List of Belgium national football team managers
The male Belgian national (association) football team has been under the supervision of 25 different permanent managers and two caretakers since 1910.[1][2] Before 1910 and in 1919, a committee of the RBFA presided by Édouard de Laveleye selected the players. Initially supervised by foreigners, it would take until 1930 for team Belgium to be officially led by a Belgian (Hector Goetinck).
As of 1 December 2022, coach Roberto Martínez is the most successful (permanent) manager that Belgium has ever had in statistical terms, with an average of 2.26 points per match. He achieved third place at the 2018 World Cup and kept Belgium in the number one spot on the FIFA World Ranking for over three years. With this he outperformed the coach that previously brought Belgium successes at international tournament end stages, Guy Thys, who led his team to the 1980 European Championship final and six years later to the semi-finals of the World Cup in Mexico.
Managers
| Manager | Nat. | Tenure | Pld | W | D* | L | Win % | Pts/G[A] | Major tournaments** | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Selection committee (1) | — | 1904–1909 | 19 | 8 | 1 | 10 | 42.11 | 1.32 |  SO 1908 | ||||||||
| William Maxwell (1) |  | 1910–1913 | 23 | 11 | 3 | 9 | 47.83 | 1.57 | SO 1912 | ||||||||
| Charles Bunyan |  | 1914 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.00 | 0.00 | — | ||||||||
| Selection committee (2) | — | 1914–1919 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | 1.00 | — | ||||||||
| William Maxwell (2) | | 1920–1928 | 56 | 18 | 10 | 28 | 32.14 | 1.14 |  SO 1920 – Winners[B] SO 1924 – Round 2 | ||||||||
| Viktor Löwenfeld |  | 1928–1930 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 45.45 | 1.55 | SO 1928 – Quarter-finals | ||||||||
| Hector Goetinck (1) |  | 1930–1934 | 31 | 7 | 5 | 19 | 22.58 | 0.84 | WC 1930 – Round 1 WC 1934 – Round 1 | ||||||||
| Jules Turnauer |  | 1935 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0.00 | 0.33 | — | ||||||||
| Jack Butler | | 1935–1939 | 32 | 8 | 7 | 17 | 25.00 | 0.97 | WC 1938 – Round 1 SO 1936 | ||||||||
| Hector Goetinck (2) | | 1939–1940 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | ||||||||
| Selection committee (3) | — | 1940–1943 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | ||||||||
| François Demol | | 1944–1946 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 25.00 | 1.00 | — | ||||||||
| Bill Gormlie | | 1947–1953 | 44 | 18 | 9 | 17 | 40.91 | 1.43 | WC 1950[C] | ||||||||
| Doug Livingstone | | 1953–1954 | 13 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 38.46 | 1.62 | WC 1954 – Group stage | ||||||||
| André Vandeweyer | | 1955–1957 | 17 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 23.53 | 0.82 | — | ||||||||
| Louis Nicolayct | | 1957 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 | 3.00 | — | ||||||||
| Géza Toldi |  | 1957–1958 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 16.67 | 0.83 | WC 1958 | ||||||||
| Constant Vanden Stock[D] | | 1958–1968 | 68 | 28 | 11 | 29 | 41.18 | 1.40 | EC 1960,[E] WC 1962, EC 1964, WC 1966, EC 1968 | ||||||||
| Raymond Goethals | | 1968–1976 | 44 | 25 | 8 | 11 | 56.82 | 1.89 | WC 1970 – Group stage EC 1972 – Third place WC 1974, EC 1976 | ||||||||
| Guy Thys (1) | | 1976–1989 | 101 | 45 | 24* | 32 | 44.55 | 1.57 | WC 1978 EC 1980 – Runners-up WC 1982 – Round 2 EC 1984 – Group stage WC 1986 – Fourth place EC 1988 | ||||||||
| Walter Meeuws | | 1989–1990 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 33.33 | 1.50 | — | ||||||||
| Guy Thys (2) | | 1990–1991 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 30.77 | 1.23 | WC 1990 – Round of 16 EC 1992 | ||||||||
| Paul Van Himst | | 1991–1996 | 36 | 19 | 5 | 12 | 52.78 | 1.72 | WC 1994 – Round of 16 EC 1996 | ||||||||
| Wilfried Van Moer | | 1996 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 40.00 | 1.60 | — | ||||||||
| Georges Leekens (1) | | 1997–1999 | 29 | 10 | 10* | 9 | 34.48 | 1.38 | WC 1998 – Group stage | ||||||||
