page_title: Romelu Lukaku
section_title: International career
hierarchical_section_title: Romelu Lukaku / International career
caption_attribution_description: English: Romelu Lukaku, Ellyes Skhiri
context_page_description: Romelu Menama Lukaku Bolingoli is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Serie A club Inter Milan and the Belgium national team.
  Born in Antwerp, he began his professional career at Belgian Pro League club Anderlecht in 2009, where he made his senior debut, at age 16. He won the league's top goalscorer, the league championship and the Belgian Ebony Shoe there. He signed for English side Chelsea in 2011, but featured sparingly in his first season and joined West Bromwich Albion on loan in 2012. He helped them to an unexpected eighth-place finish in the 2012–13 season and ahead of the 2013–14 season, he joined Everton on loan. After helping Everton reach a club-record points tally, he joined the team in a permanent deal worth a club-record fee of £28 million in 2014. He was named in the 2016–17 PFA Team of the Year, Lukaku signed for Manchester United in 2017, for an initial fee of £75 million.
  A Belgian international, Lukaku has played 84 games for his country, and scored 52 goals, making him Belgium's all-time top goalscorer.
context_section_description: Lukaku was a member of the Belgium under-21 team and scored a goal on his debut against Slovenia. On 24 February 2010, Lukaku was named for the first time in the Belgium senior squad for a friendly match against Croatia. On 17 November 2010, he scored his first two international goals in a friendly against Russia. Lukaku scored his first goal in almost two years for the national team, netting the winner in a 4–2 friendly victory over rivals the Netherlands on 15 August 2012.
  On 11 October 2013, Lukaku scored two goals as Belgium defeated Croatia 2–1 to secure a place in the World Cup finals. In May 2014, Lukaku was named in Belgium's squad for the 2014 World Cup. On 26 May, he scored his first international hat-trick in a pre-tournament friendly against neighbouring Luxembourg. However, as Belgium made seven substitutions during this match instead of the permitted six, it was not recognised as an official match by FIFA. On 1 June, he scored first of Belgium's two goals in the 2–0 victory in a friendly match against Sweden. In Belgium's first match of the tournament, a 2–1 win against Algeria in Belo Horizonte, Lukaku started and played 58 minutes before being replaced by Divock Origi. In the round of 16, Lukaku came on as a substitute prior to extra time and assisted Kevin De Bruyne's opening goal three minutes later. In the 105th minute, he scored his first goal of the tournament as Belgium defeated the United States 2–1.
  On 29 March 2016, Lukaku headed a consolation in a 2–1 loss away to Portugal, assisted by his brother, Jordan Lukaku. At UEFA Euro 2016, Lukaku scored twice in Belgium's 3–0 second group stage match win on 18 June 2016 over the Republic of Ireland.
  On 10 November 2017, Lukaku equalled the all-time Belgium goalscoring record set by Bernard Voorhoof and Paul van Himst after scoring twice against Mexico in a 3–3 draw. Four days after he equalled the record, Lukaku became Belgium's all-time record goalscorer with 31 international goals at the age of 24 after he scored the only goal in a 1–0 win over Japan. Although this record was counted by the Royal Belgian Football Association, FIFA only officially recognised 28 goals after a nullified international friendly match against Luxembourg on 26 May 2014 which he netted a hat trick in a 5–1 win because the former Belgium coach, Marc Wilmots made seven substitutions during the match instead of the permitted six which are not in accordance to the Laws of the Game.
  On 6 June 2018, Lukaku officially became Belgium's all-time leading scorer with 31 goals after scoring a goal in a 3–0 win over Egypt. He also broke a three-way tie with the previous record goalscorers, Bernard Voorhoof and Paul Van Himst.
  On 18 June 2018, Lukaku scored twice in a 3–0 win over Panama in their opening group game at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. In the next group game on 23 June 2018, he scored twice again in a 5–2 win over Tunisia. In doing so, Lukaku became the first player since Diego Maradona in 1986 to score two goals or more in consecutive World Cup matches. He eventually ended the tournament with four goals and one assist, which earned him the Bronze Boot award, as Belgium finished the tournament in third place.
  On 10 October 2019, Lukaku scored his 50th and 51st international goals in a 9–0 home win over San Marino, in a Euro 2020 qualifier.
caption: Lukaku (right) playing against Tunisia in the 2018 World Cup
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