Belgium WC 2026 Group G — Form, Squad, Opponents

Belgium 🇧🇪 head into the 2026 FIFA World Cup as the heaviest favourites in Group G — and the team with the most to prove. The “Second Golden Generation” that took the Red Devils to FIFA No. 1 for 65 months across 2015–2022 has not converted that ranking into a senior title, and the 2026 finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico are the last realistic shot at the trophy for Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Thibaut Courtois together. New head coach Rudi Garcia, appointed in January 2025, has delivered an unbeaten qualifying campaign and named Aston Villa midfielder Youri Tielemans as permanent captain. Group G — Egypt, Iran, New Zealand — looks navigable on paper. Belgium’s history says paper is the easy part.

Tournament History at a Glance

Belgium are one of the longest-running international sides in world football. The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) was founded on 1 September 1895 — the oldest national football federation outside the United Kingdom — and Belgium played its first official international on 1 May 1904, a 3–3 draw with France in Uccle, the first official match between two independent European national teams. The “Red Devils” nickname dates to a 1906 article by Pierre Walckiers that referenced the team’s all-red kit.

The trophy cabinet is shorter than the resume of near-misses. Belgium won Olympic football gold at the 1920 Antwerp Games (a walkover in the final after Czechoslovakia walked off the pitch in protest at the refereeing). They were runners-up at Euro 1980 (lost 1–2 to West Germany at the Stadio Olimpico, Rome, on 22 June 1980 via a Horst Hrubesch header) and reached the 1986 World Cup semi-finals in Mexico under Guy Thys with Enzo Scifo, Jan Ceulemans and Jean-Marie Pfaff before losing to Argentina via Diego Maradona’s two-goal performance. The “First Golden Generation” pushed Belgium into sustained tournament reach through the 1980s and early 1990s before a long decline through the 2000s that included missing the 2006 and 2010 World Cups and Euro 2008.

Current Form

Belgium qualified for the 2026 World Cup as winners of UEFA Group J, unbeaten across the campaign under Rudi Garcia. The September 2025 international window was the breakthrough block — 6–0 wins against Liechtenstein and Kazakhstan, the second of those the match in which Tielemans wore the captain’s armband on a permanent basis for the first time after months of rotation between Lukaku, De Bruyne, Thomas Meunier and Tielemans.

The longer arc is more mixed. Belgium exited the 2022 World Cup at the group stage — their first World Cup group exit since 1998 — and went out of Euro 2024 at the last 16 with a 0–1 defeat to France in Düsseldorf. The 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia remains the team’s defining tournament: Roberto Martínez’s Belgium reached the semi-finals, defeating Brazil 2–1 in the Kazan quarter-final on 6 July 2018 — Kevin De Bruyne’s 31st-minute strike from outside the box is a canonical highlight — before losing the semi-final 0–1 to France in Saint Petersburg. Belgium then defeated England 2–0 in the third-place play-off on 14 July 2018, the country’s best ever World Cup finish.

Roberto Martínez left after the 2022 World Cup. Domenico Tedesco was appointed in February 2023, took the team through Euro 2024, and was dismissed in January 2025. Garcia — previously at Lille, AS Roma, Marseille and Olympique Lyonnais — inherited a side widely written off as a generation that had missed its window, then delivered the cleanest UEFA qualifying campaign in this group of nations.

The 2026 Squad: Senior Core, Younger Wave

The senior core is the headline. De Bruyne, captain emeritus and Belgium’s most decorated creative midfielder, remains the team’s creative axis. Lukaku — 89 goals, the all-time scoring record — is still the focal point of the attack when fit. Thibaut Courtois is the most important non-attacking player in the squad. Jan Vertonghen — 157 caps, the federation’s all-time record — retired from international football and his defensive influence still shapes how the back four is coached, and Eden Hazard (126 caps, 33 goals) retired from international football after the 2022 group exit.

Around them, Garcia has integrated the 2020s wave: Tielemans (Aston Villa, permanent captain), Jérémy Doku (Manchester City, the direct one-v-one runner the 2018 squad never had), Amadou Onana, Charles De Ketelaere, Wout Faes, Maxim De Cuyper and Lois Openda. That mix is the most balanced senior-junior split Belgium have had in a tournament squad since 2014.

