{"id":22284,"date":"2022-06-29T15:00:32","date_gmt":"2022-06-29T19:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2022\/06\/29\/euro-2022-everything-you-need-to-know-about-belgium\/"},"modified":"2022-06-29T15:00:32","modified_gmt":"2022-06-29T19:00:32","slug":"euro-2022-everything-you-need-to-know-about-belgium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2022\/06\/29\/euro-2022-everything-you-need-to-know-about-belgium\/","title":{"rendered":"Euro 2022: Everything you need to know about Belgium"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Belgium Euro 2022 group stage fixtures<\/b><\/h2>\n

\"Euro<\/p>\n

Read more about Iceland<\/a>, France<\/a> and Italy<\/a> by clicking on the team\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

How they qualified<\/b><\/h2>\n

\"Euro<\/p>\n

Major tournament\u00a0record<\/h2>\n

European Championship<\/h4>\n

Best European Championship performance: Group Stages- 2017.<\/p>\n

Most-recent European Championship performance: Group Stages- 2017.<\/p>\n

FIFA World Cup<\/h4>\n

Never previously qualified.<\/p>\n

Belgium at Euro 2022: Can they reach the knockout phase for the very first time?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
\n\"Euro<\/p>\n

2JD0HF0 WOLVERHAMPTON, UK. JUN 16TH Belgium pose for their team photo during the International Friendly match between England Women and Belgium at Molineux, Wolverhampton on Thursday 16th June 2022. (Credit: Tom West | MI News) Credit: MI News & Sport \/Alamy Live News<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Will Belgium reach the knockout stages of a major tournament for the very first time?<\/p>\n

Five years ago, the Red Flames made their tournament debut at Euro 2017, beating Norway but bowing out in the group phasse.<\/p>\n

This time round, having topped their qualifying group with seven wins out of eight, they are hoping for better.<\/p>\n

So just how good is this time?<\/p>\n

Well, they\u2019re currently second in their World Cup qualifying group, pretty much certain to finish there, thereby entering October\u2019s play-offs.<\/p>\n

When they took on group leaders Norway in that campaign last Autumn, the hosts cruised to a 4-0 victory in Oslo.<\/p>\n

Then, earlier this year, Belgium took part in the Pinatar Cup, easily beating Slovakia before penalty shootout victories over Wales and Russia.<\/p>\n

So far, Ives Serneels\u2019 side have faced three pre-tournament friendlies, first beating Northern Ireland 4-1 having been easily beaten 3-0 by England.<\/p>\n

Then, on Tuesday night, they demolished lowly Luxembourg 6-1 at home to boost confidence of nothing else.<\/p>\n

In summary, Belgium are one of the 16 strongest national teams in Europe, but are certainly rank-outsiders when facing the continent\u2019s heavyweights.<\/p>\n

The Red Flames\u2019 opener against Iceland will be key because, after that, they\u2019ll take on Group D\u2019s big favourites France and then Italy.<\/p>\n

Key players: Julie Biesmans<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
\n\"Euro<\/p>\n

2EJ4XTE Aachen, Germany. 21st Feb, 2021. Julie Biesmans (20) of Belgium and German Sydney Lohmann (8) pictured during a friendly female soccer game between the national teams of Germany and Belgium PHOTO SPORTPIX.BE | SPP | STIJN AUDOOREN Credit: SPP Sport Press Photo. \/Alamy Live News<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Midfielder Julie Biesmans is one of the most experienced members of this squad, having accumulated 92 caps since making her debut 11 years ago.<\/p>\n

The fact she has scored just three goals, two of which came in one match in Bosnia, shows what type of midfielder the 28 year old is.<\/p>\n

Biesmans started Belgium\u2019s first-ever major tournament match five years ago, before coming off the bench in the historic victory over Norway.<\/p>\n

Since then, she\u2019s been an ever-present in qualification matches, featuring in all 24, and is now one of the first names on the team-sheet.<\/p>\n

At club level, she spent nine years at Standard Li\u00e8ge, joining at the age of 14, before spending two seasons in the FAWSL with Bristol City.<\/p>\n

