Association football is the most popular sport in Belgium, which has been played since the end of the 19th century. Around 60% of Belgians are considered football fans. Neighbouring countries with an equal or higher percentage are France, Germany and the Netherlands. The national association was founded in 1895 with the intention of bringing some order and organization to the sport. The first match of the Belgium national team was played on 1 May 1904, a 3–3 draw against France.
Traditionally, the clubs Anderlecht, Club Brugge and Standard Liège are the three most dominant domestic teams, all of them also having played and/or won one or more UEFA competitions final(s).
National style Both the national football team and the top Belgian division have a reputation for physical play. This came as a result of a lack of technically skilled foreign players allowed to play in Belgium due to legal restrictions. This changed after the Bosman ruling which forced the liberalization of the football player market in Europe. In response, Belgian clubs began to buy unknown players from Eastern Europe, South America and Africa. This had two contradictory consequences. On the one hand, the national team was weakened by the reduced opportunity for native Belgium players to gain a spot on domestic teams. On the other hand, the Jupiler League reinforced its status as an entry league for players who then move on to some of the greatest European clubs.
Indeed, some of the most talented players in Europe have played in Belgian clubs, including Yaya Touré, Jean-Pierre Papin, Daniel Amokachi, Antolín Alcaraz and David Rozehnal were discovered at Club Brugge; Sunday Oliseh and Victor Ikpeba at RFC Liège; Jan Koller, Nii Lamptey and Aruna Dindane at Anderlecht; and Mido at Gent.
Others who began or launched their professional careers in Belgium include William Carvalho, Emmanuel Eboué, Romaric, Gervinho, Didier Zokora, Arthur Boka, Ivica Dragutinović, Mario Stanić, Morten Olsen, Dorinel Munteanu, André Cruz, Seol Ki-hyeon, Kennet Andersson, Klas Ingesson, Aaron Mokoena, Michaël Ciani, Nicolás Pareja, Oguchi Onyewu, Rabiu Afolabi, Cheick Tioté, Peter Odemwingie, Joseph Yobo, Ouwo Moussa Maazou, Milan Jovanović, Ognjen Vukojević, Ivan Perišić, Nikica Jelavić, Demba Ba, Dante, Bryan Ruiz and Rob Rensenbrink.
Because of the physical nature of Belgian football, it has tended to primarily produce talented defensive players. These include Jean-Marie Pfaff, Eric Gerets, Leo Clijsters, Michel Preud'homme, Georges Grün, Philippe Albert, Franky Van Der Elst, Vincent Kompany and Thomas Vermaelen. In comparison, only few attacking Belgian footballers have received international recognition: Enzo Scifo, Jan Ceulemans, Marc Degryse, Luc Nilis and Émile Mpenza.
However, this latter trend is slowly starting to change, with Belgium producing such offensive talents as Romelu Lukaku, Eden Hazard, Mousa Dembélé, Christian Benteke, Kevin Mirallas, Marouane Fellaini, Kevin De Bruyne and Dries Mertens, among others.
Clubs
Matricule numbers
With football's rapid growth in popularity in the late 19th century, several football clubs came into existence in Belgium. In 1926, the Royal Belgian Football Association decided to introduce matricule numbers to tell the clubs apart and assigned a matricule to each existing club by order of registration. In this manner, Antwerp was awarded matricule number 1 as the first to register. As such, the oldest clubs in Belgium typically have the lowest matricule numbers, although there are clubs which registered many years after their origination and as a result have a much higher matricule than would be expected. Many clubs, especially those with very low numbers, consider their matricule number part of their heritage and past and prominently feature it in their logo or even name. In case a club dissolves, the matricule number of this club is removed permanently and lost forever as numbers are never reused.
In case of mergers, the new club must decide which matricule number to keep, it normally begins the championship at the level where the former club with the same matricule number should have begun the season. Typically, mergers result in the most famous club's matricule being kept alive. However, it has often occurred that a club with a glorious past or even (multiple) championship titles had to merge with another less successful club in order to survive, often due to financial difficulties. In this case, the matricule number of the club, and the honours linked to it, were lost with the merger. As an examples, in the late 1990s, seven-time champion K. Beerschot VAC was struggling with financial difficulties in the third division and merged with then first division neighbour club KFC Germinal Ekeren to survive. The new club was named KFC Germinal Beerschot Antwerpen and started in the first division with the matricule number of KFC Germinal Ekeren, but lost the honours of K Beerschot VAC. The new club did keep playing in the Beerschot stadium and wore the purple shirt for which Beerschot was famously known. Another famous example is that of five-time champion Daring Club de Bruxelles' merger with RR White into R White Daring Molenbeek in 1973.
From the 2010s, matricules have been sold and traded, with clubs wanting to take over the position in a (higher) series of another club acquiring these matricules in order to quickly move up one or more divisions. Examples include BX Brussels, which acquired the matricule of Bleid-Gaume in 2013, with the intent to transform and move the club from Bleid to Brussels, over 200 kilometres away. The Royal Belgian Football Association therefore enforced a new rule in 2016, stating that after a takeover, a club cannot move more than 30 kilometres from its original location.
From 2017, the Belgian FA enforced another rule, which allows clubs to buy back their old defunct matricule, which was first done by Lyra (matricule 7776) who acquired the matricule 52 of the old defunct Lyra. In 2018, Oud-Heverlee Leuven, which is the result of a merger of three clubs around the city of Leuven, changed its matricule number 6142 back to number 18 to honour the glorious past of its eldest predecessor.