Tactical Profile

Under Garcia, Belgium press in a structured 4-2-3-1 with Tielemans and Onana as the double pivot and Doku stretching wide on the left. The contrast with Roberto Martínez’s free-flowing 3-4-3 of the 2010s is deliberate: where Martínez asked De Bruyne and Hazard to find the moments, Garcia builds the moments into the structure. Set pieces — primarily Tielemans dead-balls onto Lukaku, Faes and Onana — have become a meaningful secondary scoring source the 2022 squad lacked.

Stadium and Federation

The senior team plays the bulk of its home fixtures at the King Baudouin Stadium (Stade Roi Baudouin / Koning Boudewijnstadion) in Brussels, capacity 50,122. The stadium opened in 1930 as the Heysel Stadium and was renamed in 1995. Recent renovation works have moved selected fixtures to the Lotto Park (RSC Anderlecht) and the Cegeka Arena (KRC Genk). Training is centralised at the RBFA’s Tubize national training centre. Adidas has supplied Belgium kits since 2014.

The Australia Connection

Belgium have met Australia at senior men’s level only at friendly level. The most recent meeting was Belgium 2–0 Australia at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels on 4 September 2014 — Australia’s 2014 World Cup-cycle preparation window. No Belgium head coach has held a senior Socceroos role; the principal Belgium-Australia football crossover sits at club level, with Anderlecht, Club Brugge and KAA Gent fielding Australian internationals across the 2010s and 2020s. The Belgian-Australian football diaspora is small relative to Italian-Australian, Greek-Australian or Croatian-Australian football communities.

Qualifying Path

Belgium topped UEFA Group J unbeaten, the most efficient European qualifying campaign in the group of nations alongside France and England. Direct qualification was secured with multiple matches in hand; the September 2025 sweep of Liechtenstein and Kazakhstan effectively closed the campaign.

Group G Fixtures

Date (AEST)	Match	Venue
16 Jun 2026	Belgium vs Egypt	MetLife Stadium, New York/New Jersey
21 Jun 2026	Belgium vs Iran	MetLife Stadium, New York/New Jersey
26 Jun 2026	Belgium vs New Zealand	MetLife Stadium, New York/New Jersey

All three Belgium group fixtures are scheduled at MetLife Stadium — the only Group G team handed a single-venue rotation across the group stage, a real logistical edge.

Aussie Viewing

Belgium’s three group fixtures all run from MetLife Stadium in the Eastern Time zone, which makes for early-morning AEST viewing. Exact kickoff times are confirmed closer to the tournament — check the full WC 2026 schedule in AEST for live updates as FIFA releases the per-match windows.

The Group G Opponents

Egypt (matchday 1, MetLife Stadium, 16 June). Belgium have minimal senior-level history with Egypt outside friendlies. The marquee opener tests Garcia’s biggest tactical question of the cycle: do you sit Doku and Lukaku against a likely-compact Egypt mid-block trusting De Bruyne to unlock it, or front-load the senior attack? Salah is the headline danger but Marmoush is the player Garcia’s analysts will spend the most pre-match video on.

Iran (matchday 2, MetLife Stadium, 21 June). Iran will set up deep — they have done at every World Cup since 2014 — and Belgium will need to break the block via Doku one-v-ones and set pieces. The fixture is the one Belgium are most-likely to win comfortably but also the one most-likely to deliver a 70-minute 0-0 if Garcia doesn’t rotate the senior legs from matchday one.

New Zealand (matchday 3, MetLife Stadium, 26 June). Belgium’s overwhelming favourite status means the matchday-three fixture is almost certainly a rotation match — Onana, De Ketelaere, Openda and the younger wave likely getting starts to protect De Bruyne, Lukaku and Courtois for the round of 32.

Key Players to Watch

Watch De Bruyne’s minutes management — Garcia’s biggest call is whether to start the captain emeritus or save him for second halves against tired legs. Watch Lukaku’s first touch and finishing — the 89-goal record holder needs only a vintage week to drag Belgium deep into the knockouts. Watch Doku off the bench against deep blocks — the City winger is the unlock against Iran and Egypt’s compact mid-blocks. Watch Tielemans on set pieces — the new captain is the federation’s most reliable dead-ball option after De Bruyne. And watch Courtois: the goalkeeper that won the 2022 UEFA Champions League final almost single-handed has the biggest separation from his backup of any keeper in Group G.