Since 2019, Biesmans has represented PSV Eindhoven, making 63 appearances with her side finishing third in the Eredivisie this season.<\/p>\n

In this tournament, she\u2019ll be hoping to help her country reach the quarter-finals for the first time ever.<\/p>\n

Key players: Janice Cayman<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
\n\"Euro<\/p>\n

Leuven, Belgium. 21st Oct, 2021. Janice Cayman celebrating in the qualification for the FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup on 21st of October 2021 in Brussels, Belgium . PHOTO SPORTPIX | STIJN AUDOOREN SOCCER WOMEN BELGIUM VS KOSOVO STIJN AUDOOREN Credit: SPP Sport Press Photo. \/Alamy Live News<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Further forward is where one will find Belgium\u2019s two top-class players, none more so than Janice Cayman.<\/p>\n

The 33 year old has 47 international goals to her name, coming from 126 caps, including one in Belgium\u2019s only major tournament win to date.<\/p>\n

Like fine-wine, Cayman is getting better with age, highlighted by the fact that 16 of her national team goals have come since January 2019.<\/p>\n

At club level, she won the NWSL play-offs with Western New York Flash in 2016 and has since played in France, first for Montpellier and now Lyon.<\/p>\n

Cayman has actually had a tough time since arriving at Olympique Lyonnais in 2019, scoring just eight goals in 73 appearances.<\/p>\n

Two of these did come in this season\u2019s Champions League group stages with Cayman coming on for ten minutes in the final victory over Barcelona.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Cayman has always excelled when representing the Red Flames, hoping that continues at this tournament.<\/p>\n

Key players: Tessa Wullaert<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
\n\"Euro<\/p>\n

Leuven, Belgium. 21st Oct, 2021.Tessa Wullaert pictured scoring for Belgium vs Kosovo in qualification for the FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup 21 October 2021 in Brussels . PHOTO SPORTPIX | STIJN AUDOOREN SOCCER WOMEN BELGIUM VS KOSOVO STIJN AUDOOREN Credit: SPP Sport Press Photo. \/Alamy Live News<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The top-scorer and main goal threat in this team though is Tessa Wullaert.<\/p>\n

Having already scored 67 times for her country, the 29 year old is Belgium\u2019s leading scorer of all-time, with the aforementioned Cayman in second.<\/p>\n

27 of Wullaert\u2019s goals have come since September 2020, including nine in Euro 2022 qualifying and then 15 in the ongoing World Cup qualifiers.<\/p>\n

She scored her one, and so far only, major tournament goal in a defeat to hosts and eventual winners Netherlands five years ago.<\/p>\n

At club level, she\u2019s won trophies with Anderlecht, Standard Li\u00e8ge, Wolfsburg and Manchester City, including an English cup double in 2019.<\/p>\n

In 2020, she returned to Anderlecht for family reasons, scoring 79 goals in just 56 appearances during her second spell with them.<\/p>\n

This summer, she\u2019s already agreed to join Eredivisie newcomers Fortuna Sittard, which is slightly bizarre given her scoring prowess.<\/p>\n

So, despite having not been operating at the highest level for a couple of years now, she\u2019ll certainly pose a threat at this tournament.<\/p>\n

Belgium possible starting line-up for Euro 2022<\/h2>\n

\"Belgium<\/p>\n

Belgium full squad for Euro 2022<\/h2>\n

Goalkeepers<\/h4>\n

\"Euro<\/p>\n

Defenders<\/h4>\n

\"Euro<\/p>\n

Midfielders<\/h4>\n

\"Euro<\/p>\n

Forwards<\/h4>\n

\"Euro<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Belgium Euro 2022 group stage fixtures Read more about Iceland, France and Italy by clicking on the team\u2019s name. How they qualified Major tournament\u00a0record European Championship Best European Championship performance: Group Stages- 2017. Most-recent European Championship performance: Group Stages- 2017. FIFA World Cup Never previously qualified. Belgium at Euro 2022: Can they reach the knockout […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,7],"tags":[13,14],"class_list":["post-22284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-football","category-sport","tag-football","tag-soccer","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22284\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}