Why the Belgium national team are nicknamed ‘The Red Devils’

The surprising stories behind national teams’ nicknames

Spain’s team on the other hand, goes by ‘La Furia Española’ or ‘The Spanish Fury’, a nickname inspired by their famously intense style of play and their iconic red shirts.

Other teams take a simpler approach; Sweden’s team is commonly known as ‘Blue Yellow’, a reference to the colours of the Swedish flag.

But perhaps one of the most recognisable nicknames in international football belongs to Belgium.

So, if you have ever wondered how they got the nickname ‘The Red Devils’, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

The historical background

The nickname actually dates back to the early 20th century, at a time when it was customary for neighbouring countries to play regular international matches against one another.

On 29 April 1906, Belgium faced the Netherlands in a match where the Dutch side were heavily favoured to win. However, Belgium surprised everyone, even themselves, by securing a 5-0 victory.

Impressed by the performance, Pierre Walckiers, then editor-in-chief of ‘La Vie Sportive’, the official newspaper of the Belgian football league, wrote about the match and the remarkable pace and intensity shown by the Belgian players in their newly-issued red kits.

He noted that the pre-match expectations had only served to “fire up the necessary courage in our little Red Devils”, not knowing he was making history by using the expression in reference to the national team.

For the nickname, Walckiers took inspiration from Belgian engineer and racing driver Camille Jenatzy, who became the first person to break the 100 km/h barrier in April 1899.

Known for his distinctive red beard and his achievements in motorsport, including victory at the 1903 Gordon Bennett Cup in the United Kingdom, Jenatzy was widely nicknamed the ‘Red Devil’ himself, so it’s no wonder that the Belgian’s team speed reminded Walckiers of him.

Belgium’s ‘devils’ weren’t always red

However, despite the fact that the nickname appeared so early on, it did not immediately become firmly established, largely because the team’s kit colours changed several times over the years.

As a result, the ‘Devils’ tried a few different colours before they decided to stick with red.

For example, in the 1970s, when Raymond Goethals was in charge, the team were referred to as the ‘White Devils’, due to the colour of their kit at the time.

Later on, in 2000, when they introduced black shirts for away games, the nickname changed again, with the team now being known as the ‘Black Devils’ for a period of time, before they eventually returned to their traditional ‘red’ identity, which helped restore the original moniker.

Over time, the ‘Red Devils’ re-established itself as the definitive nickname and is now widely recognized around the world.

Today, the name is used across Belgium’s three official languages: ‘De Rode Duivels’ in Dutch, ‘Les Diables Rouges’ in French, and ‘Die Roten Teufel’ in German.

Words by Vesë Hyseni