# Belgium men's national goalball team

Belgium men's national goalball team is the men's national team of Belgium. Goalball is a team sport designed specifically for athletes with a vision impairment. The national team takes part in international competitions.
The team is also known as the Belgian Bulls as it is a tradition in Belgium to have animal names for national teams.

## Paralympic Games
### 1976 Toronto

The 1976 Summer Paralympics were held in Toronto, Canada. The team was one of seven teams participating, and they finished fourth overall.

### 1980 Arnhem

At the 1980 Summer Paralympics in Arnhem, Netherlands, thirteen teams took part. The team finished fifth.

### 2008 Beijing

The team came back to the international scene in the beginning of the 2000s and worked itself up to an international level. After coming back to the A-division in 2006, the team qualified in for the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China, where they finished eleventh.

### 2012 London

The team competed in the 2012 Summer Paralympics from 30 August to 7 September 2012, in London, England. In Group B, they finished the round-robin in third place behind China and Iran. The team was beaten by Brazil in the quarter-finals, 0:3, and finished in seventh overall place.
The following is the Belgium roster in the men's goalball tournament of the 2012 Summer Paralympics.

#### Group B round-robin

| 30 August 2012 16:15 | Canada | 2 – 4 | Belgium | Copper Box, London Referees: Thomas Baerz (GER) Shinji Mizuno (JPN) |
| 30 August 2012 16:15 | Caron 2 | Report | de Rick 2 Vanhove 1 Bihi 1 | Copper Box, London Referees: Thomas Baerz (GER) Shinji Mizuno (JPN) |
| 31 August 2012 21:00 | Algeria | 5 – 2 | Belgium | Copper Box, London Referees: Ali Aldarsony (KSA), Juha Vuokila (FIN) |
| 31 August 2012 21:00 | Mokrane 3 Larbi 2 | Report | de Rick 1 Bihi 1 | Copper Box, London Referees: Ali Aldarsony (KSA), Juha Vuokila (FIN) |
| 1 September 2012 18:30 | Belgium | 8 – 6 | Iran | Copper Box, London Referees: Morten Hammershoi (DEN), Juha Vuokila (FIN) |
| 1 September 2012 18:30 | de Rick 3 Bihi 3 Vanhove 1 Mapreni 1 | Report | Sayahi 3 Jafari 2 Shahbazi 1 | Copper Box, London Referees: Morten Hammershoi (DEN), Juha Vuokila (FIN) |
| 2 September 2012 15:00 | Belgium | 0 – 0 | China | Copper Box, London Referees: Hooshang Shariati (IRI), Warrick Jackes (AUS) |
| 2 September 2012 15:00 | | Report | | Copper Box, London Referees: Hooshang Shariati (IRI), Warrick Jackes (AUS) |
| 3 September 2012 09:00 | South Korea | 3 – 5 | Belgium | Copper Box, London Referees: Juha Vuokila (FIN), Morten Hammershoi (DEN) |
| 3 September 2012 09:00 | Kim C.-H. 2 Hong 1 | Report | B. Vanhove 2 Bihi 2 Mapreni 1 | Copper Box, London Referees: Juha Vuokila (FIN), Morten Hammershoi (DEN) |

#### Semi-final

| 5 September 2012 19:30 | Brazil | 3 – 0 | Belgium | Copper Box, London Referees: Tony Connolly (USA), Vilma Venckutonyte (LTU) |
| 5 September 2012 19:30 | Marques 2 Almeida Maciel Celente 1 | Report | | Copper Box, London Referees: Tony Connolly (USA), Vilma Venckutonyte (LTU) |
The team tried to qualify for the Rio 2016 games but missed out during the 2014 World Championships and IBSA World Games.

