After crashing out in the group stage during the last World Cup in 2022, Belgium’s Red Devils are looking to bounce back at this year’s World Cup in North America.
This year’s edition will take place across three countries, although the vast majority of the 104 matches will be played in the USA. It’s Mexico City, though, which hosts tonight’s curtain-raiser between Mexico and South Africa. The fixture, a repeat of the 2010 edition's opening match, is one of five matches set to be played at the iconic Estadio Azteca in the south of the city.
Belgium, meanwhile, are gearing up to make their entrance next Monday, 15 June. If their recent warm-up matches are anything to go by, the Red Devils are coming into the World Cup in encouraging form following two disappointing tournaments.
Their 2-0 victory in Croatia last week notably saw Romelu Lukaku score his first international goal in over a year. Belgium’s all-time top scorer (89 goals for his country) has struggled this past season with various injuries, and has only played around an hour of action with Napoli. He made his return to action with a second-half cameo against the 2018 World Cup finalists, scoring in stoppage time to seal the win.
Last Saturday’s rout of Tunisia (5-0) in Brussels was a less cagey affair and saw five different goalscorers, with Leandro Trossard and Kevin De Bruyne notably getting their names on the scoresheet. The result made it 13 consecutive matches unbeaten for the Red Devils.
'This team can achieve great things'
“We know that this team can achieve great things,” head coach Rudi Garcia, who was hired midway though last year, said after the match. “We just need to make sure we’re not only a team that attacks, but also one that defends as a unit.”
The French manager has shied away from setting a specific goal for his team in America, aside from making it out of the group stage. “In every job I’ve had, I’ve always exceeded the objectives I was given,” the former Roma, Marseille, and Napoli coach nevertheless told Le Soir earlier this week. “On paper, we’re not supposed to be going all the way, but we’ll see.”
Lukaku and his teammates spent most of the last two weeks at the national team’s training centre, which fittingly straddles the regional border just north of Tubize. The team briefly had to relocate to Anderlecht when a fire broke out in the Walloon Brabant municipality, but they were only kept away for a few days.
“Everyone is ready for what we want to achieve,” Leandro Trossard explained earlier in the week. The Arsenal forward was the last to join up with the squad due to his Champions League commitments.
The team arrived at their tournament base camp in Seattle on Tuesday afternoon. While visa rejections have been a prominent theme of the build-up to the World Cup, Rudi Garcia and his players will have had no issues entering the host country.
Belgium's players pictured at the departure of Belgian national soccer team the Red Devils from Brussels Airport, Monday 08 June 2026, in Zaventem. BELGA PHOTO BRUNO FAHY
Who will Belgium be playing?
The Red Devils kick off their campaign next Monday in that same city, where they will play against Mohamed Salah’s Egypt. They then take on Iran in Los Angeles the following Sunday, before facing New Zealand in Vancouver five days later.
Despite the difference in time zones, fans will be able to watch the first two group stage matches at sociable hours, with both starting at 21:00 CEST. The game against New Zealand will be a sterner test of their support, though, with a kick-off time of 05:00 back home.
On the ground, Belgium's second group stage fixture will involve elaborate logistics for their opponents, with the Iran squad having been forced to move their base camp across to Tijuana. Although 'Team Melli' were one of the first teams to qualify, their presence at this year’s tournament had been in jeopardy following the launch of the US-Israeli war on the country.
After an approach from FIFA, Mexico agreed to host the Iran squad, which will travel in and out of the United States in order to play their group-stage matches. While the entire playing squad received their US visas on time last week, the Iranian authorities also claimed that several members of the delegation were denied entry into the host country.
How far can Belgium go?
Should Belgium advance as group winners, they would face one of the third-placed teams from the other groups (eight out of 12 will go through to the knockouts as part of the 48-team format) in Seattle.
In the following rounds, they could cross paths with the USA, Spain, and later Germany, France, or The Netherlands on their way to a prospective final in New York.
Belgium’s third-place finish at the 2018 edition was the country’s best-ever World Cup performance. Among Red Devils fans, though, there is a lingering feeling that the country’s ‘Golden Generation’ will have had the potential to achieve much more.
Belgium's head coach Rudi Garcia talks to his players during a friendly soccer game between Belgian national team Red Devils and Tunisia, Saturday 06 June 2026 in Brussels. BELGA PHOTO VIRGINIE LEFOUR
Who are the Belgian players to watch?
In the last few years, the World Cup bronze medallists have slowly made way for a new cohort of Belgian players.
This year’s squad does still feature some of the leading lights of that era, including De Bruyne, Lukaku, and Thibaut Courtois (who is back in the national team set-up after falling out with previous head coach Domenico Tedesco). All three will likely be making their final World Cup appearances.
The oldest player in the squad, 37-year-old Axel Witsel, is also expected to play an important role in Belgium's World Cup run. Other core players from the 'Golden Generation', such as Eden Hazard, Vincent Kompany, and Jan Vertonghen, have retired in the last few years.
A new group of key players has emerged in the meantime, with Manchester City winger Jérémy Doku in particular impressing in his national team outings (he set up two of the goals against Tunisia). Diego Moreira, the son of Standard Liège icon Almami Moreira, is a similarly impactful player who was plucked from the under-21 team only last year.
Among the other rising stars who could make the difference for the Red Devils is the 21-year-old forward Matías Fernández-Pardo. The Brussels native, who was also eligible to represent Spain or Italy, had his breakout season for Lille this year, unseating Olivier Giroud as the French team's starting striker.
Rudi Garcia will hope that the blend of experience and youth in this year's squad can be a winning combination.
