Belgium national under-21 football team
The Belgium national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Belgium and is controlled by the Belgian Football Association. The team competes in the European Under-21 Football Championship, held every two years. Their biggest successes were winning the 2007–09 International Challenge Trophy and reaching the European Championship semi-finals in 2007 in the Netherlands. Thanks to the latter achievement, Belgium qualified for the football tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Their current home stadium is Den Dreef in Leuven.
| Nickname(s) | Jonge duivels Jeunes diables Junge Teufels | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Association | Belgian Football Association | ||
| Head coach | Jacky Mathijssen | ||
| Most caps | Jean-François Gillet (36) | ||
| Top scorer | Kevin Vandenbergh (12) | ||
| |||
| First international | |||
 France 1–1 Belgium  (Amiens, France; 3 September 1976) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
Belgium 8–0 Luxembourg  (Mechelen, Belgium; 3 June 2007) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
 Czech Republic 7–0 Belgium (Prague, Czech Republic; 24 April 2001) | |||
| UEFA U-21 Championship | |||
| Appearances | 3 (first in 2002) | ||
| Best result | Semi-finals, 2007 | ||
UEFA U-21 Championship recordEdit
| Year | Round | GP | W | D | L | GS | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 1978 |
Did not qualify | ||||||
| 1980
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| 1982
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| 1984
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| 1986
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| 1988
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| 1990
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| 1992
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| 1994
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 1996
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 1998
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 2000
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 2002 |
Group stage | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
 2004 |
Did not qualify | ||||||
 2006
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 2007 |
Semi-finals | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
 2009 |
Did not qualify | ||||||
 2011
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 2013
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| 2015
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 2017
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  2019 |
Group stage | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 8 |
| Total | 3/22 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 16 |
Results and fixturesEdit
Belgium are currently competing for qualification to the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. The table below shows their current standing in the qualification group.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Belgium
|
10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 23 | 5 | +18 | 26 | Final tournament | — | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 3–2 | 2–1 | |
| 2 | Sweden
|
10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 19 | 8 | +11 | 20 | 0–3 | — | 0–1 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 3–0 | ||
| 3 | Turkey
|
10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 14 | 10 | +4 | 17 | 1–2 | 0–3 | — | 0–0 | 4–0 | 4–2 | ||
| 4 | Hungary
|
10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 12 | 14 | −2 | 11 | 0–3 | 2–2 | 1–2 | — | 4–0 | 2–1 | ||
| 5 | Cyprus
|
10 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 23 | −15 | 7 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–2 | — | 2–1 | ||
| 6 | Malta
|
10 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 24 | −16 | 4 | 0–4 | 0–4 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | — |
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: UEFA
ResultsEdit
| 27 March 2017 | Belgium | 2–1 | Malta | Heverlee, Belgium |
| 20:00 CET | R. Mmaee  43'Cools 54' |
Report | 69' Grech |
Stadium: Den Dreef Referee: Rob Harvey (Republic of Ireland) |
| 5 September 2017 | Belgium | 0–0 | Turkey | Heverlee, Belgium |
| 20:00 CET | Report | Stadium: Den Dreef Referee: Fabio Verissimo (Italy) |
| 6 October 2017 | Belgium | 1–1 | Sweden | Heverlee, Belgium |
| 19:00 CET | Vanlerberghe 30' |
Report | 61' Dagerstål |
Stadium: Den Dreef Referee: Nikola Dabanović (Montenegro) |
| 10 October 2017 | Cyprus | 0–2 | Belgium | Larnaca, Cyprus |
| 16:00 CET | Report | 51' Lukebakio 90+3' Bastien |
Stadium: AEK Arena - Georgios Karapatakis Referee: Kirill Levnikov (Russia) |
| 9 November 2017 | Belgium | 3–2 | Cyprus | Heverlee, Belgium |
| 19:00 CET | Mbenza 15' Dimata 45+2'Leya Iseka 90+2' |
Report | 49' Papageorgiou 75' Fragkou |
Stadium: Den Dreef Referee: Enea Jorgji (Albania) |
| 14 November 2017 | Turkey | 1–2 | Belgium | Istanbul, Turkey |
| 15:00 CET | Okutan 5' |
Report | Merih Demiral 45+2' (o.g.) Schrijvers 87' |
Stadium: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Stadium Referee: Tomasz Musiał (Poland) |
| 26 March 2018 | Belgium | 3–0 | Hungary | Heverlee, Belgium |
| 19:00 CET | Schrijvers 19' Lukebakio 64'Dimata 72' (pen.) |
Report | Stadium: Den Dreef Referee: Erez Papir (Israel) |
| 7 September 2018 | Malta | 0–4 | Belgium | Ta'Qali, Malta |
| 16:00 CET | Report | Dimata 11' Schrijvers 18'Lukebakio 59'Leya Iseka 69' |
Stadium: National Stadium Referee: Roomer Tarajev (Estonia) |
| 11 September 2018 | Hungary | 0–3 | Belgium | Budapest, Hungary |
| 17:00 CET | Report | Dimata 20', 73' (pen.) Schrijvers 86' |
Stadium: Szusza Ferenc Stadion Referee: Tiago Martins (Portugal) |
| 16 October 2018 | Sweden | 0–3 | Belgium | Kalmar, Sweden |
| 17:00 CET | Report | Dimata 29', 40' Lukebakio 65' |
Stadium: Fredriksskans Referee: Frank Schneider (France) |
| 15 November 2018 | Romania | 3–3 | Belgium | Cluj-Napoca, Romania |
| 18:00 CET | Drăguș 45' (pen.) Olaru 90'Ciobanu 90+1' |
Report | Cools 35' Leya 56'Mbenza 58' |
Stadium: Dr. Constantin Rădulescu Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Iulian Călin (Romania) |
| 16 June 2019 | Poland | 3–2 | Belgium | Reggio Emilia, Italy |
| 18:30 | Żurkowski 26' Bielik 52'Szymański 79' |
Report | Leya Iseka 16' Cools 84' |
Stadium: Mapei Stadium–Città del Tricolore Attendance: 2,534 Referee: István Kovács (Romania) |
| 19 June 2019 | Spain | 2–1 | Belgium | Reggio Emilia, Italy |
| 18:30 | Olmo 7' Fornals 89' |
Report | Bornauw 24' |
Stadium: Mapei Stadium–Città del Tricolore Attendance: 2,738 Referee: Andris Treimanis (Latvia) |
| 22 June 2019 | Belgium | 1–3 | Italy | Reggio Emilia, Italy |
| 21:00 | Verschaeren 79' Mbenza  90+3' |
Report | Barella 44' Cutrone 53'Chiesa 89' |
Stadium: Mapei Stadium–Città del Tricolore Attendance: 20,075 Referee: Srđan Jovanović (Serbia) |
Current squadEdit
Squad selected for the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification match against Germany on 17 November 2019. Players eligible must be born after 1 January 1998.[1] Names in italics denote players who have been capped for the Senior team.
