Traditionally, Belgium'sgreatest rival is theNetherlands. The two countries have met each other twice in the history of the FIFA World Cup, with one win for Belgium (USA 1994) and one draw (France 1998). The team that has played the most against Belgium in the finals is the continuumUSSR-Russia: five times, with three victories for Belgium and two for the Soviet Union.[1]
Belgium's best finish in the World Cup is third, at theRussia 2018 tournament. Belgium previously finished fourth in theMexico 1986 competition.
Belgian's first five appearances at the FIFA World Cup between 1930 and 1970 were not successful, as they failed to advance beyond the first round. After two scoreless defeats at theinaugural World Cup in 1930, Belgium scored their first two World Cup goals in1934 againstGermany, by virtue ofBernard Voorhoof. However, both in 1934 and1938 the Red Devils went out with a single loss. In1954 they heldEngland to a draw (4–4) and in1970 they achieved their first World Cup win, againstEl Salvador (3–0).
Belgium qualified for six successive World Cups from 1982 to 2002, and reached the second phase in five of these tournaments. Their fourth-place finish in the1986 was the best placing in their World Cup history until2018, when they finished third after beatingEngland 2–0 inSaint Petersburg.
According to journalist Henry Guldemont, some of his Swiss colleagues regarded the 1954 Belgian team as "favourites for the world title" after a promising 4–4 opener againstEngland.[3][4] However, in the second and last group match againstItaly, Belgium was defeated 1–4 and was unable to proceed to the finals.
In the first game of the1982 World Cup, held atCamp Nou, Belgium celebrated one of their most famous victories: a 1–0 win over the defending champions,Argentina, with a goal byErwin Vandenbergh. After reaching to the second group stage, Belgium lost 3–0 toPolish after ahat-trick fromZbigniew Boniek. Their last match against theSoviet Union ended in a 1–0 loss.
Four years later they achieved their best World Cup run to that point when they placed fourth atMexico 1986. Qualifying as one best third-placed teams, in the knockout phase Belgium surprisingly won againstSoviet Union after extra time (4–3), despite an opposing player,Igor Belanov, scoring ahat-trick.Brazil andAustria are the only other teams to have achieved this in the World Cup (in 1938 and 1954 respectively).[5] Belgium also beatSpain on penalties after a 1–1 draw, but they lost 2–0 to the eventual champions,Argentina, in the semi-finals, with both goals scored byDiego Maradona. In the third-place match Belgium lost toFrance 4–2 afterextra time. Theircaptain, Jan Ceulemans, and theirgoalkeeper,Jean-Marie Pfaff, were the first Belgian players to be selected in theAll-Star Team of a World Cup.Enzo Scifo was selected as thebest young player of the tournament.
In the1990 FIFA World Cup, Belgium survived the group phase by wins againstSouth Korea andUruguay (2–0 and 3–1). In the second round they did well againstEngland, dominating the match by periods and withEnzo Scifo even hitting the woodwork twice.[6] With a persisting 0–0 penalties seemed unavoidable, but eventually they lost in the last minute of extra time after a "nearly blind" volley byDavid Platt.[7] Scifo was elected as second best player of the 1990 World Cup afterLothar Matthäus.[8]
In the1994 FIFA World Cup two 1–0 wins in round 1 againstMorocco and theNetherlands were remarkably not enough to finish second, but Belgium advanced as they were among the best four third-placed teams. In the second round they lost to title defendersGermany (3–2). During this last game, the Belgians were frustrated that Swiss refereeKurt Röthlisberger had not awarded them a penalty kick when German defenderThomas Helmer brought down their strikerJosip Weber in the penalty area with a bump from behind.[9] After the match, Röthlisberger was sent home.Michel Preud'homme was elected asbest goalkeeper of the tournament.
In1998 Belgium was one of only three teams, along with hosts and eventual world championsFrance andItaly, not to lose a single game. Three draws in the first round – againstNetherlands,Mexico andSouth Korea – proved not enough to reach the knockout stage. In 1998Enzo Scifo andFranky Van der Elst appeared in their fourth World Cups, setting a Belgian record.
With two ties, the2002 FIFA World Cup did not start well for Belgium, but the team improved during the tournament. Captain Marc Wilmots was notable for scoring in every match of the first round. Belgium won the decisive group match againstRussia with 3–2 and in the second round they had to play against eventual championsBrazil. In this 1/8th final, refereePeter Prendergast disallowed a headed goal by Wilmots that would have given Belgium a 0–1 lead, after a "phantom foul" onRoque Júnior.[10] Eventually Brazil won 2–0, but Brazilian coachLuiz Felipe Scolari admitted after this match that Belgium was a tough edge and after the tournament he declared that the match against the Red Devils had been the hardest for Brazil to win.[11] With the World Cup final still to go, the team did winthe tournament's fair-play award.[12]Marc Wilmots equalled the record ofEnzo Scifo andFranky Van der Elst by appearing in 4 World Cup squads, although he did not play in his first World Cup in 1990. Wilmots also scored his 5th World Cup goal againstRussia, which made him Belgium's top scorer in World Cup Finals matches until the 2018 world cup whenRomelu Lukaku also scored his 5th World Cup goal.[13]
In2014, Belgium started as group favourites and beat all group opponents with the smallest margin. Thereafter, they advanced to the round of 16 and played theUnited States. The Red Devils neededextra time to proceed to the next stage (2–1), where they facedArgentina. In a balanced quarter-final against theAlbiceleste, the World Cup ended for Belgium as they failed to equalize afterGonzalo Higuaín's early goal.
^abcdThis is one of several goals for which the statistical details are disputed. The goalscorers and timings used here are those of FIFA, the official record. Some other sources, such as RSSSF, state a different scorer, timing, or both. See"World Cup 1930 finals".Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF).Archived from the original on 1 January 2007. Retrieved15 August 2010.
1 Have been member of multiple confederations.2 Considered a successor team by FIFA, or have competed under another name(s).3 Team and national federation no longer exist.
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United States
Paraguay
Belgium
40'[2]
England
Switzerland
Italy
Soviet Union
Mexico
El Salvador
Argentina
Hungary
Poland
Paraguay
Iraq
Uruguay
South Korea
Netherlands
Saudi Arabia
Morocco
South Korea
South Korea
Japan(H)
Russia
Tunisia
Algeria
Panama
Croatia
Canada
Italy
Switzerland
Sweden
Chile
West Germany
United States
France
South Africa
Qatar
Portugal
Germany 5–2Belgium 
