.

At the turn of this century many national team players took a stand against discrimination. The national team began its first anti-racism demonstration where they displayed slogans. Home Euro 2012 qualifier was given the concept of respecting diversity in 2010, and this event was a an element of European FARE Action Week. Former Red Devil Dimitri Mbuyu, the premier black Belgium athlete (in 1987)--was involved as godfather. Other international, current and former footballers on the Belgian top division took part in the. The year was 2018, and four Belgian national team players spoke out against homophobic violence in a clip produced by the organization Kick It Out

Following a 1905 game that took place in 1905, the Dutch reporter reported about three Belgian footballers "work[ed like devils". In 1905, Leopold FC manager Pierre Walckiers was nicknamed his players Red Devils, inspired by their uniform colour and the fact that they had three consecutive wins in 1906. Due to the white shirts they wore at home during the 1970s, the team was temporarily called The White Devils. From 2012 on, the team's logo is an black trinket (or three pronged pitchfork) which is frequently used to represent the devil. In addition the national team has also featured four official anthropomorphic mascots. The first one was an lion that was in the kit of the team that was named Diabolix which is a allusion to the main symbol of the Belgian coat of arms which was featured on team jerseys between 1905 and 1980. As per their motto, the following mascots were a red super-devil as well as two modern devils made by fans and the most recent has been in use since the year 2018, and was known as "Red".

The supporters from the Belgian national team fly the flag of the nation's tricolour typically with a focus on the red component. In 2012, local fan clubs joined together to form one big Belgian Federation, which was known as "1895" in honor of the founding date of RBFA. The following year, 1895 included 24,000 members. The huge fascination with the football team has been evident by the occasionally-present presence of Belgian monarchs at matches since 1914. One of the most memorable moment to Belgian football Belgian group and its 12th player was mid-1986, when the Belgian team participating in the Mexico World Cup received a warm "welcome home". As they were the World Cup semi-finalists appeared on the balcony of Brussels Town Hall, the adjacent Grand Place square was filled with a raucous crowd who were cheering like their team had won an important tournament.

The team's decline following the 2002 World Cup lead to their being absent from the final phases of the subsequent five major tournaments, which diminished their popularity. From 2004 to 2010, Belgian media described the Belgian football nation "mortally sick". The fans who remained backing their team through tough moments, Ludo Rollenberg was one of the most loyal. He was present at all matches throughout the world from 1990. He missed all but one match in 1999, the Japanese Kirin Cup and two other games in 2006 and was the sole fan to go to their matches in Armenia in 2009.

Before the start of the 2014. World Cup home qualifier, Belgium's footballers witnessed the first Tifo banner that measured 10.5 by 11.5 meters (34 by 38 feet) featuring a devil dressed in the national colors. The presence of numerous Belgian players in the top leagues outside of the country, like the Premier League, and promising performances under Marc Wilmots, increased fans confidence and enthusiasm for an enthralling World Cup campaign. In light of this increased popularity 2 Belgian monuments were adorned in national colours during 2014. FIFA World Cup event; the Manneken Pis statue was given an infant-sized version of the latest Belgian uniform, while facets on the upper sphere decorated with black, yellow as well as red.

The biggest rivals of Belgium's football team are its neighboring countries, that are the Netherlands and France and France, with whom they have the same political and cultural ties. The game with both the Belgian team and the Dutch team is called"the Low Countries derby. As in May 2018, they've played against each other in 126 official games. Belgium won the first four--unofficial--matches against the Netherlands, but lost their first FIFA-recognised contest. Two national squads played every two years during 1905 to 1964 excluding in their respective World Wars. They've played 18 times during major tournaments, and played at the very minimum 35 friendly cup games at home at home in Belgium to play the Coupe Vanden Abeele, and in the Netherlands for the Rotterdamsch Nieuwsblad Beker. The overall score favors the Netherlands winning 55 times against 41 Belgian wins. It is worth noting that the Low Countries' squads co-operated in fundraising efforts from 1925 to 1941. they played five games that were not official to raise money for charities, FIFA and the Belgian Olympic Committee.

