# Belgium national rugby union team

The Belgium national rugby union team, nicknamed Diables Noirs / Zwarte Duivels (Black Devils), currently competes in the first division of the Rugby Europe International Championships, which they have been playing in since 2023. They have yet to participate in a Rugby World Cup. Rugby union in Belgium is administered by the Belgian Rugby Federation.

## History

The Belgium rugby team played their first match on 13 March 1932 against the Netherlands. They contested annual games against the Netherlands for half a decade starting in 1932. They drew the 1932 game, but lost subsequent matches during the 1930s. They also played Italy and Germany in 1937, losing both games.
During the 1950s, Belgium continued playing the Netherlands, as well as teams like Spain. They managed to obtain a draw in the 1960s against Portugal. In the 1970s they won the majority of their games, as well as playing a broader range of European nations. This trend continued throughout the 1980s. Belgium had a six-game winning streak in the late 1980s. They began playing more games against their regular European opponents as they entered the 1990s. A Belgium side played Argentina prior to the 2007 Rugby World Cup. A Belgium XV played the Barbarians on 24 May 2008.
Belgium has been steadily improving, ranked number 55th in 2004, the 'Black Devils' improved on the following years, obtaining good results against other European Nations, gaining entry to the IRB Ranking's Top 30 in 2010. Since their induction to the first 30 rugby nations in the international ranking, they have managed to maintain their place.
Belgium had a successful campaign during the 2010-2012 European Nations Cup, with a 10 match winning streak from March 2011 to December 2012. Following their promotion in 2023, Belgium is competing in the top division of the Rugby Europe International Championships. In the 2024 season of the Rugby Europe International Championships Belgium earned a historic win over Portugal following their impressive Rugby World Cup campaign.
Jacques Rogge, the former International Olympic Committee president, was a member of the Belgium national team.

## Rugby World Cup qualification

| World Cup record | World Cup record | World Cup record | World Cup record | World Cup record | World Cup record | World Cup record | World Cup record | World Cup Qualification record | World Cup Qualification record | World Cup Qualification record | World Cup Qualification record | World Cup Qualification record | World Cup Qualification record |
| Year | Round | P | W | D | L | F | A | P | W | D | L | F | A |
| 1987 | Not invited | Not invited | Not invited | Not invited | Not invited | Not invited | Not invited | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1991 | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter |
| 1995 | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | | | | | | |
| 1999 | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | | | | | | |
| 2003 | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | | | | | | |
| 2007 | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | | | | | | |
| 2011 | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | | | | | | |
| 2015 | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | | | | | | |
| 2019 | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | | | | | | |
| 2023 | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | | | | | | |
| 2027 | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | | | | | | |
| Total | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | | | | | | |

## Current squad

Belgium's 35-man squad for their 2024 South American tour matches against Chile, Paraguay and Brazil.
* Head Coach: Laurent Dossat
Forwards :
| Player | Position | Club |
| Alexis Cuffolo | Hooker | Barbezieux |
| Malcolm Huppermans | Hooker | Coq Mosan |
| Alexandre Raynier | Hooker | Lombez Samatan |
| Jean-Baptiste de Clercq | Prop | Albi |
| Remi de Wolf | Prop | Soignies |
| Maxime Jadot | Prop | Anglet |
| Samuel Opsomer | Prop | Soignies |
| Lucas Sotteau | Prop | Oloron |
| Bruno Vliegen | Prop | Olympique Marcquois |
| Gillian Benoy | Lock | Béziers |
| Dries De Keyser | Lock | Dendermonde |
| Maurice Fromont | Lock | Vannes |
| Maximilien Hendrickx | Lock | Niort |
| Nestor Jeandrain | Lock | Rugby Ottignies Club |
| Jérémie Brasseur | Back row | Massy |
| Toon Deceuninck | Back row | Kituro |
| Jean-Maurice Decubber | Back row | Massy |
| Paul Gérard | Back row | ASUB Waterloo |
| Arthur Smeets | Back row | Bassin D’Arcachon |
| Lucas Rassinfosse | Back row | Bourgoin-Jallieu |
| William Van Bost | Back row | Béziers |
Backs :
| Player | Position | Club |
| Julien Berger | Scrum-half | Cognac |
| Curtis Moucheron | Scrum-half | Soignies |
| Timothe Rifon | Scrum-half | Rugby Ottignies Club |
| Ryan Godsmark | Fly-half | La Hulpe |
| Matias Remue | Fly-half | Toulouse Espoirs |
| Hugo De Francq | Centre | Soignies |
| Lucas Michiel | Centre | Dendermonde |
| Viktor Pazgrat | Centre | Frameries |
| Florian Remue | Centre | Toulouse Espoirs |
| Jens Torfs | Centre | Nice |
| Dazzy Cornez | Wing | Mâcon |
| Gaspard Lalli | Wing | La Hulpe |
| Thomas Wallraf | Wing | Bassin D’Arcachon |
| Mattheo van Holsbeke | Full-back | Soignies |

