Belgium national under-21 football team

The Belgium national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Belgium and is controlled by the Belgian Football Association. The team competes in the European Under-21 Football Championship, held every two years. Their biggest successes were winning the 2007–09 International Challenge Trophy and reaching the European Championship semi-finals in 2007 in the Netherlands. Thanks to the latter achievement, Belgium qualified for the football tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Their current home stadium is Den Dreef in Leuven.

Belgium U-21

Nickname(s)	Jonge duivels Jeunes diables Junge Teufels
Association	Belgian Football Association
Head coach	Jacky Mathijssen
Most caps	Jean-François Gillet (36)
Top scorer	Kevin Vandenbergh (12)
First colours Second colours
First international
France 1–1 Belgium (Amiens, France; 3 September 1976)
Biggest win
Belgium 8–0 Luxembourg (Mechelen, Belgium; 3 June 2007)
Biggest defeat
Czech Republic 7–0 Belgium (Prague, Czech Republic; 24 April 2001)
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances	3 (first in 2002)
Best result	Semi-finals, 2007

UEFA U-21 Championship Record

Year	Round	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
1978	Did Not Qualify
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002	Group Stage	3	1	0	2	2	4
2004	Did Not Qualify
2006
2007	Semi-Final	4	1	2	1	3	4
2009	Did Not Qualify
2011
2013
2015
2017
2019	Group Stage	3	0	0	3	4	8
2021	Did Not Qualify
Total	3/22	10	2	2	6	9	16

Results and fixtures

Belgium are currently competing for qualification to the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. The table below shows their current standing in the qualification group.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Belgium	10	8	2	0	23	5	+18	26	Final tournament		—	1–1	0–0	3–0	3–2	2–1
2	Sweden	10	6	2	2	19	8	+11	20			0–3	—	0–1	1–0	4–1	3–0
3	Turkey	10	5	2	3	14	10	+4	17			1–2	0–3	—	0–0	4–0	4–2
4	Hungary	10	3	2	5	12	14	−2	11			0–3	2–2	1–2	—	4–0	2–1
5	Cyprus	10	2	1	7	8	23	−15	7			0–2	0–1	2–1	0–2	—	2–1
6	Malta	10	1	1	8	8	24	−16	4			0–4	0–4	0–1	2–1	1–1	—

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: UEFA

Results

27 March 2017	Belgium	2–1	Malta	Heverlee, Belgium
20:00 CET	R. Mmaee  43' Cools  54'	Report	69' Grech	Stadium: Den Dreef Referee: Rob Harvey (Republic of Ireland)

5 September 2017	Belgium	0–0	Turkey	Heverlee, Belgium
20:00 CET		Report		Stadium: Den Dreef Referee: Fabio Verissimo (Italy)

6 October 2017	Belgium	1–1	Sweden	Heverlee, Belgium
19:00 CET	Vanlerberghe  30'	Report	61' Dagerstål	Stadium: Den Dreef Referee: Nikola Dabanović (Montenegro)

10 October 2017	Cyprus	0–2	Belgium	Larnaca, Cyprus
16:00 CET		Report	51' Lukebakio  90+3' Bastien	Stadium: AEK Arena - Georgios Karapatakis Referee: Kirill Levnikov (Russia)

9 November 2017	Belgium	3–2	Cyprus	Heverlee, Belgium
19:00 CET	Mbenza  15' Dimata  45+2' Leya Iseka  90+2'	Report	49' Papageorgiou  75' Fragkou	Stadium: Den Dreef Referee: Enea Jorgji (Albania)

14 November 2017	Turkey	1–2	Belgium	Istanbul, Turkey
15:00 CET	Okutan  5'	Report	Merih Demiral  45+2' (o.g.) Schrijvers  87'	Stadium: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Stadium Referee: Tomasz Musiał (Poland)

26 March 2018	Belgium	3–0	Hungary	Heverlee, Belgium
19:00 CET	Schrijvers  19' Lukebakio  64' Dimata  72' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: Den Dreef Referee: Erez Papir (Israel)

7 September 2018	Malta	0–4	Belgium	Ta'Qali, Malta
16:00 CET		Report	Dimata  11' Schrijvers  18' Lukebakio  59' Leya Iseka  69'	Stadium: National Stadium Referee: Roomer Tarajev (Estonia)