Recent Tournament Record

2018 FIFA World Cup (Russia): Third place — best ever finish. Reached semi-finals, beat Brazil 2–1 in the Kazan quarter-final, lost 0–1 to France in the semi, beat England 2–0 in the third-place play-off.
Euro 2020 (played 2021): Quarter-finals — lost 1–2 to Italy in Munich.
2022 FIFA World Cup (Qatar): Group stage exit — Belgium’s first World Cup group exit since 1998. Eden Hazard retired from international football immediately after the tournament.
Euro 2024 (Germany): Last 16 — lost 0–1 to France in Düsseldorf.
2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying: UEFA Group J winners, unbeaten across the campaign.

Rivalries and Context

Belgium’s principal historical rivalry is with the Netherlands — more than 125 official fixtures since 1905, the largest senior international head-to-head data set in world football. The two sides met as recently as the 2024 Nations League quarter-final. France is the other defining fixture: 78 official meetings including the 2018 World Cup semi-final (France 1–0) and the Euro 2024 last 16 (France 1–0). England has been contested at the 2018 World Cup group stage and third-place play-off (Belgium 1–0 and 2–0). None of those rivalries land inside Group G, which is part of the appeal of the draw — Belgium go into the group stage facing three teams against whom they carry minimal historical baggage.

Coaching Tree

Rudi Garcia’s appointment continues an unusually internationally-distributed Belgian coaching tree. Roberto Martínez (Spanish; managed Belgium 2016–2022, now coaching Portugal from 2023), Vincent Kompany (Bayern Munich head coach since 2024, previously Manchester City club captain and Burnley head coach), Thierry Henry (French; Belgium assistant under Martínez 2016–2018), Marc Brys (current head coach of Cameroon) and Domenico Tedesco (German-Italian, Belgium 2023–2025, previously Spartak Moscow and RB Leipzig) all hold or have held high-profile international or top-flight club roles. Garcia — French, previously at Lille, AS Roma, Marseille and Olympique Lyonnais — was appointed on a contract through the 2026 World Cup.

What Belgium Need to Advance

Belgium are 1.45 to top Group G — bookmakers are pricing them as roughly two-in-three favourites. Realistically, seven points from nine wins the group and a six-point return likely still tops it given the expected goal difference advantage over Egypt and Iran. The danger is the 2022 redux: a sluggish opener against Egypt where complacency lets Salah produce a single moment, and the group dynamic turns on a draw. Garcia’s reputation rides on avoiding that trap.

The bigger picture: this is the last realistic World Cup for De Bruyne, Lukaku and Courtois as senior internationals. Belgium’s quarter-final ceiling under Roberto Martínez at Russia 2018 — third place, a 2–1 quarter-final win over Brazil — remains the federation’s defining tournament. Repeating or improving on that under Garcia is the only outcome that closes the Second Golden Generation arc with a trophy story attached.

Belgium’s All-Time Honours

FIFA World Cup: third place 2018; fourth place 1986.
UEFA European Championship: runners-up 1980; semi-finalists 1972.
Olympic gold (men’s senior): 1920 Antwerp.
FIFA No. 1 ranking: 65 months across November 2015–March 2016 and September 2018–March 2022.
All-time top scorer: Romelu Lukaku (89 goals).
Most caps: Jan Vertonghen (157, 2007–2024).

Looking Ahead

Garcia’s contract runs through the 2026 World Cup. Belgium enter the finals as a credible quarter-final pick, with the squad blending remaining “Second Golden Generation” senior starters (De Bruyne, Lukaku, Courtois) and a deep 2020s core (Tielemans, Doku, Onana, De Ketelaere, Openda, Faes, De Cuyper). The post-2026 cycle is expected to lean further on the younger generation as De Bruyne, Lukaku and Courtois reach late-career age brackets — meaning the senior trio’s final tournament window is the next six weeks of football.

Belgium — WC 2026 Group G

Group G Opponents (2026)

Egypt

Iran

New Zealand

Key Players for 2026