## Record

Men's World Rugby Rankingsvte Top 30 as of 17 March 2025 :
| Rank | Change | Team | Points |
| 1 | | South Africa | 092.78 |
| 2 | | New Zealand | 090.36 |
| 3 | | Ireland | 089.83 |
| 4 | | France | 089.51 |
| 5 | | Argentina | 084.97 |
| 6 | | England | 084.73 |
| 7 | | Scotland | 082.36 |
| 8 | | Australia | 081.52 |
| 9 | | Fiji | 080.07 |
| 10 | | Italy | 077.77 |
| 11 | | Georgia | 074.69 |
| 12 | | Wales | 073.39 |
| 13 | | Japan | 072.95 |
| 14 | | Samoa | 072.68 |
| 15 | | United States | 070.02 |
| 16 | 1 | Spain | 067.34 |
| 17 | 1 | Uruguay | 067.06 |
| 18 | 2 | Portugal | 066.44 |
| 19 | | Tonga | 065.46 |
| 20 | | Romania | 064.61 |
| 21 | | Chile | 061.72 |
| 22 | 4 | Belgium | 059.98 |
| 23 | 1 | Hong Kong | 059.49 |
| 24 | 1 | Canada | 059.18 |
| 25 | | Namibia | 057.87 |
| 26 | 1 | Zimbabwe | 057.16 |
| 27 | 3 | Netherlands | 057.01 |
| 28 | | Brazil | 056.53 |
| 29 | | Switzerland | 055.26 |
| 30 | | Sweden | 054.10 |
* ↑ Change from the previous week
Belgium's historical rankings :
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
See or edit source data. :
Below is a table of the representative rugby matches played by a Belgium national XV at test level up until 18 March 2025, updated after match with Netherlands.
| Opponent | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn | Win % |
| Armenia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Barbarians | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Brazil | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Canada | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Chile | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Croatia | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 50% |
| Czech Republic | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 57.14% |
| Czechoslovakia | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 16.67% |
| Denmark | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 60% |
| Fiji | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Georgia | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Germany | 14 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 50% |
| Hong Kong | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 25% |
| Italy | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Latvia | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50% |
| Lithuania | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
| Luxembourg | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
| Malta | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
| Moldova | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 71.43% |
| Monaco | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
| Morocco | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 25% |
| Netherlands | 49 | 24 | 21 | 4 | 48.98% |
| Paraguay | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
| Poland | 15 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 40% |
| Portugal | 18 | 4 | 12 | 2 | 22.22% |
| Romania | 12 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Russia | 7 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 14.29% |
| Samoa | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Serbia and Montenegro | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 87.5% |
| Slovenia | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 66.67% |
| Spain | 17 | 2 | 14 | 1 | 11.76% |
| Sweden | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 66.67% |
| Switzerland | 11 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 63.64% |
| Tunisia | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 20% |
| Ukraine | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 50% |
| United Arab Emirates | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
| Uruguay | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0% |
| West Germany | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 66.67% |
| Zimbabwe | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.0% |
| Total | 255 | 107 | 136 | 12 | 41.96% |