11 September 2018	Hungary	0–3	Belgium	Budapest, Hungary
17:00 CET		Report	Dimata  20', 73' (pen.) Schrijvers  86'	Stadium: Szusza Ferenc Stadion Referee: Tiago Martins (Portugal)

16 October 2018	Sweden	0–3	Belgium	Kalmar, Sweden
17:00 CET		Report	Dimata  29', 40' Lukebakio  65'	Stadium: Fredriksskans Referee: Frank Schneider (France)

15 November 2018	Romania	3–3	Belgium	Cluj-Napoca, Romania
18:00 CET	Drăguș  45' (pen.) Olaru  90' Ciobanu  90+1'	Report	Cools  35' Leya  56' Mbenza  58'	Stadium: Dr. Constantin Rădulescu Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Iulian Călin (Romania)

16 June 2019	Poland	3–2	Belgium	Reggio Emilia, Italy
18:30	Żurkowski  26' Bielik  52' Szymański  79'	Report	Leya Iseka  16' Cools  84'	Stadium: Mapei Stadium–Città del Tricolore Attendance: 2,534 Referee: István Kovács (Romania)

19 June 2019	Spain	2–1	Belgium	Reggio Emilia, Italy
18:30	Olmo  7' Fornals  89'	Report	Bornauw  24'	Stadium: Mapei Stadium–Città del Tricolore Attendance: 2,738 Referee: Andris Treimanis (Latvia)

22 June 2019	Belgium	1–3	Italy	Reggio Emilia, Italy
21:00	Verschaeren  79' Mbenza  90+3'	Report	Barella  44' Cutrone  53' Chiesa  89'	Stadium: Mapei Stadium–Città del Tricolore Attendance: 20,075 Referee: Srđan Jovanović (Serbia)

Current squad

Squad selected for the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification match against Bosnia and Herzegovina on 17 November 2020. Players eligible must be born after 1 January 1998.[1] Names in italics denote players who have been capped for the Senior team.
Caps and goals updated as of 13 October 2020 after the match against  Moldova.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	GK	Arnaud Bodart	11 March 1998	3	0	Standard Liège
12	GK	Jens Teunckens	30 January 1998	2	0	AEK Larnaca
4	DF	Wout Faes	3 April 1998	21	0	Reims
2	DF	Sebastiaan Bornauw	22 March 1999	8	1	Köln
5	DF	Thibault De Smet	5 June 1998	8	1	Reims
17	DF	Jelle Bataille	20 May 1999	6	1	K.V. Oostende
18	DF	Ahmed Touba	13 March 1998	3	0	RKC Waalwijk
3	DF	Marco Kana	8 August 2002	1	0	Anderlecht
19	DF	Arthur Theate	25 May 2000	0	0	KV Oostende
8	MF	Orel Mangala	18 March 1998	14	0	Stuttgart
6	MF	Albert Sambi Lokonga	22 October 1999	6	2	Anderlecht
13	MF	Dante Vanzeir	16 April 1998	5	0	Union Saint-Gilloise
7	MF	Francesco Antonucci	20 June 1999	4	1	Volendam
14	MF	Charles De Ketelaere	10 March 2001	4	1	Club Brugge
15	MF	Daouda Peeters	26 January 1999	4	0	Juventus
16	MF	Aster Vranckx	4 October 2002	0	0	KV Mechelen
11	FW	Francis Amuzu	23 August 1999	14	2	Anderlecht
9	FW	Loïs Openda	16 February 2000	8	6	Vitesse
10	FW	Mike Trésor Ndayishimiye	28 May 1999	6	3	Willem II