The match among teams from the Belgian and French teams is known as the Match Sympathique in French ("the Friendly Match"); they've played up to 74 official games as of September of 2020. The first game of Belgium and France that was that of the Evence Coppee Trophy played in 1904, was the very first official match between both teams as well as the first football match played between two countries that were independent across the European continent. The two teams played almost every year. Since September of 20th, 2020 Belgium had the best performance, having won 30 times against France's 25. France has played the most frequently in opposition to Belgium on international matches.

Many venues, both former and present, within 11 cities have played host to Belgium's home games. The majority of these games were held within Brussels in the Heysel Plateau, on the site of the current King Baudouin Stadium, which is a multipurpose stadium with a maximum capacity of 50122. It is also where the team's final training sessions prior to domestic matches. Since 2007, the bulk of training sessions are held in Tubize's National Football Centre in Tubize and also at the Anderlecht's training facility located in the Neerpede quarter. Other than Belgian home friendly matches on the international stage, Belgium's national stadium also been the venue for the hosting of six European Championship matches.

In 1930, to celebrate the nation's centennial it was renamed in 1930 as Jubilee Stadium with an unofficial match between Belgium and the Netherlands. The stadium was able to hold 75,000. In 1946, the stadium was changed to Heysel Stadium after its city quarter. The name change was linked to the tragic events that occurred prior to that 1985 European Cup Final between Juventus and Liverpool 39 fans were killed in riots that occurred in the then dated stadium. After the tragedy, three years later the plans were revealed for a new design and in 1995, following two years of work the stadium that was renovated was named in honor of the late King Baudouin. In May 2013 in May 2013, the Brussels-Capital Region announced that the King Baudouin Stadium would be replaced by Eurostadium in a different area in the Heysel Plateau; in 2018 however, plan for the stadium was canceled completely.

As of the 30th of March, 2021, the total official record of the Belgian national team is 798 games: 348 draws, 348 wins, and 283 losses. The team scored 1,430 goals and allowed 1,270 goals. The most successful margin for winning is nine goals. It was achieved in four matches when they played Zambia during 1994 (9-0) three times in the games with San Marino in 2001 (10-1) and in 2019 (9-0) as well as with Gibraltar during the year 2017 (9-0). Their longest winning streak runs 12 wins. The most unbeaten record is 23 consecutive official games.

Since 1904 in 1904, the RBFA has had 24 permanent managers as well as two caretaker manager have been the head of the national team. This includes a national footballer selection officer. In June of 2016 the team of more than 20 RBFA employees oversees the players, which includes its Spanish coach Roberto Martinez, and goalkeeping coaches Erwin Lemmens and Inaki Bergara. Under the leadership of Marc Wilmots, Belgium reached the highest FIFA ranking position in 2015 which was the reason he was named the Most Outstanding Coach at the Globe Soccer Awards. In the time of Guy Thys, the squad had record-breaking results at the World as well as European championships. World Soccer magazine accordingly proclaimed his Manager of the Year in the year 1986.

Instead of experimenting with new teams or ways that played, Belgian coaches employed traditional tactics. In the three 1930s World Cups, the Red Devils were grouped with a current 3-5-2 "pyramid". In 1954, the team of Doug Livingstone was in a 3-3-5 "WM" arrangement for World Cup matches. Through the majority of their tournament matches during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s the team was in a 4-2-4 formation. In the years since Raymond Goethals' stint in the 1970s, one of the major advantage of the Belgian team is their utilization of an offside trap, which was a defensive strategy which was extensively used during the 60s under Anderlecht Coach Pierre Sinibaldi. According to journalist for football Wim De Bock "master tacticalist" Goethals was the embodiment of the "conservative defense-oriented football style in the Belgian national team" He also said that during the 1970s, the difference between Belgian play approach and Total Football of their Dutch counterparts "could not be greater".

In a bid to win a game during the 1998 World Cup, Georges Leekens picked a 4-3-3 formation for Belgium's third and second group games. Robert Waseige, Belgium coach around 2000, claimed that "above all the other things, his system of 4-4-2 was a holy system" in that he kept good attackers on the bench, allowing his favorite formation. Wilmots chose to use the same 4-3-3 formation with the aim of playing a strong football team against any nation. In the time of Wilmots, Belgium managed to get into in 2014's World Cup where the team fell to Argentina in the quarter-finals. Following another qualifying to the 2016 European Championships under Wilmots and an earlier loss in the quarter-finals with Wales, Wilmots was replaced by Roberto Martinez. Martinez was the captain of Belgium through a very successful World Cup in 2018. World Cup, reaching 3rd position overall following losing in the semi-finals against France.

