page_title: Sport in Belgium
section_title: Rugby union
hierarchical_section_title: Sport in Belgium / Rugby union
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Tir victorieux de Romain Orban (Kituro Rugby Club) lors de l’ultime seconde de la finale du championnat de Belgique de rugby à XV 2008-2009.
context_page_description: Sport in Belgium plays a prominent role in the society. As of 2010, Belgium counted around 17,000 sport clubs with approximately 1.35 million members, thus 13% of the Belgian population is involved in sport. Popular sports in Belgium are, among others: football, cycling, tennis, table tennis, athletics, swimming, basketball, badminton, judo, hockey, rowing, motocross, auto racing, volleyball and running. Belgium has organized the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp as well as the 1972 UEFA European Championship and the 2000 UEFA European Championship along with the Netherlands. The Belgium national football team's best result was a 3rd place at the 2018 FIFA World Cup and a second place of the 1980 UEFA European Championship. Belgian football clubs have won 3 times the UEFA Cup Winners Cup and twice the UEFA Cup, plus 3 times the UEFA Supercup.
  Belgium has won 40 gold medals at Summer Olympic Games as well as 1 medal at Winter Olympic Games for figure skating at the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz. Among the 40 gold medals at the Summer Olympics, 11 medals were won in archery, 7 in cycling, 4 in equestrian, 3 in athletics and fencing and 2 in sailing and judo.
context_section_description: Rugby union is a growing sport in Belgium which, due to the growing mediatisation around the sport, especially during the 2003 and 2007 World Cup, is enjoying a rise in popularity. The game is formally organised by the Belgium Rugby Federation and has a surprisingly long history. Belgium has 57 clubs and 10,071 players according to the International Rugby Board who currently rank Belgium as tier two nation ranked at twenty-sixth in the world.
caption: Romain Orban of Kituro Rugby Club scores the winning conversion in the last second of the final of the Belgian Rugby Championship, 2009
exif: {"Image Make": "Hewlett-Packard", "Image Model": "HP PhotoSmart C935 (V03.82)", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "454", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4432", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8239", "EXIF ExposureTime": "33/25000", "EXIF FNumber": "39/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:05:17 17:46:53", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:05:17 17:46:53", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "2449/256", "EXIF ApertureValue": "531/128", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "1037/128", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "D55", "EXIF Flash": "28", "EXIF FocalLength": "177/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0010", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2608", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1952", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[0, 0, 0, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "3804", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}