Caps and goals updated as of 17 November 2019 after the match against Germany.
Recent call-upsEdit
The following players have been called up and remain eligible.
| Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Goals | Club | Latest call-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GK | Gaëtan Coucke | 3 November 1998 | 0 | 0 | Genk
|
v. Germany, 17 November 2019
|
| GK | Jens Teunckens | 30 January 1998 | 2 | 0 | Antwerp
|
v.  Moldova, 15 October 2019
|
| DF | Sebastiaan Bornauw | 22 March 1999 | 5 | 1 | Köln
|
v. Germany, 17 November 2019
|
| DF | Wout Faes | 3 April 1998 | 17 | 0 | Oostende
|
v. Germany, 17 November 2019
|
| DF | Killian Sardella | 2 May 2002 | 1 | 0 | Anderlecht
|
v.  Bosnia and Herzegovina, 10 September 2019
|
| MF | Daouda Peeters | 26 January 1999 | 2 | 0 | Juventus
|
v. Germany, 17 November 2019
|
| MF | Louis Verstraete | 4 May 1999 | 3 | 0 | Gent
|
v. Germany, 17 November 2019
|
| MF | Francesco Antonucci | 20 June 1999 | 2 | 1 | Volendam
|
v. Germany, 17 November 2019
|
| MF | Othman Boussaid | 7 March 2000 | 0 | 0 | NAC Breda
|
v. Moldova, 15 October 2019
|
| MF | Matthias Verreth | 20 February 1998 | 1 | 0 | Waasland-Beveren
|
v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, 10 September 2019
|
| MF | Dante Rigo | 11 December 1998 | 1 | 0 | Sparta Rotterdam
|
v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, 10 September 2019
|
| MF | Yari Verschaeren | 12 July 2001 | 2 | 1 | Anderlecht
|
2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship |
| FW | Robbie D'Haese | 25 February 1999 | 0 | 0 | Oostende
|
v.  Wales, 6 September 2019
|
StatisticsEdit
Most capped playersEdit
Highlighted names denote a player still playing or available for selection.
| # | Name | Career | Caps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jean-François Gillet | 1996–2002 | 36 | 0 |
| 2 | Thomas Chatelle | 1999–2003 | 28 | 4 |
| Maarten Martens | 2003–2007 | 28 | 7 | |
| 4 | Faris Haroun | 2004–2008 | 24 | 4 |
| 5 | Siebe Schrijvers | 2016–2019 | 23 | 4 |
| 6 | Tom De Mul | 2004–2008 | 21 | 4 |
| Gunter Van Handenhoven | 1997–1999 | 21 | 1 | |
| 8 | Jonathan Blondel | 2002–2007 | 20 | 4 |
| Éric Deflandre | 1992–1995 | 20 | 1 | |
| 10 | Grégory Dufer | 2000–2003 | 19 | 3 |
| Günther Vanaudenaerde | 2004–2006 | 19 | 0 |
Last updated: 22 June 2019
Source: Belgian Football Federation
Top goalscorersEdit
Highlighted names denote a player still playing or available for selection.
| # | Player | Career | Goals | Caps | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kevin Vandenbergh | 2003–2005 | 12 | 14 | 0.86 |
| 2 | Cédric Roussel | 1997–1999 | 10 | 12 | 0.83 |
| 3 | Wesley Sonck | 1997–1999 | 8 | 11 | 0.73 |
| 4 | Michy Batshuayi | 2012–2014 | 7 | 13 | 0.54 |
| Landry Dimata | 2016–2018 | 7 | 12 | 0.58 | |
| Maarten Martens | 2003–2007 | 7 | 28 | 0.25 | |
| Ronny Martens | 1978–1984 | 7 | 14 | 0.5 | |
| Sven Vermant | 1993–1995 | 7 | 8 | 0.88 | |
| Jeanvion Yulu-Matondo | 2005–2008 | 7 | 17 | 0.41 | |
| 10 | Benjamin De Ceulaer | 2004–2005 | 6 | 17 | 0.35 |
| Youri Tielemans | 2013–2016 | 6 | 14 | 0.43 | |
| Marc Wilmots | 1987–1989 | 6 | 9 | 0.67 |
Last updated: 20 March 2019
Source: Belgian Football Federation
HonoursEdit
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
- ^ "Belgium squad". Belgian FA. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
References and external linksEdit
- UEFA Under-21 website, complete results archive
- The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation, full record of U-21 and U-23 Championships