Royal Belgian Football Association

Royal Belgian Football Association

UEFA
Founded	1 September 1895; 128 years ago (1895-09-01)
Headquarters	Brussels
FIFA affiliation	1904
UEFA affiliation	1954
President	Pascale Van Damme [nl]
Website	www.rbfa.be

The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA; Dutch: Koninklijke Belgische Voetbalbond; French: Union royale belge des sociétés de football association; German: Königlicher Belgischer Fußballverband) is the governing body of football in Belgium. It was a founding member of FIFA in 1904 and UEFA in 1954 and was based in Brussels, not far from the King Baudouin Stadium. Since October 2021, the headquarters of the RBFA are located in Tubize, next to its technical centre. Its chairman is Robert Huygens [nl].

Teams and competitions

The Association organizes the Belgium men's, women's, youth national teams, and national eSports team for FIFA.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} It also runs the Belgian football league system, which includes the following competitions:

• First division A
• First division B
• National Division 1
• Division 2
• Division 3
• Provincial leagues
• Cup
• Supercup
• Futsal competitions
• Women's competitions:
  • Super League
  • First Division
  • Second Division
  • Third Division
  • Cup
  • From the 2012–13 through 2014–15 seasons, the federation partnered with its Dutch counterpart to operate a joint national league, the BeNe League. The two federations dissolved the joint league and reestablished their own top-level women's leagues.

Chairpersons

• 1895–1924: Baron Edouard de Laveleye
• 1924–1929: Count Joseph d'Oultremont
• 1929–1937: Rodolphe William Seeldrayers
• 1937–1943: Oscar van Kesbeeck
• 1945–1951: Francis Dessain
• 1951–1967: Georges Hermesse
• 1967–1987: Louis Wouters
• 1987–2001: Baron Michel D'Hooghe
• 2001–2005: Jan Peeters
• 2006–2017: François De Keersmaecker
• 2017–2019: Gérard Linard
• 2019–2021: Mehdi Bayat
• 2021–2022: Robert Huygens
• 2022–2023: Paul Van den Bulck
• 2023–present: Pascale Van Damme

Association Awards

Each year, the executive committee of the Belgian FA honours deserving people with awards.^[6]

These include (highest award first):

• Grand Order of the Baron de Laveleye, as of 2015 only given to five people (including former chairmen)
• Gold Medal, for honorary members serving 10 years
• Honorary Member, to certain international referees and chairmen (typically 40 years of service)
• Emeritus Member, to certain referees and chairmen (typically 30 years of service)
• Association Medal of Honour, to certain referees and chairmen (typically 20 years of service)
• Medal of Recognition, mostly given to national football team players with 35 caps, but also to players with 20 caps whose career stopped after injury and people who have performed an exceptional service to the RBFA.

Received awards

• In 1992, the FIFA awarded the Belgian Football Association the FIFA Fair Play Award.

Charity

In the summer of 1986, when the national men's A-selection reached the semifinals of the World Cup in Mexico, the football team started the project Casa Hogar under impulse of RBFA delegation responsible Michel D'Hooghe. This is a home for street children in the industrial Mexican city Toluca, to which the football players donated part of their tournament bonuses. During 25 years, the RBFA stayed committed with this project and helped 500 children to meals and education.^[7]

Current sponsorships

References

External links

• Official website (in French, Dutch, German, and English)
• Belgium at FIFA site
• Belgium at UEFA site