Belgium National Football Team

Belgium National Football Team

Belgisch nationaal voetbalelftal
(Royal Belgian Football Association(RBFA))
Founded in 1895

The Belgium men’s national football team represents Belgium in international competition and is governed by the Royal Belgian Football Association. A founding member of FIFA and a central participant in UEFA, Belgium has been a fixture in international football since playing its first official match in 1904. The majority of home matches are played at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels.

Belgium has competed regularly at the highest level of international football, qualifying for fourteen FIFA World Cups and six UEFA European Championships, as well as appearing in multiple Olympic football tournaments. Their greatest early triumph came at the 1920 Olympic Games, where Belgium claimed the gold medal. Over the decades, the national team has earned a reputation for challenging the world’s elite, recording notable victories against reigning world champions across multiple eras.

The national team, known as the Red Devils, has experienced two defining golden generations. The first, spanning the 1980s and early 1990s, saw Belgium reach the final of UEFA Euro 1980 and finish fourth at the 1986 FIFA World Cup. The second emerged in the 2010s, when Belgium rose to the top of the FIFA World Rankings for the first time and secured a third-place finish at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, marking the nation’s best modern-era result.

In the contemporary era, Belgium continues to be regarded as one of Europe’s most competitive national teams, combining technical quality, depth, and tournament experience. Despite not yet lifting a World Cup or European Championship trophy, the Red Devils’ sustained presence near the summit of international football underscores their status as a leading force in the modern game.