### 2020 Tokyo

The team competed in the 2020 Summer Paralympics, with competition from Wednesday 25 August to finals on Friday 3 September 2021, in the Makuhari Messe arena, Chiba, Tokyo, Japan. The team was selected for Tokyo 2020 following the 2018 World Championships in Malmö, Sweden.
The following is the Belgium roster in the men's goalball tournament of the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Belgium | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 13 | +5 | 6 | Quarter-finals |
| 2 | Ukraine | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 15 | +3 | 6 | Quarter-finals |
| 3 | Turkey | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 15 | 0 | 6 | Quarter-finals |
| 4 | China | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 21 | 22 | −1 | 6 | Quarter-finals |
| 5 | Germany | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 23 | −7 | 6 | |

#### Round-robin

| 26 August 2021 09:00 | Belgium | 10−3 | China | Makuhari Messe, Tokyo Referees: Woradet Kultawongwattana (Thailand), Bas Spaans (Netherlands) |
| 26 August 2021 09:00 | Mapreni 8 T. Vanhove 1 Amnir 1 | Report | Yang Mingyuan 1 Hu Mingyao 1 Lai Liangyu 1 | Makuhari Messe, Tokyo Referees: Woradet Kultawongwattana (Thailand), Bas Spaans (Netherlands) |
| 27 August 2021 09:00 | Turkey | 4–6 | Belgium | Makuhari Messe, Tokyo Referees: Yoshinori Nii (Japan), Robert Avery (Great Britain) |
| 27 August 2021 09:00 | Karakaya 3 Gündoğdu 1 | Report | B. Vanhove 3 Mapreni 2 T. Vanhove 1 | Makuhari Messe, Tokyo Referees: Yoshinori Nii (Japan), Robert Avery (Great Britain) |
| 28 August 2021 19:00 | Germany | 2–0 | Belgium | Makuhari Messe, Tokyo Referees: Raquel Gomez Aguado (Spain), Vaida Pokvytytė (Lithuania) |
| 28 August 2021 19:00 | Dennis 2 | Report | | Makuhari Messe, Tokyo Referees: Raquel Gomez Aguado (Spain), Vaida Pokvytytė (Lithuania) |
| 29 August 2021 13:15 | Belgium | 2–4 | Ukraine | Makuhari Messe, Tokyo Referees: Yoshinori Nii (Japan), Robert Avery (Great Britain) |
| 29 August 2021 13:15 | Mapreni 2 | Report | Oliinyk 2 Zhyhalin 2 | Makuhari Messe, Tokyo Referees: Yoshinori Nii (Japan), Robert Avery (Great Britain) |

## World Championships
### 2018 Malmö

The team competed in the 2018 World Championships from 3 to 8 June 2018, in Malmö, Sweden. They confirmed their good level by winning the bronze at the Championships, and with this, they secured a ticket for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.

### 2022 Matosinhos

The team competed in the 2022 World Championships from 7 to 16 December 2022, at the Centro de Desportos e Congressos de Matosinhos, Portugal. There were sixteen men's and sixteen women's teams. They placed fifth in Pool C, and tenth in final standings.

## IBSA World Games
### 2015 Seoul

The team competed in the 2015 IBSA World Games from 10 to 17 May 2015, in Seoul, South Korea.

## Regional championships

The team competes in the IBSA Europe goalball region. Groups A and C are held one year, and Group B the following year. Strong teams move towards Group A.

### 2013 Konya (Group A)

The team competed in the 2013 IBSA Goalball European Championships, Group A, from 1 to 11 November 2013, at Konya, Turkey. They beat Ukraine 5:3 to rank seventh in the overall standings.

### 2015 Kaunas (Group A)

The team competed in the 2015 IBSA Goalball European A Championships in Kaunas, Lithuania. They lost their quarter-final match against Czech Republic, 4:10.

### 2017 Pajulahti (Group A)

The team competed in the 2017 IBSA Goalball European A Championships from 15 to 23 September 2017, at Pajulahti, Nastola, Finland. The team took its first ever medal on an international level by winning the bronze at the Championships.

### 2019 Rostock (Group A)

The team competed in the 2019 IBSA Goalball European A Championships from 5 to 14 October 2019, in Rostock, Germany. In Pool B, they came third, winning two games of their four; finishing sixth overall.