Claim: Romelu Lukaku plays in Europe.

The Belgian national football team has officially represented Belgium in association football since their maiden match in 1904 . The squad is under the global jurisdiction of FIFA and is governed in Europe by UEFA -- both of which were co-founded by the Belgian team 's supervising body , the Royal Belgian Football Association -LRB- RBFA -RRB- . Periods of regular Belgian representation at the highest international level , from 1920 to 1938 and from 1970 to 2002 , have alternated with mostly unsuccessful qualification rounds . Most of Belgium 's home games are played at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels .   Belgium 's national team has participated in three quadrennial major football competitions . It appeared in the end stages of twelve FIFA World Cups and five UEFA European Football Championships , and featured at three Olympic football tournaments , including the 1920 Olympic tournament which they won . Other notable performances are victories over four reigning world champions -- West Germany , Brazil , Argentina and France -- between 1954 and 2002 . Belgium has long-standing football rivalries with its Dutch and French counterparts , having played both teams nearly every year from 1905 to 1967 . The squad has been known as the Red Devils since 1906 ; its fan club is named `` 1895 '' .   During the national player career of forward Paul Van Himst , the most-praised Belgian footballer of the 20th century , Belgium took third place at Euro 1972 . After that , they experienced two golden ages with many gifted players . In the first period , which lasted from the 1980s to the early 1990s , the team finished as runners-up at Euro 1980 and fourth in the 1986 World Cup . In the second , under guidance of Marc Wilmots in the 2010s , Belgium topped the FIFA World Rankings for the first time in November 2015 . Between September 2016 and October 2017 , they are competing in the European qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup .