Royal Belgian Football Association Explained

The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA; ; ;) is the governing body of football in Belgium. It was a founding member of FIFA in 1904 and UEFA in 1954 and was based in Brussels, not far from the King Baudouin Stadium. Since October 2021, the headquarters of the RBFA are located in Tubize, next to its technical centre. Its chairman is .

Teams and competitions

The Association organizes the Belgium men's, women's, youth national teams, and national eSports team for FIFA.^[1] ^[2] ^[3] ^[4] ^[5] It also runs the Belgian football league system, which includes the following competitions:

First division A
First division B
National Division 1
Division 2
Division 3
Provincial leagues
Cup
Supercup
Futsal competitions
Women's competitions:
- Super League
- First Division
- Second Division
- Third Division
- Cup
- From the 2012–13 through 2014–15 seasons, the federation partnered with its Dutch counterpart to operate a joint national league, the BeNe League. The two federations dissolved the joint league and reestablished their own top-level women's leagues.

Chairpersons

1895–1924: Baron Edouard de Laveleye
1924–1929: Count Joseph d'Oultremont
1929–1937: Rodolphe William Seeldrayers
1937–1943: Oscar van Kesbeeck
1945–1951: Francis Dessain
1951–1967: Georges Hermesse
1967–1987: Louis Wouters
1987–2001: Baron Michel D'Hooghe
2001–2005: Jan Peeters
2006–2017: François De Keersmaecker
2017–2019: Gérard Linard
2019–2021: Mehdi Bayat
2021–2022: Robert Huygens
2022–2023: Paul Van den Bulck
2023–present: Pascale Van Damme

Association awards

Each year, the executive committee of the Belgian FA honours deserving people with awards.^[6]

These include (highest award first):

Grand Order of the Baron de Laveleye, as of 2015 only given to five people (including former chairmen)
Gold Medal, for honorary members serving 10 years
Honorary Member, to certain international referees and chairmen (typically 40 years of service)
Emeritus Member, to certain referees and chairmen (typically 30 years of service)
Association Medal of Honour, to certain referees and chairmen (typically 20 years of service)
Medal of Recognition, mostly given to national football team players with 35 caps, but also to players with 20 caps whose career stopped after injury and people who have performed an exceptional service to the RBFA.

Received awards

In 1992, the FIFA awarded the Belgian Football Association the FIFA Fair Play Award.

Charity

In the summer of 1986, when the national men's A-selection reached the semifinals of the World Cup in Mexico, the football team started the project Casa Hogar under impulse of RBFA delegation responsible Michel D'Hooghe. This is a home for street children in the industrial Mexican city Toluca, to which the football players donated part of their tournament bonuses. During 25 years, the RBFA stayed committed with this project and helped 500 children to meals and education.^[7]

Current sponsorships

External links

- Belgium at FIFA site

Notes and References

Web site: Belgian FA to launch stadium infrastructure agency. https://web.archive.org/web/20141013035518/http://www.essma.eu/en/news/item/129-belgian-fa-to-launch-stadium-infrastructure-agency. dead. 13 October 2014. 6 October 2014.
Web site: Belgian FA official reveals secret of national side's success. dailyrecord. 18 October 2012. 6 October 2014.
Web site: How Belgium found a winning formula for national team success. Express.co.uk. 13 October 2013. 6 October 2014.
Web site: Belgium — Developing World-Class Talent for Belgian Football. TheHardTackle.com. 27 August 2013. 6 October 2014.
Bassam, Tom. "Rolling sports business news wrap: Every deal, every day". . SportsPro. 4 May 2018.
Web site: Association Awards . . 20 May 2015.
Web site: 25 jaar Casa Hogar: Rode Duivels voor straatkinderen in Mexico . Stichting Meer Dan Voetbal Weblog . Raf . Willems . nl . 12 April 2011 .