Belgium national football team home stadium

Throughout their history, the Belgian national football team have played at 23 home locations in 11 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

The national stadium at the Heysel 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]

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.[7]

List of home stadiums

[1][8]

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;[upper-alpha 1] unofficial games can be found here.

Number of
matches		 Stadium City area (town/quarter) First international Last international
192 King Baudouin Stadium Brussels* (City of Brussels) 11 October 1931 13 November 2016
40 Bosuilstadion Antwerp (Deurne) 1 November 1923 12 October 1988
27 Constant Vanden Stock Stadium Brussels* (Anderlecht) 27 October 1965 11 October 2006
18 Stade Maurice Dufrasne Liège (Sclessin) 2 January 1927 4 September 2014
15 Olympisch Stadion Antwerp (Kiel) 28 August 1920 7 September 2005
12 Edmond Machtens Stadium Brussels* (Sint-Jans-Molenbeek) 21 May 1921 22 April 1995
10 Beerschot Stadion Antwerp 30 April 1905 15 March 1914
7 Stade du Vivier d'Oie Brussels* (Uccle) 1 May 1904 9 March 1919
5 Longchamps Brussels* (Uccle) 18 April 1908 17 July 1920
5 Albert Dyserynck Stadion Bruges (Sint-Andries) 22 October 1966 1 June 1974
4 Parc Duden Brussels* (Forest) 6 March 1921 11 May 1929
4 Stade Vélodrome de Rocourt Liège (Rocourt) 15 April 1922 14 May 1939
4 Stade du Pays de Charleroi Charleroi 23 February 1946 4 September 2004
3 Jan Breydel Stadium Bruges (Sint-Andries) 23 August 1989 6 February 2013
3 Jules Ottenstadion Ghent (Gentbrugge) 11 June 2003 9 February 2011
3 Cristal Arena Genk (Waterschei) 24 May 2006 28 March 2009
2 Stadion aan de Broodstraat Antwerp 20 February 1912 23 November 1913
2 Stade du Panorama Verviers 2 November 1913 7 November 1971
2 Stade du Pont d'Ougrée Seraing (Ougrée) 13 December 1925 25 May 1930
1 Cointe Liège (Cointe) 23 April 1911 23 April 1911
1 Rue du Forest Brussels* (Forest) 30 April 1911 30 April 1911
1 Regenboogstadion Waregem 9 October 1968 9 October 1968
1 Daknamstadion Lokeren (Daknam) 20 September 1978 20 September 1978
362 23 locations 11 urban regions 1 May 1904 13 November 2016
*By "Brussels", not the City of Brussels but the entire Capital Region is meant; the towns between brackets are independent municipalities.

Notes

  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.[9]

References

  1. 1 2 "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. ↑ "Wembley to stage UEFA EURO 2020 final". UEFA. 19 Sep 2014.
  8. ↑ "Belgium - List of International Matches". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 2016-07-01. Retrieved 2 Sep 2013.
  9. ↑ "Rules & Governance - Law 3: The number of players". The Football Association. Retrieved 25 Oct 2014.
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