Belgium women's national football team

Early days (1976–1984)

Belgium played its first match against France on May 30, 1976 at Stade Auguste Delaune in Reims, France. The game ended in a 2–1 victory. A year after this debut, the Belgian team played against Switzerland and France, tying both matches, 2–2 and 1–1 respectively. They played the same teams again the next year, this time beating both with 1–0 and 2–0. Another victory followed against Yugoslavia with 1–0. The team's first defeat however came at the hands of England: 3–0, which was followed by a 2–0 loss against France and a 2–2 tie against the Netherlands. In the following years, Belgium kept playing mostly against European teams.

First tournaments (1984–1989)

Belgium participated in qualifications for the first time for the 1984 European Competition for Women's Football. They were sorted in Group 4 with the Netherlands, Denmark and West Germany. The campaign started off well with a 3–2 victory over the Netherlands, but continued with a 1–0 loss against Denmark and a 1–1 draw against West Germany. Despite having a neutral goal difference at this point, the Belgian team ended up last in the group after a 5–0 defeat against the Netherlands and draws against their other two opponents, 2–2 against Denmark and 1–1 against West Germany.

Their second attempt at qualifying was for the 1987 European Competition, where they were joined in Group 3 by France, the Netherlands again and Sweden. Their games against France were one win and one loss, both 3–1. Their matches against their two other opponents however were all defeats: 3–1 and 3–0 against The Netherlands, and 5–0 and 2–1 against Sweden. This resulted in Belgium again ending last in the group.

Belgium finally came close to qualifying for the tournament in its next iteration, in 1989. They played in Group 4 against four other teams: Czechoslovakia, France, Spain and Bulgaria. Among the eight games, they won two, drew four and lost two, with 7 goals for and 4 against. This earned them third place in the group of five, which did not suffice for qualification.

Stagnation (1990–2011)

The Belgian team suffered a series of poor results from 1990 to 2011. They never won even half of their matches in any of the qualification campaigns during this period, except for one. This notable exception was the 2003 Women's World Cup qualifiers, where they won five games and suffered only one loss. Scotland however had achieved the same result and with better goal difference, leaving Belgium second in their group. This is nevertheless Belgium's best performance at the World Cup qualifiers so far (as of 2015), although it was followed by their worst: they lost all eight games in the next iteration (2007). At the UEFA Women's Euro qualifications, their best performances during this period were at the 1995 edition and the 2009 edition, both times losing 'only' half of their matches and drawing one.

Improvements (2011–present)

An era of victories began with the arrival of manager Ives Serneels in 2011, who led the team during good qualification campaigns for Euro 2013 and 2015 World Cup, both times ending third in the group (just short of qualifying). Between both campaigns, the Belgian female football team adopted the nickname "Belgian Red Flames". Following the improvements, the RBFA invested in more growth in 2015, targeting qualification for Euro 2017. After a successful start in their qualifications group, the team were invited to play at the 2016 Algarve Cup in Portugal, one of the most prestigious women's international football events. The team eventually finished second in their Euro 2017 qualifications group (after England), which was enough to earn them their first ever qualification to a continental or world championship.

Current squad

The following players were called up for the 2017 Cyprus Cup on 1-8 March.
Caps and goals are correct as of 28 November 2016 after the friendly against Denmark.

Recent call-ups

The following footballers have been selected for Belgium in the past 12 months, but are not part of the current squad.

UEFA Euro

The Belgian Red Flames finished second in Group 7 during the Euro 2017 qualifiers. This has earned them their first ever spot to the final tournament, which will be held in The Netherlands in July–August 2017.

2017 Cyprus Cup

Belgium is playing at the 2017 Cyprus Cup from 1 to 8 March. They are sorted into Group A with Italy, North Korea and Switzerland.

Competitive record

Belgium has not yet featured at the World Cup, but has reached the end stage of the Euro 2017 tournament. Their best qualification rounds before that were for 2003 World Cup, 2013 Euro and 2015 World Cup.

Algarve Cup

Belgium was invited to play at the 2016 Algarve Cup in Portugal and ended fifth out of eight teams. The teams were divided into two groups; after the group stage, placement matches were played among the equally ranked teams from both groups. Belgium ended third in Group A, and won the placement match against Russia (third place in Group B) with 5–0.

Cyprus Cup

Belgium played at the 2015 Cyprus Cup. They were sorted into group C with Mexico, Czech Republic and South Africa, and ended last in the group. They also lost the placement match (after penalties) against South Korea, resulting in the last place of all 12 teams.

They were invited again to the 2017 Cyprus Cup. The tournament is currently being held, from 1 to 8 March 2017.

Records

As of 28 November 2016: