Belgium played their first official international game in 1904, but they had been one of the first nations in continental Europe to begin playing football, having been introduced to the sport in 1863. Relative to their size, Belgium have arguably overachieved over the years, reaching the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup in 1986 and 2018, and finishing as runners-up in the 1980 UEFA European Championship. Thanks to world-class talents like Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne, and Eden Hazard, the Red Devils have spent recent years around the top of FIFA's rankings.
