Belgium women's national football team

Belgium
Nickname(s) Belgian Red Flames
Association Belgian Football Association (KBVB/URBSFA)
Confederation UEFA (Europe)
Head coach Ives Serneels
Captain Aline Zeler
Most caps Aline Zeler (103)
Top scorer Tessa Wullaert (38)
Home stadium Den Dreef
FIFA code BEL
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current 23 Steady (28 September 2018)
Highest 22 (June 2017)
Lowest 35 (November 2010, March 2011)
First international
 France 1–2 Belgium 
(Reims, France; 30 May 1976)
Biggest win
 Belgium 12–0 Moldova 
(Leuven, Belgium; 19 September 2017)
Biggest defeat
 Spain 9–1 Belgium 
(Alginet, Spain; 29 February 2004)
 Norway 8–0 Belgium 
(Oslo, Norway; 26 September 1992)
European Championship
Appearances 1 (first in 2017)
Best result Group Stage (2017)

The Belgium women's national football team (nicknamed Belgian Red Flames) represents Belgium in international women's football. It is controlled by the Royal Belgian Football Association, the governing body for football in Belgium. Their home stadium is Den Dreef and their current coach Ives Serneels. During most of its history the team has had poor results, but showed improvement in the Euro 2013 and 2015 World Cup Qualifiers. In 2016 they qualified for their first major tournament: Euro 2017.

History

Early days (1976–1984)

Belgium played its first match against France on May 30, 1976 at Stade Auguste Delaune in Reims, France. The game ended in a 2–1 victory. A year after this debut, the Belgian team played against Switzerland and France, tying both matches, 2–2 and 1–1 respectively. They played the same teams again the next year, this time beating both with 1–0 and 2–0. Another victory followed against Yugoslavia with 1–0. The team's first defeat however came at the hands of England: 3–0, which was followed by a 2–0 loss against France and a 2–2 tie against the Netherlands. In the following years, Belgium kept playing mostly against European teams.

First tournaments (1984–1989)

Belgium participated in qualifications for the first time for the 1984 European Competition for Women's Football. They were sorted in Group 4 with the Netherlands, Denmark and West Germany. The campaign started off well with a 3–2 victory over the Netherlands, but continued with a 1–0 loss against Denmark and a 1–1 draw against West Germany. Despite having a neutral goal difference at this point, the Belgian team ended up last in the group after a 5–0 defeat against the Netherlands and draws against their other two opponents, 2–2 against Denmark and 1–1 against West Germany.

Their second attempt at qualifying was for the 1987 European Competition, where they were joined in Group 3 by France, the Netherlands again and Sweden. Their games against France were one win and one loss, both 3–1. Their matches against their two other opponents however were all defeats: 3–1 and 3–0 against The Netherlands, and 5–0 and 2–1 against Sweden. This resulted in Belgium again ending last in the group.

Belgium finally came close to qualifying for the tournament in its next iteration, in 1989. They played in Group 4 against four other teams: Czechoslovakia, France, Spain and Bulgaria. Among the eight games, they won two, drew four and lost two, with 7 goals for and 4 against. This earned them third place in the group of five, which did not suffice for qualification.

Stagnation (1990–2011)

The Belgian team suffered a series of poor results from 1990 to 2011. They never won even half of their matches in any of the qualification campaigns during this period, except for one. This notable exception was the 2003 Women's World Cup qualifiers, where they won five games and suffered only one loss. Scotland however had achieved the same result and with better goal difference, leaving Belgium second in their group. This is nevertheless Belgium's best performance at the World Cup qualifiers so far (as of 2015), although it was followed by their worst: they lost all eight games in the next iteration (2007). At the UEFA Women's Euro qualifications, their best performances during this period were at the 1995 edition and the 2009 edition, both times losing 'only' half of their matches and drawing one.

Improvements (2011–present)

An era of victories began when Ives Serneels replaced Anne Noë as manager in 2011. Serneels led the team to improved qualification campaigns for Euro 2013 and 2015 World Cup, both times ending third in the group (just short of qualifying). Between both campaigns, the Belgian female football team adopted the nickname "Belgian Red Flames".[1] Following the improvements, the RBFA invested in more growth in 2015, targeting qualification for Euro 2017.[2] After a successful start in their qualifications group, the team was invited to play at the 2016 Algarve Cup in Portugal, one of the most prestigious women's international football events.

Belgium finished second in their Euro 2017 qualifications group (after England), which was enough to earn them their first ever qualification for a major tournament. At Euro 2017 Belgium secured a 2–0 upset win over Norway during group stage. However after losing 1–0 to Denmark and 2–1 to the Netherlands they finished third in their group and did not advance to the knockout round.

