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Belgium national football team home stadium

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Throughout their history, the Belgium national team have played at 24 home locations in 12 urban areas,[1] most often in the country's Capital Region, Brussels. The national King Baudouin Stadium, with a capacity of 50,024 people,[2] is the usual playing ground nowadays. At this location, the majority of the Red Devils' home matches took place. Other stadiums (with a smaller capacity) are normally assigned as home ground in case a rather small audience is to be expected or when the national stadium is in repair.

History

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The Jubilee Stadium on the Heysel Plateau in 1935

Belgium's first official match in 1904 was a home game, at the Stade du Vivier d'Oie in Uccle.[3] Before their first official match in the national Jubilee Stadium in Brussels in 1931, the Red Devils made 67 home appearances in the current urban areas of Antwerp, Brussels, Liège, Seraing and Verviers. In that era, Antwerp and its surroundings often hosted the Belgian home matches (32 times), mostly explained by the frequent confrontations against the national team of Antwerp's neighbouring country Netherlands, and the 1920 Olympics football tournament held at the Olympisch Stadion (the "Kiel").

From 1931 on, the large majority of the home games have been played in the stadium at the Heysel plain in Brussels. Inaugurated as "Jubilee Stadium" in 1930 with an unofficial match against Netherlands,[4] and renamed "Heysel Stadium" in 1946, it underwent a drastical transformation in 1995. From then on, the stadium was named after the late King Baudouin I. Also over the totality of home games since 1904, the location of the current King Baudouin Stadium accounts for the majority of home games played. In May 2013, it was announced that the King Baudouin Stadium would be demolished to create place for housing and that a new stadium would arise nearby at the Heysel.[5] In December of that year the involved parties agreed that this new stadium would no longer contain an athletic track as is currently the case.[6] However, the plans for the new stadium were shelved when no building permit for it was awarded.[7]

Some Belgian home stadiums have served as background for major tournaments when they hosted the 1920 Olympics (including its football tournament) and the 1972 and 2000 European Championships. In September 2014 Brussels was assigned as one of the 13 host cities for the 2020 European Championship, with an upcoming new stadium ("Eurostadium") as venue for four tournament matches.[8] However, the UEFA later awarded the games to the Wembley Stadium when delays were causing uncertainty whether the new stadium in Brussels would be completed in time.[9]

List of home stadiums

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[1][10]

Some stadiums were given different names at different times; only the official name at the last time the national team played is mentioned below. Statistics include official FIFA-recognised matches only;[A] unofficial games can be found here.

  Defunct stadium
  Stadium still in use, but no longer for (professional) football
Number of
matches 		Stadium City area (town/quarter) First international Opponent Last international Opponent
219 King Baudouin Stadium Brussels* (City of Brussels) 11 October 1931  Poland 19 November 2023  Azerbaijan
40 Bosuilstadion Antwerp (Deurne) 1 November 1923  England 12 October 1988  Brazil
28 Constant Vanden Stock Stadium Brussels* (Anderlecht) 27 October 1965  Bulgaria 29 March 2022  Burkina Faso
19 Stade Maurice Dufrasne Liège (Sclessin) 2 January 1927  Czechoslovakia 31 August 2017  Gibraltar
15 Olympisch Stadion Antwerp (Kiel) 29 August 1920  Spain 7 September 2005  San Marino
12 Edmond Machtens Stadium Brussels* (Sint-Jans-Molenbeek) 21 May 1921  England 22 April 1995  United States
10 Beerschot Stadion Antwerp (Kiel) 30 April 1905  Netherlands 15 March 1914  Netherlands
7 Stade du Vivier d'Oie Brussels* (Uccle) 1 May 1904  France 9 March 1919  France
6 Den Dreef Leuven (Heverlee) 11 November 2020   Switzerland 15 November 2023  Serbia
5 Longchamps Brussels* (Uccle) 18 April 1908  England 17 July 1920  England
5 Albert Dyserynck Stadion Bruges (Sint-Andries) 22 October 1966   Switzerland 1 June 1974  Scotland
4 Parc Duden Brussels* (Forest) 6 March 1921  France 11 May 1929  England
4 Stade Vélodrome de Rocourt Liège (Rocourt) 15 April 1922  Denmark 14 May 1939   Switzerland
4 Stade du Pays de Charleroi Charleroi 23 February 1946  Luxembourg 4 September 2004  Lithuania
4 Jan Breydel Stadium Bruges (Sint-Andries) 23 August 1989  Denmark 14 November 2017  Japan
3 Jules Ottenstadion Ghent (Gentbrugge) 11 June 2003  Andorra 9 February 2011  Finland
3 Cristal Arena Genk (Waterschei) 24 May 2006  Turkey 28 March 2009  Bosnia and Herzegovina
2 Stadion aan de Broodstraat Antwerp (Kiel) 20 February 1912   Switzerland 23 November 1913  Germany
2 Stade du Panorama Verviers 2 November 1913   Switzerland 7 November 1971  Luxembourg
2 Stade du Pont d'Ougrée Seraing (Ougrée) 13 December 1925  Austria 25 May 1930  France
1 Cointe Liège (Cointe) 23 April 1911  Germany 23 April 1911  Germany
1 Rue du Forest Brussels* (Forest) 30 April 1911  France 30 April 1911  France
1 Regenboogstadion Waregem 9 October 1968  Finland 9 October 1968  Finland
1 Daknamstadion Lokeren (Daknam) 20 September 1978  Norway 20 September 1978  Norway
385 24 locations 12 urban regions 1 May 1904  France 19 November 2023  Azerbaijan
*"Brussels" does not refer to the City of Brussels, but the entire Brussels Capital Region. The towns between brackets are independent municipalities within this region.

Notes

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  1. ^ Note that the home friendly against Luxembourg at the Cristal Arena on 26 May 2014 is not FIFA-recognised due to an excessive number of substitutions.[11]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Belgium national football team match results". eu-football.info. Retrieved 5 Sep 2013.
  2. ^ "First Division Clubs in Europe Address List 2011/2012" (PDF). UEFA.
  3. ^ "Belgium v France − a 109-year-old rivalry". UEFA. 13 Aug 2013. Archived from the original on 2016-06-25.
  4. ^ Stokkermans, Karel (6 Mar 2014). "The "Derby der Lage Landen"". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 29 June 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
  5. ^ Sels, Geert (25 May 2013). "Koning Boudewijnstadion wordt afgebroken". De Standaard (in Dutch).
  6. ^ Verschueren, Rogier (2 Dec 2013). "Nationaal stadion zonder atletiekpiste op Heizel". De Standaard (in Dutch).
  7. ^ Van Thillo, Jorn (30 January 2018). "Schauvliege weigert vergunning voor Eurostadion" [Shauvliege refuses permit for Eurostadium]. De Standaard (in Flemish). Retrieved 2018-11-05.
  8. ^ "Wembley to stage UEFA EURO 2020 final". UEFA. 19 Sep 2014.
  9. ^ "Euro 2020: Wembley to host seven matches after Brussels loses right to host games". BBC Sport. 7 December 2017.
  10. ^ "Belgium - List of International Matches". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 2016-07-01. Retrieved 2 Sep 2013.
  11. ^ "Rules & Governance - Law 3: The number of players". The Football Association. Archived from the original on 25 October 2014. Retrieved 25 Oct 2014.
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