On May 18, 2022 32 players were picked to the squad for the 2022-23 UEFA Nations League matches on 3 8, 10 as well as 13 June 2022, against Netherlands, Poland (twice) and Wales in turn. Eden Hazard returned to the team in the for first time since his ankle surgery, and the addition of Thorgan Hazard, Thomas Meunier and Jason Denayer returning from injury. Newcomers included Lois Openda and Amadou Onana The most notable absences included Divock Origi, Christian Benteke, Jeremy Doku and the Union SG duo Siebe Van der Heyden and Dante Vanzeir. It was the first time that since 2006's FIFA World Cup qualification match against Serbia and Montenegro in November 2004 Club Brugge had more than three players named to the team (Mignolet, Mechele, Vanaken and De Ketelaere).

The 31st of May, 2022 both Thibaut Courtois (Athletic pubalgia) and Jason Denayer (unfit) dropped from the squad. On the 11th of June, 2022 following the match against Wales the the head coach Roberto Martinez announced that Yannick Carrasco, Kevin De Bruyne and Thomas Meunier had been given a rest and wouldn't be in the squad for the final game against Poland. The next day, Romelu Lukaku, Dedryck Boyata and Amadou Onana have also been removed from the team, Lukaku still not having fully recovered from his injury during the match against Netherlands, Boyata and Onana considered unfit.

The information is correct up to 14 June 2022, following the game against Poland.

Between 1904 and 1980 mostly attack-oriented Belgium players were regarded as excellent footballers. In the first decade of the team the attacker Robert De Veen was very prolific, scoring 26 goals over 23 international games. Richard Henshaw described Alphonse Six as "Belgium's most successful player during before war ... He was frequently referred to as the most skilled forward outside of Great Britain". The most important player in the winning 1920 Olympic team is Robert Coppee, who scored three goals in the match against Spanish's Ricardo Zamora, and the penalty in the final. Another notable Belgian strikers during the period between wars were the former top scorers Bernard Voorhoof and "Belgium's football master" Raymond Braine, considered "one of the greatest footballers of the time".

The most gifted players of the 1940s and 1950s were centre back Louis Carre and attackers Jef Mermans, Pol Anoul and Rik Coppens and at the 1954 World Cup, Anoul shone with three goals and the daily newspaper L'Equipe identified Coppens the best centre forward. The 1960s and beginning of the 1970s marked the golden times for forwards and the all-time Belgian Golden Shoe Paul Van Himst, later named Belgian UEFA Golden Player of 1954-2003 as well as Belgium's Player of the Century by IFFHS.
Eden Hazard, current team captain and the second highest scorer for Belgium.

In the 1995 Ballon d'Or, Van Himst placed fourth in the rankings, making the highest position ever achieved by Belgium in the European soccer election. After a decade, Coppens as well as Van Himst been retired from the game, a reporter from the Flemish TV program asked the pair "Who from both of youwas the most successful in the end?". Coppens said: "I will ask Paul to confirm that ... If Paul declares that it is me then it's correct". In 1966 the year of his birth, players like striker Raoul Lambert and defending midfielder Wilfried Van Moer were drafted into the national team. While the UEFA recognized Lambert for his talents in Euro 1972, Van Moer received three Golden Shoes and equalled Van Himst's fourth place in the 1980 Ballon d'Or.
Belgium has witnessed two exciting waves since the year 1980, in which a few players in defensive positions made international headlines. In the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s, goalkeepers Jean Marie Pfaff and Michel Preud'homme both were named the top custodians of the FIFA World Cups, while FIFA recognized the midfielders Jan Ceulemans and Enzo Scifo as the main driving forces behind the Belgium 1986 FIFA World Cup team. In 2002, when the players of this generation had left the team, Marc Wilmots became Belgium's most prolific goal scorer at the World Cup with five goals.