Belgium performed well in UEFA World Cup Qualifying for the 2019 World Cup and secured second place in Group 6 behind Italy. As a result they qualified for the UEFA Play-offs as they were one of the top 4 ranked second place teams. Switzerland, the Netherlands and Denmark are the other teams in the play-off. The winner of the play-off will claim the final UEFA qualifying spot at the 2019 World Cup[3]

Recent Schedule and Results

2018

Team

Current squad

The following players were named to the squad for 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification match against  Moldova on 19 September 2017.[4]

Caps and goals are correct as of 11 July 2017.

Head coach: Ives Serneels

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Nicky Evrard (1995-05-26) 26 May 1995 16 0 Netherlands Twente
1GK Diede Lemey (1996-10-07) 7 October 1996 4 0 Belgium Anderlecht
1GK Justien Odeurs (1997-05-13) 13 May 1997 22 0 Germany Jena
2DF Maud Coutereels (1986-05-21) 21 May 1986 69 9 France Lille
2DF Laura Deloose (1993-06-19) 19 June 1993 19 2 Belgium Anderlecht
2DF Laura De Neve (1994-10-09) 9 October 1994 12 0 Belgium Anderlecht
2DF Charlotte Tison (1998-04-21) 21 April 1998 0 0 Belgium Anderlecht
2DF Nicky Van Den Abbeele (1994-02-21) 21 February 1994 29 0 Belgium Anderlecht
2DF Lore Vanschoenwinkel (1991-04-07) 7 April 1991 Belgium Ladies Genk
2DF Silke Vanwynsberghe (1997-04-25) 25 April 1997 Belgium Gent
2DF Aline Zeler (c) (1983-06-02) 2 June 1983 94 28 Belgium Anderlecht
3MF Julie Biesmans (1994-05-04) 4 May 1994 47 2 Belgium Standard Liège
3MF Tine De Caigny (1997-06-09) 9 June 1997 30 7 Belgium Anderlecht
3MF Kassandra Missipo (1998-02-03) 3 February 1998 1 0 Belgium Gent
3MF Lenie Onzia (1989-05-30) 30 May 1989 34 4 Netherlands Twente
3MF Davina Philtjens (1989-02-26) 26 February 1989 57 7 Netherlands Ajax
3MF Elien Van Wynendaele (1995-02-19) 19 February 1995 19 1 Belgium Gent
3MF Sarah Wijnants (1999-10-13) 13 October 1999 4 0 Belgium Standard
4FW Jassina Blom (1994-09-04) 4 September 1994 7 2 Netherlands Twente
4FW Janice Cayman (1988-10-12) 12 October 1988 69 20 France Montpellier
4FW Jana Coryn (1992-06-26) 26 June 1992 20 1 France Lille
4FW Yana Daniëls (1992-05-08) 8 May 1992 27 4 England Bristol City
4FW Chloé Vande Velde (1997-06-06) 6 June 1997 0 0 Belgium Gent
3MF Elke Van Gorp (1995-05-12) 12 May 1995 20 6 Belgium Anderlecht
4FW Davinia Vanmechelen (1999-08-30) 30 August 1999 11 3 Belgium Gent
4FW Tessa Wullaert (1993-03-19) 19 March 1993 59 32 Germany Wolfsburg

Recent call-ups

The following players have been selected for Belgium in the past 12 months, but are not part of the current squad.

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
GK Sofie Van Houtven (1987-08-03) 3 August 1987 25 0 Belgium Ladies Genk v.  Japan on 13 June 2017
DF Heleen Jaques (1988-04-20) 20 April 1988 77 1 Belgium Anderlecht UEFA Women's Euro 2017
DF Lorca Van De Putte (1988-04-03) 3 April 1988 55 2 Sweden Kristianstad UEFA Women's Euro 2017
DF Imke Courtois (1988-03-14) 14 March 1988 21 0 Belgium Standard Liège UEFA Women's Euro 2017
DF Jody Vangheluwe (1997-07-15) 15 July 1997 0 0 Belgium Gent Euro 2017 preparation
MF Sara Yuceil (1988-06-22) 22 June 1988 21 2 Netherlands PSV Eindhoven UEFA Women's Euro 2017
MF Lien Mermans (1990-09-27) 27 September 1990 48 9 Belgium Ladies Genk v.  Scotland on 11 April 2017
MF Justine Vanhaevermaet (1992-04-29) 29 April 1992 8 0 Belgium Anderlecht 2017 Cyprus Cup from 1 to 8 March 2017
MF Zandy Soree (1998-08-01) 1 August 1998 0 0 United States UCF Knights v.  Denmark on 28 November 2016
FW Tine Schryvers (1993-03-11) 11 March 1993 6 3 Norway Vålerenga 2017 Cyprus Cup from 1 to 8 March 2017
Notes
WD = Withdrawn from this squad

Staff

ManagerBelgium Ives Serneels
Assistant managerBelgium Tamara Cassimon
Goalkeeping coachBelgium Sven Cnudde
Fitness coachBelgium Cédric Lehance
PhysiotherapistBelgium Fabienne Van De Steene

Current campaign

2019 FIFA World Cup

Belgium was sorted into Group 6 for the 2019 World Cup qualifiers.

