Belgia

Early history

Belgium was one of the first mainland European countries to play association football, with the earliest recorded example of its practice in Belgium dating back to 1863.

On 11 October 1900, Beerschot AC honorary president Jorge Díaz announced that Antwerp would host a series of challenge matches between Europe's best football teams. After some organisational problems, on 28 April 1901, Beerschot's pitch hosted its first tournament, in which a Belgian selection and a Dutch team made up of players from third-level sides led by ex-footballer Cees van Hasselt contested the Coupe Vanden Abeele. Naturally, the hosts had little trouble claiming the cup, defeating the Netherlands by 8–0. Belgium then beat the Netherlands in all three follow-up matches; FIFA does not recognize these results because Belgium fielded some English players, such as Herbert Potts, who scored 12 of "Belgium's" 17 goals.

On 1 May 1904, the Belgians played their first official match, against France at the Stade du Vivier d'Oie in Uccle; their draw left the Évence Coppée Trophy unclaimed. Twenty days later, the football boards of both countries were among the seven FIFA founders. At that time, the Belgian squad was chosen by a committee chaired by Édouard de Laveleye, who usually drew from the country's six or seven major clubs. Belgium would play twice a year against the Netherlands beginning from 1905 onwards, generally once in Antwerp and once in Rotterdam. From these beginnings until 1925, Belgian-Dutch cup trophies would be awarded in the "Low Countries derby".

In 1906, the national team players received the nickname Red Devils because of their red jerseys, and four years later, Scottish ex-footballer William Maxwell replaced the UBSSA committee as their manager. From 1912, UBSSA governed football only and was renamed UBSFA. During the Great War, the national team only played unrecognized friendlies, with matches in and against France.

Olympic gold and World Cup struggles

At the 1920 Summer Olympic, in their first official Olympics appearance, the Red Devils won the gold medal on home soil after a controversial final in which their Czechoslovak opponents left the pitch. In the three 1920s Summer Olympic, they achieved fair results (four wins in seven matches), and played their first intercontinental match, against Argentina.

However, over the following decade, Belgium lost all of their matches at the first three FIFA World Cup final tournament. According to historian Richard Henshaw, "[t]he growth of [football] in Scandinavia, Central Europe, and South America left Belgium far behind". Although World War II hindered international football events in the 1940s, the Belgian team remained active with unofficial matches against squads of other allied nations.

Belgium qualified for only one of eight major tournament during the 1950s and the 1960s: the 1954 World Cup. The day before the tournament began, the RBFA was among the three UEFA founders. Dutch journalists considered the draw of the 1954 Belgian team in their opener against England to be the most surprising result of that match day, even more than Switzerland's victory over the Italian "football stars". However, Belgium were eliminated after a loss to Italy in the second (and last) group match. Two bright spots in these decades were wins against World Cup holders: West Germany in 1954, and Brazil in 1963. Between these, Belgium defeated Hungary's Golden Team in 1956. The combination of failure in competitive matches, and success in exhibition matches, gave the Belgians the mock title of "world champions of the friendlies".

The team's performance improved during the early 1970s, under manager Raymond Goethals. Fully dressed in white, as the White Devils, Belgium had their first victories at World and European Championship at the 1970 World Cup and Euro 1972. En route to that Euro appearance, their first, they eliminated reigning European champions Italy by winning the two-legged quarter-final on aggregate. At the end stage, they finished third by winning the consolation match against Hungary. In 1973, the denial of a match-winning goal in their last 1974 FIFA World Cup qualification match for UEFA Group 3 cost Belgium their appearance at the final, causing Belgium to become the only nation ever to miss a World Cup final round despite not allowing a goal during the qualifiers. The next two attempts to reach a major final were also fruitless.