From 2002 until 2012, when Belgium did not qualify for major tournaments, a second golden generation grew older with many who won excellent individual and team accolades in foreign European top teams and tournaments. This includes the defender Vincent Kompany, midfielder Kevin De Bruyne who is considered to be one of the top midfielders to attack in the world and in his generation and the winger Eden Hazard, who has been called the one among Chelsea F.C. one of the best players ever, and is among the most outstanding footballers as a player in the team. and is ranked second only to Romelu Lukaku in Belgium's all-time leading scorer's list. The most prestigious players of the golden generation include Thibaut Courtois Jan Vertonghen, Dries Mertens and Toby Alderweireld. They helped Belgium to finish in third position of the 2018, the FIFA World Cup, the team's highest score at the tournament , and also reach the top spot on the FIFA rankings twice in 2015 and 2016.

Belgium individual records :

In the 14th of June, 2022 The RBFA list 707 of the players that played for the senior men's national team. With 139 caps as per the RBFA, Jan Vertonghen has the most appearances for Belgium. Eden Hazard started the most games in the role of Captain (54). Hector Goetinck had the longest career as an international player seventeen years, six months and 10 weeks

Romelu Lukaku has the distinction of being the top scoring Belgium player, scoring his 68 goals. The players who scored the most goals in a single game include Robert De Veen, Bert De Cleyn, and Josip Weber who scored 5 goals. De Veen also holds the record for highest number of hat-tricks scored with three. The fastest goal scored by Belgium after the start came from Christian Benteke, 8.1 seconds into the game against Gibraltar on the 10th of October, the 10th of October in 2016.

Belgium did not make it past the initial round of their five initial World Cup participations. After two defeats without scoring in the first World Cup in 1930, Belgium scored in their knockout games in the first round in the 1938 and 1934 editions, but just enough to preserve their reputation. They won the 1954 World Cup, but played against England (4-4 following extra time) and in the year 1970 they took the first World Cup match, against El Salvador (3-0).

From 1982 until 2002 Belgium were able to participate in six consecutive World Cups, and in the finals of the tournament, they made it past in the initial round 5 times. In 1982's FIFA World Cup opener, Belgium defeated the defending champions Argentina by a score of 1-0. The tournament was ended in the second stage of the group with the scoring of a Polish three-point win by Zbigniew Boniek as well as losing 1-0 to the Soviet Union.

In Mexico 1986 The Belgian team enjoyed their most successful World Cup run at the time. In the knockout stage, as underdogs, they defeated the Soviets in an extra period (3-4) and the non-noticed offside positioning in the game of Jan Ceulemans, during the initial 90 minutes, enabled him to draw level (2-2) and make the game go to extra time. They also defeated Spain in a penalty shoot-out , following the match ended 1-1 however they losing to the eventual winners Argentina in the semi-finals, in a 2-0 loss, and France to France in their final game (4-2).

The 1990 FIFA World Cup, Belgium were dominant in their second round encounter in the second round against England; Enzo Scifo and Jan Ceulemans hit the woodwork. David Platt's shot in the closing second of the extra-time which was called "nearly blind" by Richard Witzig, avoided an apparent goalless draw that resulted in the sudden demotion from the Belgians.

A 3-2 loss to the defending champions Germany was enough to see Belgium be eliminated during the round two. Afterward the entire Belgian delegation criticized the referee Kurt Rothlisberger for not awarding the penalty for a foul committed by Belgian Josip Weber. Three draws during the group phase in 1998's World Cup were insufficient for Belgium to progress to the knockout phase. Two draws were enough to ensure that in 2002, the FIFA World Cup started poorly for Belgium however they did win the game that decided their group against Russia 3-1. The second game of the tournament played the eventual World Cup winners Brazil; Belgium fell 2-0, after Marc Wilmots' headed opening goal was disallowed for an "phantom violation" in the direction of Roque Junior, as Witzig described it.

The year 2014 saw Belgium won all group opponents by a single goal difference. Then they played a thrilling round of 16 game in their American counterparts. United States, in which American goalkeeper Tim Howard made 15 saves. They did beat America United States 2-1 in extra time. In a semi-final that was evenly matched, Argentina eliminated Belgium, with a 1-0 win.

