List of Belgium national football team managers

The male Belgian national (association) football team has been under the supervision of 25 different permanent managers and two caretakers since 1910.[1][2] Before 1910 and in 1919, a committee of the RBFA presided by Édouard de Laveleye selected the players. Initially supervised by foreigners, it would take until 1930 for team Belgium to be officially led by a Belgian (Hector Goetinck).

As of 1 December 2022, coach Roberto Martínez is the most successful (permanent) manager that Belgium has ever had in statistical terms, with an average of 2.26 points per match. He achieved third place at the 2018 World Cup and kept Belgium in the number one spot on the FIFA World Ranking for over three years. With this he outperformed the coach that previously brought Belgium successes at international tournament end stages, Guy Thys, who led his team to the 1980 European Championship final and six years later to the semi-finals of the World Cup in Mexico.

Managers

Manager Nat. Tenure Pld W D* L Win % Pts/G[A] Major tournaments**
Selection committee (1) — 1904–1909 19 8 1 10 42.11 1.32 Did not enter the tournament SO 1908
William Maxwell (1) Scotland 1910–1913 23 11 3 9 47.83 1.57 Did not enter the tournament SO 1912
Charles Bunyan England 1914 4 0 0 4 0.00 0.00 —
Selection committee (2) — 1914–1919 1 0 1 0 0.00 1.00 —
William Maxwell (2) Scotland 1920–1928 56 18 10 28 32.14 1.14 SO 1920 – Winners[B]
SO 1924 – Round 2
Viktor Löwenfeld Austria 1928–1930 11 5 2 4 45.45 1.55 SO 1928 – Quarter-finals
Hector Goetinck (1) Belgium 1930–1934 31 7 5 19 22.58 0.84 WC 1930 – Round 1
WC 1934 – Round 1
Jules Turnauer Hungary 1935 3 0 1 2 0.00 0.33 —
Jack Butler England 1935–1939 32 8 7 17 25.00 0.97 WC 1938 – Round 1
Did not enter the tournament SO 1936
Hector Goetinck (2) Belgium 1939–1940 0 0 0 0 — — —
Selection committee (3) — 1940–1943 0 0 0 0 — — —
François Demol Belgium 1944–1946 8 2 2 4 25.00 1.00 —
Bill Gormlie England 1947–1953 44 18 9 17 40.91 1.43 WC 1950[C]
Doug Livingstone Scotland 1953–1954 13 5 6 2 38.46 1.62 WC 1954 – Group stage
André Vandeweyer Belgium 1955–1957 17 4 2 11 23.53 0.82 —
Louis Nicolayct Belgium 1957 1 1 0 0 100.00 3.00 —
Géza Toldi Hungary 1957–1958 6 1 2 3 16.67 0.83 Failed to qualify WC 1958
Constant Vanden Stock[D] Belgium 1958–1968 68 28 11 29 41.18 1.40 Failed to qualify EC 1960,[E] WC 1962, EC 1964,
WC 1966, EC 1968
Raymond Goethals Belgium 1968–1976 44 25 8 11 56.82 1.89 WC 1970 – Group stage
EC 1972 – Third place
Failed to qualify WC 1974, EC 1976
Guy Thys (1) Belgium 1976–1989 101 45 24* 32 44.55 1.57 Failed to qualify WC 1978
EC 1980 – Runners-up
WC 1982 – Round 2
EC 1984 – Group stage
WC 1986 – Fourth place
Failed to qualify EC 1988
Walter Meeuws Belgium 1989–1990 6 2 3 1 33.33 1.50 —
Guy Thys (2) Belgium 1990–1991 13 4 4 5 30.77 1.23 WC 1990 – Round of 16
Failed to qualify EC 1992
Paul Van Himst Belgium 1991–1996 36 19 5 12 52.78 1.72 WC 1994 – Round of 16
Failed to qualify EC 1996
Wilfried Van Moer Belgium 1996 5 2 2 1 40.00 1.60 —
Georges Leekens (1) Belgium 1997–1999 29 10 10* 9 34.48 1.38 WC 1998 – Group stage
Robert Waseige Belgium 1999–2002 34 16 11[F] 7 47.06 1.74 EC 2000 – Group stage
WC 2002 – Round of 16
Aimé Anthuenis Belgium 2002–2005 29 12 7 10 41.38 1.48 Failed to qualify EC 2004, WC 2006
René Vandereycken Belgium 2005–2009 30 10 7 13 33.33 1.23 Failed to qualify EC 2008, WC 2010
Franky Vercauterenct Belgium 2009 5 0 1 4 0.00 0.20 —
Dick Advocaat Netherlands 2009–2010 5 3 0 2 60.00 1.80 —
Georges Leekens (2) Belgium 2010–2012 19 8 7 4 42.10 1.63 Failed to qualify EC 2012
Marc Wilmots[G] Belgium 2012–2016 49[H] 33 8 8 67.35 2.18 WC 2014 – Quarter-finals
EC 2016 – Quarter-finals
Roberto Martínez Spain 2016–2022 80 56 13 11 70.00 2.26 WC 2018 – Third place
Failed to qualify NL Finals 2019
EC 2020 – Quarter-finals
NL Finals 2021 – Fourth place
WC 2022 – Group stage
Failed to qualify NL Finals 2023
Domenico Tedesco Italy Germany 2023– 24 12 6 6 50.00 1.75 EC 2024 – Round of 16
Failed to qualify NL Finals 2025
Totals 846 373 178 295 44.09 1.53 25 out of 49 tournaments
* Draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out.
** Abbreviations: SO = Summer Olympics, WC = FIFA World Cup, EC = UEFA European Championship, NL = UEFA Nations League
(1), (2) first term, second term
ct caretaker manager
Last updated: Israel v. Belgium, 17 November 2024. Statistics include official FIFA-recognised matches only.

