Belgium has spent the better part of a decade ranked among the best national teams on the planet without anything to show for it. A bronze medal in 2018, an ugly group-stage exit in 2022, and now a 2026 squad that knows this is the last realistic crack at a trophy for a generation that, on paper, should already have one. The Red Devils arrive in North America with low expectations and high stakes.
The state of the squad
The headline is that the core is older but largely intact. Kevin De Bruyne is still the system — Belgium without him is a perfectly competent mid-table team, and Belgium with him is a side that can carve open any opponent it draws. Romelu Lukaku, despite the punchlines, remains the country's all-time leading scorer and is still capable of bullying defences when the service arrives. Jérémy Doku and Leandro Trossard bring direct, fast wing play that the 2022 squad lacked.
The defence is where the wheels could come off. Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen are gone. Wout Faes and Arthur Theate inherit the centre-back pairing, and neither has the calm distribution that used to set Belgium's build-up apart. The full-backs, Timothy Castagne and Maxim De Cuyper, are competent without being elite. If a striker gets in behind them, Belgium leaks.
The likely XI
Head coach Domenico Tedesco has settled on a 4-2-3-1 that lets De Bruyne float behind Lukaku without the defensive responsibilities of a true midfielder. Youri Tielemans and Amadou Onana sit deeper, with Onana's legs covering ground that the rest of the midfield no longer wants to. Doku starts wide left, where his one-versus-one dribbling is the team's most reliable source of chaos.
The bench thins out fast. Charles De Ketelaere offers a different option in the number ten role, Loïs Openda is the obvious super-sub up front, and Thibaut Courtois remains the gold-standard option in goal if his fitness holds up — a sentence Belgian fans have been writing for two years.
The De Bruyne dependency problem
The eternal question with Belgium is whether the team has a coherent identity beyond "give the ball to Kevin". The answer in 2026 is more or less no. Every meaningful attacking sequence still routes through him: the half-spaces, the diagonal switches, the early balls into Lukaku's channel runs. Doku and Trossard add unpredictability, but they create from the wings, not from the centre where games are won.
That is fine when De Bruyne is fit and the schedule is generous. It becomes a problem in tournaments, where a tight game and a stiff midfield can leave him surrounded and double-marked. Belgium needs a plan B that they have not really shown in qualifying — and the knockout rounds are where that absence usually catches up to them.
The draw and the realistic ceiling
Belgium were placed in Pot 2 for the draw, which means they avoided France, Argentina, Brazil and the other Pot 1 monsters in the group, but landed in a group with a top seed they will need to either beat or finish behind on goal difference. The 48-team format means finishing third is still survivable — the top two from each group plus the eight best third-placed sides advance to the Round of 32. Belgium should clear the group stage. They almost always do.
The real test is the round of 16. Recent history is not flattering: out in the quarter-finals in 2014, the semi-finals in 2018, the quarter-finals in 2021's Euros, and the group stage in 2022. A run to the last four would be a triumph; a final would be the kind of fairytale finish a generation deserves on paper but rarely gets in reality.
What success looks like
- Floor: Round of 16. Anything less and the post-mortem starts before the plane lands.
- Realistic ceiling: Quarter-final, with a coin-flip semi if the bracket opens up.
- Dream scenario: A De Bruyne semi-final performance, a Lukaku goal in extra time, and the final Belgium has never reached.
FAQ
Is this really the golden generation's last World Cup? Almost certainly. De Bruyne turns 35 in June and has said publicly that 2026 is his final tournament. Lukaku and Courtois will both be in their mid-thirties by 2030. The next cycle is a rebuild.
Who is Belgium's biggest threat at the World Cup? France and Argentina remain the obvious favourites, but Belgium's most dangerous draw is a quarter-final against a team like Spain or the Netherlands, both of whom can dominate possession and force Belgium to chase the ball.
Where can I watch Belgium's group games? Group-stage fixtures are spread across afternoon and evening US time slots, on Fox and Telemundo in the States and BBC/ITV in the UK. Live scores and lineups update during every match on Scorelisto's soccer page, and our broader World Cup coverage tracks every team in the draw.