In this year's World Cup, Belgium started with five consecutive wins (including group victories over Panama, Tunisia and England). In the fourth match, the Round of 16 game against Japan the team faced a significant setback in the second half after losing 0-2. But, Japan which displays a extremely open and aggressive game and does not have enough time to withdraw from defense, leaving lots of open spaces for players like the Red Devils, which take advantage of this Japanese ignorance and their athletic and physical superiority to change the course and ultimately beat them (3-2) thanks to goals scored by Jan Vertonghen as well as later replacements Marouane Fellaini, and Nacer Chadli. This allowed for an unlikely historic victory. Belgium also defeated World Cup favourites Brazil 2-1 with the help of an early Fernandinho goal, and an own goal from Kevin De Bruyne, and made it to the semi-finals. Belgium were defeated by France 1-1 in the semi-finals, since France exhibits a approach to play that is not like the one played by Japan by relying mostly on a tough defense, with possession being given to opponents and quick counter-attacks (which caused some to criticize Belgian players about the French way of playing) however, they came back to prevail 2-0, their second win against England in the tournament . They were able to finish third and get the greatest ever World Cup result for the Belgian national team. A few players who played a major role included players like captain Eden Hazard, Thibaut Courtois and Romelu Lukaku, who were later recognized as such by FIFA as the tournament's second top player (Silver Ball), best goalkeeper (Golden Glove) and third highest scorers (Bronze Boot), respectively.

With only six qualifying campaigns, out of 16 Belgium's performance at the European Championship does not compare with the World Cup record, yet it has the most impressive record compared with that of their World Cup performance. Belgium has hosted or co-hosted the tournament twice. They were picked to host the UEFA Euro 1972 from three hopefuls, and then hosted UEFA Euro 2000 with the Netherlands.

In Euro 1972, Belgium finished third following a 1-2 loss to West Germany and beating Hungary with a score of 2-1. Belgium's most impressive continental performance was their second place finish as a team at Euro 1980 in Italy. After finishing as winner of the tournament, Belgium reached the final and faced West Germany. It was West German Horst Hrubesch scored first however Rene Vandereycken equalised courtesy of an injury. A few minutes before normal time of play ended, Hrubesch scored again denying Belgium an historic European title.

In Euro 1984, in their final and most decisive match in the group against Denmark at Euro 1984, the Belgian team had a 0-2 advantage however the Danes took the win by a score of 3-2. After 16 years, Belgium automatically reappeared at the UEFA national team tournament as co-hosts. Following their victory in the Euro 2000 opener against Sweden with a score of 2-1, two defeats of 2-0 in the final against champions Italy as well as Turkey removed Italy and Turkey from the tournament. Belgians in the event at the final stage of the group.

Despite having won by wide margins against Republic of Ireland (3-0) and Hungary (0-4) at Euro 2016, Belgium exited in the quarterfinals. Similar to the qualifiers for the tournament, Wales defeated Belgium. The score was 3-1.

Senior men's football tournaments for national teams were played during Six Summer Olympics from 1908 between 1908 and 1936. The Belgian team participated in three of the Football games at the Summer Olympics in the 1920s and also kept the gold medal home during The 1920 Olympics. Outside of the Belgian national squad, there were two additional Belgian teams were present in the Olympics. In 1900's Summer Olympics there was a Belgian team comprised of mostly students was awarded bronze. in the 2008 edition the Belgian U-23 team came in fourth.

The 1920 Olympics team received an early exit to the quarter-finals. They defeated 3-1 Spain and made it to the semi-finals in which they defeated the Netherlands by a score of 3-0. In the opening half of the final against Czechoslovakia in the first half, the Belgians had a 2-0 lead. For forward Robert Coppee converted a disputed penalty early as well as the way wherein defender Henri Lennoe added a second goal was an issue of debate. Following the expulsion of Czechoslovak Left-back Karel Steiner in the 40th minute, unhappy players left the field within the final minute of the game. After that, the opposition team took their reasons for protesting to the Olympics management; their complaints were deemed to be untrue in the end and Czechoslovaks were exiled. The score of 2-0 was permitted to stand, and Belgium were declared champions.

Football at the Summer Olympics has been an under-23 tournament since 1992 (with three players of over 23 years of age allowed in the squad).

The past of Belgium's participation as a participant in FIFA World Rankings. The table displays the position Belgium was in at the end of December every year (and the position currently at the time of 2021) and the top and bottom positions each year.

• FIFA World Cup

  • Third place: 2018
  • Fourth place: 1986

• UEFA European Championship

  • Runners-up: 1980
  • Third place: 1972

• Football at the Summer Olympics

  • Gold medal: 1920
  • Bronze medal: 1900
  • Fourth place: 2008

• UEFA Nations League

  • Fourth place: 2021