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Italy 8 7 0 1 19 4 +15 21 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup — 2–1 3–0 3–0 5–0
2  Belgium 8 6 1 1 28 6 +22 19 Play-offs 2–1 — 1–1 3–2 12–0
3  Portugal 8 3 2 3 22 8 +14 11 0–1 0–1 — 5–1 8–0
4  Romania 8 1 2 5 7 15 −8 5 0–1 0–1 1–1 — 3–1
5  Moldova 8 0 1 7 2 45 −43 1 1–3 0–7 0–7 0–0 —
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

Competitive record

Belgium has not yet featured at the World Cup, but has reached the end stage of the Euro 2017 tournament. Their best qualification rounds before that were for 2003 World Cup, 2013 Euro and 2015 World Cup.

FIFA Women's World Cup

FIFA Women's World Cup record Qualification record
Year Round Position Pld W D* L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA
China 1991 Did not qualify 6 1 0 5 1 12
Sweden 1995 6 2 1 3 15 13
United States 1999 8 0 1 7 6 23
United States 2003 6 5 0 1 13 9
China 2007 8 0 0 8 8 25
Germany 2011 8 3 1 4 18 13
Canada 2015 10 6 1 3 34 11
France 2019 8 4 2 1 11 8
Total – – – – – – – – 60 21 6 32 106 114
* Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

UEFA Women's Championship

UEFA Women's Championship record Qualification record
Year Round Position Pld W D* L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA
Denmark England Italy Sweden 1984 Did not qualify 6 1 3 2 7 12
Norway 1987 6 1 0 5 6 17
West Germany 1989 8 2 4 2 7 4
Denmark 1991 6 1 0 5 1 12
Italy 1993 4 1 2 1 1 8
England Germany Norway Sweden 1995 6 2 1 3 15 13
Norway Sweden 1997 Belgium and 17 other nations were not part of a proper qualification group
Germany 2001 Belgium and 16 other nations were not part of a proper qualification group
England 2005 8 1 0 7 5 39
Finland 2009 8 3 1 4 7 15
Sweden 2013 10 6 2 2 18 8
Netherlands 2017 Group stage 10th 3 1 0 2 3 3 8 5 2 1 27 5
Total – 1/12 3 1 0 2 3 3 70 26 15 32 94 133
* Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Minor Cups

Algarve Cup

Belgium was invited to play at the 2016 Algarve Cup in Portugal and ended fifth out of eight teams. The teams were divided into two groups; after the group stage, placement matches were played among the equally ranked teams from both groups. Belgium ended third in Group A, and won the placement match against Russia (third place in Group B) with 5–0.[5]

Cyprus Cup

Belgium has been invited to the Cyprus Cup three times, as of 2018. Their first appearance was in 2015. They were sorted into group C that year, with Mexico, Czech Republic and South Africa, and ended last in the group. They also lost the placement match (after penalties) against South Korea, resulting in the last place of all 12 teams. Better results awaited them in 2017.[6] Belgium ended third in Group A with Switzerland, North Korea and Italy, and eventually reached seventh place out of 12 after winning the placement match against Austria. Finally, Belgium was also invited to play the tournament in 2018, in a group with Austria, Czech Republic and Spain. They ended second in the group behind eventual winner Spain, and fifth overall (out of 12) after winning the placement match against South Africa.

Records

Aline Zeler

As of 19 September 2017:

  • Belgium's biggest win is 12–0, achieved against Moldova on 19 September 2017.
  • Belgium's highest FIFA rank has been 22 (in June 2017).
  • The Red Flame with the most caps is Aline Zeler, who featured in the national team 98 times. She is still active and the current captain.
  • The highest number of goals scored by a single player is 36. This record is held by Tessa Wullaert.

References

  1. ↑ Van Lindt, Aernout (20 Sep 2013). "Belgian Red Flames: eerst de naam, dan de hype?" (in Dutch). Vrouwenvoetbalkrant. Retrieved 5 Mar 2016.
  2. ↑ "Belgians invest in women's game from grassroots up, targeting EURO2017". insideworldfootball.com. 12 January 2015.
  3. ↑ "Women's World Cup play-off draw on Friday". Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  4. ↑ https://twitter.com/BelRedFlames/status/905740162990309376
  5. ↑ "Fixtures and Results – Algarve Cup". FPF. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  6. ↑ "Red Flames zevende in Cypriotisch oefentoernooi na zege tegen Oostenrijk" (in Dutch). De Standaard. 8 Mar 2017. Retrieved 8 Mar 2017.
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