The 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 team Belgium played several matches but the squad contained some English players so it was not added to the palmares. 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 starting 1905, generally once in
Antwerp and once in
Rotterdam . At that time, the national squad was chosen by a committee of representatives of the 6 or 7 main clubs.
The team was nicknamed ''Les Diables Rouges'' ("The Red Devils") by journalist
Pierre Walckiers after its victory to the Netherlands (Rotterdam, 1906), 2-3.
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
1960 s at
RSC Anderlecht under French coach
Paul Sinibaldi . The 1980s and early 1990s are generally considered the strongest period 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 hard to play against. The team's rigorous organization was reinforced by a few world-class players such as goalkeeper
Jean-Marie Pfaff , right-back
Eric Gerets , or playmaker
Enzo Scifo . However, the team was prone to uneven motivation, sometimes performing poorly aginst 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 future world champion
Brazil , who won 2-0 with some difficulty in the knockout phase of the
2002 World Cup . Since then, however, the team has steadily slipped down the rankings though, and hasn't been able to extend its past reputation.
After failing to qualify for the
2006 World Cup for the first time in 28 years, 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 .
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 , or
Sweden . It holds the longest streak of qualifying for World Cups via the qualifying tournament, with six (
1982 -
2002 ), tying
Italy for the all-time record. 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 will be the first for which the defending champion does not automatically qualify.)
Belgium's best-ever World Cup run was in
1986 when they placed fourth, losing to eventual champions
Argentina in the semifinal (1-2) and to
France in the third-place match (2-4) after extra time.
Belgium's performance in the
European Championships 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 and being one of the major disappointments of the
2000 edition with a first-round exit.
- 1960 - ''Did not qualify''
- 1964 - ''Did not qualify''
- 1968 - ''Did not qualify''
- 1972 - Third place
- 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
- 2004 - ''Did not qualify''
Belgium won the
Olympic Gold Medal in
1920 , and the Bronze Medal in
1900 .
As of
January 29 ,
2006 the 22 most capped players for Belgium are:
Other notable players who have represented Belgium include (note, this is not a comprehensive list):
- ' denotes a player still playing or available for selection.
''As of
January 29 ,
2006 :''
- denotes a player still playing or available for selection.
Before 1910, a committee of the Belgian federation selected the players.