Golden age

Beginning with a second-place finish at Euro 1980, the 1980s and the early 1990s are generally considered as Belgium's first golden age. Coached by Guy Thys, they achieved their spot in the 1980 final with an unbeaten record in the group phase; in the final, they narrowly lost the title to West Germany with the score 1–2. Starting with the 1982 World Cup, and ending with the 2002 World Cup, the national team qualified for six consecutive World Cup end stages and mostly progressed to the second round. During this period, managers Guy Thys, Paul Van Himst and Robert Waseige each guided a Belgian selection past the first round. In addition to receiving individual FIFA recognitions, the team reached the semi-finals of the 1986 World Cup. After reaching the Euro 1980 final, they were unsuccessful at subsequent European Championship, with early exits from their appearances in 1984 and in 2000. During the late 1990s, they played three friendly tournament in Morocco, Cyprus and Japan, sharing the 1999 Kirin Cup with Peru in the latter. The greatest talents of the Belgian team during this golden age were retired from international football by 2000. At the eve of the World Cup in 2002, Belgium defeated reigning world and European champions France. During that World Cup, Belgium defeated Russia and tied with co-host Japan and Tunisia to reach the round of 16.

After the 2002 World Cup, the team weakened with the loss of more veterans and coach Waseige. They missed out five successive major finals from UEFA Euro 2004 until UEFA Euro 2012, and went through an equal number of head coaches. A 2005 win over reigning European champions Greece meant nothing but a small comfort. In between, a promising new generation was maturing at the 2007 European U-21 Championship; Belgium's squad qualified for the following year's Summer Olympic in Beijing, where the Young Red Devils squad finished fourth. Seventeen of them appeared in the senior national team, albeit without making an immediate impact. Belgium finished in second (and last) place at the Kirin Cup in May 2009, and lost against the 125th FIFA-ranked Armenian team in September 2009. After Georges Leekens' second stint as national manager, his assistant Marc Wilmots became the caretaker in May 2012.

Recent history

After two matches as interim coach, Wilmots agreed to replace Leekens as manager. Following his appointment, the team's results improved, such that some foreign media regarded it as another Belgian golden generation. The young Belgian squad qualified as unbeaten group winners for the 2014 World Cup final, and earned Belgium's second-ever place in a World Cup quarter-finals with a four-match winning streak. Belgium qualified for UEFA Euro 2016 with a match to spare in October 2015, and took the top spot in the FIFA World Ranking for the first time in November 2015, to stay first for five months. In the following year, Belgium could not confirm their role as outsider at the European Championship with a quarter-finals elimination by the 26th FIFA-ranked Welsh team. This prompted the RBFA to dismiss Wilmots. In the 2018 World Cup qualifying allocation, they were seeded first in their group, and made the final tournament under Spanish manager Roberto Martínez, becoming the first European team besides hosts Russia to do so. Belgium was eliminated in the semi-finals by eventual champions France, but won the third place play-off against England. On 16 November 2019, for the first time in its history the team topped the World Football Elo Ratings, after a 1–4 away win over Russia during the Euro 2020 qualifiers.

Despite the impressive form in the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers as well as being regarded as the biggest contender for the European trophy, the tournament became a complete disappointment for Belgium. Being drawn in Group B alongside Russia, Denmark and Finland, Belgium easily conquered the group with three wins. In the knockout phase, Belgium first faced reigning champions Portugal in the last sixteen and survived the scare with a thunder strike from Thorgan Hazard to give Belgium a 1–0 win. In the quarter-finals, Belgium once again faced old foe Italy, but Belgium failed to take revenge for their 2016 loss, once again suffering a 1–2 defeat, with the goal being scored by Romelu Lukaku, ending Belgium's campaign on a sad note.

At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Belgium were drawn into Group F alongside Croatia, Morocco and Canada. Despite starting their campaign well with a 1–0 victory over Canada, they then suffered a shock 2–0 defeat to Morocco, and following a 0–0 draw with Croatia in their final group game, Belgium were knocked out of the tournament at the group stages for the first time since 1998. Following their elimination from the tournament, Martínez announced that he would be standing down as head coach after six years in charge of the national team.

In February 2023, it was announced that Domenico Tedesco has been appointed as the new head coach of the Belgian national team, replacing Roberto Martinez. Tedesco's first match as the head coach will be the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying match against Sweden on 24 March. This is Tedesco's first national coaching job, having previously worked at a club level with Schalke 04, Spartak Moscow, and RB Leipzig. Tedesco is contracted until the end of the UEFA Euro 2024 competitions.