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up and remain eligible.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Gaëtan Coucke	3 November 1998	0	0	KV Mechelen	v.  Bosnia and Herzegovina, 17 November 2020
GK	Mile Svilar	27 August 1999	5	0	Benfica	v.  Germany, 8 September 2020
DF	Hannes Delcroix	28 February 1999	2	0	Anderlecht	v.  Bosnia and Herzegovina, 17 November 2020
DF	Zinho Vanheusden	29 July 1999	11	2	Standard Liège	v.  Moldova, 13 October 2020
DF	Maxime Busi	14 October 1999	3	0	Parma	v.  Germany, 8 September 2020
DF	Mardochee Nzita	24 February 2000	0	0	AC Perugia	v.  Germany, 8 September 2020
DF	Rocky Bushiri	30 November 1999	7	0	KV Mechelen	v.  Germany, 8 September 2020
DF	Ewoud Pletinckx	10 October 2000	0	0	Zulte Waregem	v.  Germany, 17 November 2019
DF	Daam Foulon	23 March 1999	0	0	Benevento	v.  Germany, 17 November 2019
DF	Killian Sardella	2 May 2002	1	0	Anderlecht	v.  Bosnia and Herzegovina, 10 September 2019
MF	Nicolas Raskin	23 February 2001	0	0	Standard Liège	v.  Bosnia and Herzegovina, 17 November 2020
MF	Othman Boussaid	7 March 2000	2	0	FC Utrecht	v.  Moldova, 13 October 2020
MF	Antoine Colassin	26 February 2001	3	0	Anderlecht	v.  Moldova, 13 October 2020
MF	Alexis Saelemaekers	27 June 1999	12	0	A.C. Milan	v.  Moldova, 13 October 2020
MF	Sieben Dewaele	5 February 1999	1	0	Heerenveen	v.  Germany, 17 November 2019
MF	Louis Verstraete	4 May 1999	3	0	Gent	v.  Germany, 17 November 2019
MF	Matthias Verreth	20 February 1998	1	0	Waasland-Beveren	v.  Bosnia and Herzegovina, 10 September 2019
MF	Dante Rigo	11 December 1998	1	0	Sparta Rotterdam	v.  Bosnia and Herzegovina, 10 September 2019
MF	Yari Verschaeren	12 July 2001	2	1	Anderlecht	2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
FW	Josh Eppiah	11 October 1998	0	0	OH Leuven	v.  Moldova, 13 October 2020
FW	Cyril Ngonge	26 May 2000	0	0	Club Brugge	v.  Germany, 17 November 2019
FW	Jérémy Doku	27 May 2002	4	1	Rennes	v.  Germany, 17 November 2019
FW	Robbie D'Haese	25 February 1999	0	0	Oostende	v.  Wales, 6 September 2019

Statistics

Most capped players

  Highlighted names denote a player still playing or available for selection.

#	Name	Career	Caps	Goals
1	Jean-François Gillet	1996–2002	36	0
2	Thomas Chatelle	1999–2003	28	4
	Maarten Martens	2003–2007	28	7
4	Faris Haroun	2004–2008	24	4
5	Siebe Schrijvers	2016–2019	23	4
6	Tom De Mul	2004–2008	21	4
	Wout Faes	2017–2020	21	0
	Gunter Van Handenhoven	1997–1999	21	1
9	Jonathan Blondel	2002–2007	20	4
	Éric Deflandre	1992–1995	20	1

Last updated: 22 June 2019
Source: Belgian Football Federation

Top goalscorers

  Highlighted names denote a player still playing or available for selection.

#	Player	Career	Goals	Caps	Average
1	Kevin Vandenbergh	2003–2005	12	14	0.86
2	Cédric Roussel	1997–1999	10	12	0.83
3	Wesley Sonck	1997–1999	8	11	0.73
4	Michy Batshuayi	2012–2014	7	13	0.54
	Landry Dimata	2016–2018	7	12	0.58
	Maarten Martens	2003–2007	7	28	0.25
	Ronny Martens	1978–1984	7	14	0.5
	Sven Vermant	1993–1995	7	8	0.88
	Jeanvion Yulu-Matondo	2005–2008	7	17	0.41
10	Benjamin De Ceulaer	2004–2005	6	17	0.35
	Loïs Openda	2019–2020	6	8	0.75
	Youri Tielemans	2013–2016	6	14	0.43
	Marc Wilmots	1987–1989	6	9	0.67

Last updated: 20 March 2019
Source: Belgian Football Federation

Honours

• International Challenge Trophy

Winners (1): 2007–09

Runners-up (1): 2005–06

See also

• Belgium national football team
• Belgium national under-19 football team
• Belgium national under-17 football team
• European Under-21 Football Championship

References

1. "Belgium squad". Belgian FA. Retrieved 6 December 2012.

References and external links

• UEFA Under-21 website, complete results archive
• The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation, full record of U-21 and U-23 Championships