Belgium History

Belgium

Profile:

Name: Belgium National Football team

Nickname: Rode Duivels/ Diables Rouges (Red Devils)

Association: Belgian Football Association

Confederation: UEFA (Europe)

Stadium:  King Baudouin Stadium

Founded: 1895

Head Coach: Rene Vandereycken

Captain: Timmy Simons

History:

The national football team of Belgium was founded in 1895; however the Belgium Football Association got affiliated to FIFA in the year 1904 and with the UEFA in 1954. The team played its first official match on first of May, in the year 1904. It was a match against France and the result of the match was a 3-3 draw between the two teams. On April 28, 1901 Belgium defeated Netherlands by a score of 8-0. But since there were Englishmen in the team these matches were not given their due recognition. It was later decided that Belgium would play twice a year against Netherlands, from the year 1905. It was also decided that tentatively they would play in Antwerp once and once in Rotterdam. During that time, the national team was selected by a committee that consisted representatives from 6 or 7 main clubs.

It is nice to know how the team got its nickname. It was a journalist named Pierre Walckiers who gave the team a nick name after they won a match over Netherlands by 3-2 in Rotterfdam in the year 1906. The nick name Red Devils gained a lot of popularity thereafter. The following sixty years saw Belgium establish itself as a very strong second-tier team. The team rarely did win a match or two but was tough to play against, at home as well as away. This team was known for a unique feature that was developed in the 1960’s at Anderlecht by the then French coach Pierre Sinibaldi. This technique was called the systematic offside trap and it was a defensive tactic. The world Cup records in these sixty years were not very impressive but, definitely the position of the team could not be ignored. In the year 1930 they qualified for Round 1. In the years 1934 and 1938 they again qualified for Round 1 and in the year 1950 they withdrew from the match. After this they did qualify twice until the 80’s for round one, once in 1954 and again in 1970. However, they could not qualify in the years 1958, 1962, 1966, 1974 and 1978. The team’s performance in the European Championship was not like what it was in the World Cup until 1980’s. In 1960, 1964, 1968 and 1976 they did not qualify. But in the year 1972 they won the third place and in the year 1980 they were runners up. It was the most memorable moment for the team to win the Olympics Gold Medal in the year 1920. 

The team was very strong during the 1980s and 1990s. Guy Thys, the then coach who had coached for more than 100 official games, was known to have made Belgium’s team a well organized and very competitive team. During this time the team had a lot of world class players. In the World cups that followed after 1980s the results were impressive. In the year 1982, 1990, 1994 and 2002 they made it to the Round 2. In the year 1998 they made it to the Round one and in the year 1986 they were also known to be at the fourth place. 1980 was the year where they made it to being the runners up in the European Championship. In the champions league also they had some credentials. In the years 1984 and 2000 they made it to the Round one.

Until the year 2002 the big teams did not like to play against Belgium as they had slipped down the ranks. It was very sad to know that the team could not qualify for the 2006 World Cup for the first time in its past history of 24 years. The contract of the then national coach Aime Anthuenuis was not renewed after 2005. Only on 22^nd December 2005 was it declared that Rene Vandereycken would replace the then coach from January 1^st 2006. Kazakhstan was on the top list of competitors since August 2006. The team managed to gain trust of the locals by winning matches against Slovakia and Turkey but, unfortunately they played hopelessly and could not win against Kazakhstan. The situation got out of hand when they lost to Poland in their Home ground. These were bad days for the team. However, it got worst when the team could not qualify for 2008 European Championship.