| Robert Waseige | | 1999–2002 | 34 | 16 | 11[F] | 7 | 47.06 | 1.74 | EC 2000 – Group stage WC 2002 – Round of 16 | ||||||||
| Aimé Anthuenis | | 2002–2005 | 29 | 12 | 7 | 10 | 41.38 | 1.48 | EC 2004, WC 2006 | ||||||||
| René Vandereycken | | 2005–2009 | 30 | 10 | 7 | 13 | 33.33 | 1.23 | EC 2008, WC 2010 | ||||||||
| Franky Vercauterenct | | 2009 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0.00 | 0.20 | — | ||||||||
| Dick Advocaat |  | 2009–2010 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 60.00 | 1.80 | — | ||||||||
| Georges Leekens (2) | | 2010–2012 | 19 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 42.10 | 1.63 | EC 2012 | ||||||||
| Marc Wilmots[G] | | 2012–2016 | 49[H] | 33 | 8 | 8 | 67.35 | 2.18 | WC 2014 – Quarter-finals EC 2016 – Quarter-finals | ||||||||
| Roberto Martínez |  | 2016–2022 | 80 | 56 | 13 | 11 | 70.00 | 2.26 | WC 2018 – Third place NL Finals 2019 EC 2020 – Quarter-finals NL Finals 2021 – Fourth place WC 2022 – Group stage NL Finals 2023 | ||||||||
| Domenico Tedesco |   | 2023– | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 66.67 | 2.33 | EC 2024 – TBD | ||||||||
| Totals | 834 | 369 | 176 | 289 | 44.24 | 1.54 | 25 out of 48 tournaments | ||||||||||
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- Last updated: Belgium v. England, 26 March 2024. Statistics include official FIFA-recognised matches only.
Footnotes
- ^ According to the "three points for a win" standard
- ^ Even though William Maxwell was the official manager then, in the tournament Raoul Daufresne coached the squad.
- ^ Belgium withdrew from the qualifiers.
- ^ Manager Vanden Stock only selected the players; under him, the Red Devils were consecutively trained by Viktor Havlicek (1958–60), Henri Dekens (1960–61), Arthur Ceuleers (1961–65) and Raymond Goethals (1966–68).
- ^ Belgium did not enter the qualifiers.
- ^ During a 2001 friendly draw against Czech Republic, assistants Vince Briganti and Jacky Munaron managed the team as Waseige recovered from cardiac bypass surgery.[2]
- ^ Wilmots was only a caretaker in his first two matches against Montenegro and England.[3] In June, first the player group and later also the Belgian Football Association chose him as permanent coach.[4][5]
- ^ Note that the friendlies against Romania on 14 November 2012 and against Luxembourg on 26 May 2014 are not FIFA-recognised due to an excessive number of substitutions.[6]
References
- ^ "Belgium national football team match results". eu-football.info. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
- ^ a b Hassanin Mubarak (7 Aug 2003). "Belgium National Team Coaches". RSSSF archive of coaches 1904–. RSSSF. Retrieved 14 Sep 2013.
- ^ Maarten Delvaux; Bart Lagae (15 May 2012). "Marc Wilmots voorlopig interim-bondscoach". De Standaard (in Dutch).
- ^ janm (6 Jun 2012). "Marc Wilmots is nieuwe bondscoach tot 2014". De Standaard (in Dutch).
- ^ Gunther De Vos (4 Jun 2012). "Rode Duivels willen verder met Wilmots". De Standaard (in Dutch).
- ^ "Rules & Governance - Law 3: The number of players". The Football Association. Retrieved 25 Oct 2014.
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Belgium national football team – managers
- de LaveleyeKBVB (1904–10)
- Maxwell (1910–13)
- Bunyan (1914)
- de LaveleyeKBVB (1914–20)
- Maxwell (1920–28)
- Löwenfelt (1928–30)
- Goetinck (1930–34)
- Turnauer (1935)
- Butler (1935–39)
- Goetinck (1939–40)
- Van KesbeeckKBVB (1940–43)
- Demol (1944–46)
- Gormlie (1947–53)
- Livingstone (1953–54)
- Vandewyer (1955–57)
- Nicolayc (1957)
- Toldi (1957–58)
- Vanden Stock (1958–68)
- Goethals (1968–76)
- Thys (1976–89)
- Meeuws (1989–90)
- Thys (1990–91)
- Van Himst (1991–96)
- Van Moer (1996)
- Leekens (1997–99)
- Waseige (1999–2002)
- Anthuenis (2002–05)
- Vandereycken (2006–09)
- Vercauterenc (2009)
- Advocaat (2009–10)
- Leekens (2010–12)
- Wilmots (2012–16)
- Martínez (2016–22)
- Tedesco (2023–)
Belgium national football team | |||||||||
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| Culture | |||||||||
| Other RBFA teams |
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