Footnotes

  1. ^ According to the "three points for a win" standard
  2. ^ Even though William Maxwell was the official manager then, in the tournament Raoul Daufresne coached the squad.
  3. ^ Belgium withdrew from the qualifiers.
  4. ^ Manager Vanden Stock only selected the players; under him, the Red Devils were consecutively trained by Viktor Havlicek (1958–60), Henri Dekens (1960–61), Arthur Ceuleers (1961–65) and Raymond Goethals (1966–68).
  5. ^ Belgium did not enter the qualifiers.
  6. ^ During a 2001 friendly draw against Czech Republic, assistants Vince Briganti and Jacky Munaron managed the team as Waseige recovered from cardiac bypass surgery.[2]
  7. ^ Wilmots was only a caretaker in his first two matches against Montenegro and England.[3] In June, first the player group and later also the Belgian Football Association chose him as permanent coach.[4][5]
  8. ^ Note that the friendlies against Romania on 14 November 2012 and against Luxembourg on 26 May 2014 are not FIFA-recognised due to an excessive number of substitutions.[6]

References

  1. ^ "Belgium national football team match results". eu-football.info. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  2. ^ a b Hassanin Mubarak (7 Aug 2003). "Belgium National Team Coaches". RSSSF archive of coaches 1904–. RSSSF. Retrieved 14 Sep 2013.
  3. ^ Maarten Delvaux; Bart Lagae (15 May 2012). "Marc Wilmots voorlopig interim-bondscoach". De Standaard (in Dutch).
  4. ^ janm (6 Jun 2012). "Marc Wilmots is nieuwe bondscoach tot 2014". De Standaard (in Dutch).
  5. ^ Gunther De Vos (4 Jun 2012). "Rode Duivels willen verder met Wilmots". De Standaard (in Dutch).
  6. ^ "Rules & Governance - Law 3: The number of players". The Football Association. Retrieved 25 Oct 2014.