The first few matricule numbers are: Royal Antwerp Daring Brussels Club Brugge RFC Liégeois R. Léopold Uccle Forestoise Racing Club de Bruxelles K.A.A. Gent R.C.S. Verviétois (no longer active) R. Dolhain F.C. R. Union Saint-Gilloise
Naming A Belgian club's name usually includes the name of the town where the club plays as well as a prefix and/or suffix. Since Belgians speak three languages, French and Dutch being the main ones and German being the third official language, Belgian teams may use either language as the basis for their names. For historical reasons, many Flemish clubs changed their names from French to Dutch between the beginning of the 20th century and the late 1960s. Additionally, many clubs have experienced frequent name changes. Reasons for these include a language change, a merger, an anniversary, etc. Because of the numerous mergers between Belgian clubs, team names sometimes combine several town names (such as K. Beringen-Heusden-Zolder or Sporting West Ingelmunster-Harelbeke) which reflect mergers. In recent history, clubs representing immigrant communities have come into existence and sometimes use names that are in neither of Belgium's official languages (the now defunct clubs Türkgucun Ozburun and Türkiyemspor Zaventem, or the still-existing Agrupación Oviedo-Asturiana, existing only in a league outside the Belgian FA now, from Brussels, being examples).
Finally, a team which exists for at least 50 years may add the prefix "Royal" to its name (either in English or in the team's language). Before 1958, this right was given to any team that celebrated its 25th year of existence. Between 1958 and 1968, the rule was changed to grant the title to any team with at least 35 years of existence. Since 1968, the time limit has increased to 50 years.
The following is a partial list of common football club name prefixes and suffixes in Belgium's three official languages. Name French Dutch German Athletic Association Association Athlétique (A.A.) Atletieke Associatie (A.A.) Athletikverband (A.V.) Athletic Club Athletic Club (A.C.) Atletiek Club (A.C.) Athletik Klub (A.K.) or Athletik Club (A.C.)Daring ClubDaring Club (D.C.)Daring Club (D.C.)Daring Club (D.C.) Excelsior Excelsior (E.) Excelsior (E.) Excelsior (E.) Football Association Association Football (A.F.) Voetbal Vereniging (V.V.) Fußballverband (F.V.) Football Club Football Club (F.C.) Voetbalklub (V.K.) or Voetbalclub (V.C.) Fußballverein (F.V.) Racing Club Racing Club (R.C.) Racing Club (R.C.) Racing Club (R.C.) Royal Royale (R.) Koninklijke (K.) Königliche (K.) Royal Society Société Royale (S.R.) Koninklijke Maatschappij (K.M.) Königliche Gesellschaft (K.G.) Sport Association Association Sportive (A.S.) Sportvereniging (S.V.) Sportverband (S.V.) Sport Circle Cercle Sportif (C.S.) Sportkring (S.K.) or Cercle (C.) Sportkreis (S.K.) Sport Club Sporting Club (S.C.) Sportingklub/Sportklub (S.K.)or Sportingclub/Sportclub (S.C.) Sportingverein/Sportverein (S.V.)or Sportclub/Sportingclub (S.C.) Union Union (U.) Eendracht (E.) Eintracht (E.)
European results Anderlecht and KV Mechelen have won a European competition. Here is a list of the winners and runners-up by competition:
UEFA Champions League: Final: Club Brugge (1978) UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: Wins: Anderlecht (1976 and 1978) KV Mechelen (1988) Finals: Anderlecht (1977 and 1990) Standard Liège (1982) Royal Antwerp (1993) UEFA Cup: Wins: Anderlecht (1983) Finals: Club Brugge (1976) Anderlecht (1984) Inter-Cities Fairs Cup: Final: Anderlecht (1970) European Super Cup: Wins: Anderlecht (1976 and 1978) KV Mechelen (1988)
Football in Belgium by province Under the first four levels in the league system, the competition is organized by the Provinces of Belgium, with the notable exception of the three entities that were created from the 1995 breakup of the former Province of BrabantFlemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant and the Brussels Capital Regionwhose clubs are split into two former Province of Brabant wide leagues, one Flemish-speaking and one French-speaking.
West Flanders As of the 2025–26 season, three clubs from the province of West Flanders play in the Belgian Pro League: Club Brugge, Cercle Brugge and SV Zulte-Waregem. Two clubs from the province play in the Challenger Pro League: Club NXT and KV Kortrijk.
East Flanders Two clubs from the province of East Flanders currently play in the Belgian Pro League: KAA Gent and FCV Dender EH. There are also three clubs from East Flanders playing in the Challenger Pro League: Jong KAA Gent, SK Beveren and KSC Lokeren.
Antwerp Antwerp Province has a long tradition of football. The first Belgian clubs were established in the city of Antwerp (Antwerp Lyon's Club, A.S. Anvers-Borgerhout, and most notably Royal Antwerp, which is the country's oldest club and which is affectionately referred to as the "Great Old" by its supporters and the media).
Three clubs from this province currently play in the top flight: Royal Antwerp, KV Mechelen and KVC Westerlo,while Beerschot and Lierse S.K. compete in the Challenger Pro League.
Limburg Two clubs from Limburg Province currently play in the First Division A: KRC Genk and Sint-Truiden. Additionally, two clubs represent the province in the Challenger Pro League: Lommel SK and Patro Eisden.
Brussels Capital Region