- 1 Belgium vs France: Group A1 already clouded by Belgium’s goalkeeper crisis
- 2 Belgium: a new keeper, two stars back and a coach barely in the door
- 3 France: Zidane already building around Mbappe
- 4 Football prediction Belgium vs France
- 5 First, a word on our free predictions
- 6 No commitment from us
- 7 Information changes fast
- 8 Your responsibility
- 9 Responsible gambling first
- 10 Legal age
- 11 About the images…
Belgium vs France: Group A1 already clouded by Belgium’s goalkeeper crisis 
Belgium and France meet on Monday 28 September at 20:45 at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, in the second round of Nations League Group A1.
The pool also includes Italy and Turkey, and this clash already carries real weight in a tight format with just six matches.
Both sides arrive with very different World Cup backstories. Belgium went out in the quarter-finals, beaten 2-1 by Spain, who went on to become world champions.
France, meanwhile, made it to the semi-finals before losing 0-2 to that same Spain, then falling 4-6 to England in the third-place playoff.
Mark van Bommel is taking charge of Belgium for only the second time, after his first outing against Italy in Rome on 25 September.
Zinedine Zidane, for his part, is into his second game as France coach, after the trip to Kocaeli to face Turkey three days earlier.
Two managers only just settling in, then, but the mood in each camp is very different as kick-off approaches.
The King Baudouin Stadium, with a capacity of around 50,000, is expected to be full for this showdown, live on TF1 in France and RTL in Belgium.
The two teams will meet again in this same window: the return leg is set for 5 October, this time at the Stade de France.
The stakes are the same for all four nations in the group: the top two go through to the quarter-finals in March 2027, while the bottom side drops straight into League B.
Lose this one and the picture gets messy fast for the team on the wrong end of it, with Italy and Turkey facing off the same night in Bursa.
Belgium: a new keeper, two stars back and a coach barely in the door 
Mark van Bommel was appointed coach on 24 July, the day after Belgium were knocked out by Spain in the quarter-finals.
The 49-year-old Dutchman led Antwerp to a league-and-cup double in 2023, before spending a spell out of work after leaving the Bosuil.
The real surprise in his first squad is in goal. AZ Alkmaar keeper Jari De Busser gets his first senior call-up, a direct response to the gap left by Thibaut Courtois and Matz Sels.
Courtois has put his Belgium international career on hold after the World Cup, while Sels has also stepped away after being left out of the tournament.
Van Bommel has also recalled several players who missed out in June: Maarten Vandevoordt, Mika Godts, Romeo Lavia, Mandela Keita, Malick Fofana and Lois Openda are all back in the group.
Kevin De Bruyne, 35, and Romelu Lukaku have also answered the call after direct talks with the new coach.
Jeremy Doku and Thomas Meunier, though, are not in the squad. Van Bommel framed it as a sporting decision rather than a permanent axe.
This camp asks Belgium to play four matches in ten days, with two of them against France.
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France: Zidane already building around Mbappe 
Zinedine Zidane confirmed Kylian Mbappe as captain the moment he named his first squad. No drama there.
Warren Zaire-Emery misses out through injury. Maghnes Akliouche comes in, while the group also includes several players who had never been called up before.
The most eye-catching name is Jean Butez. The 31-year-old keeper, developed at Antwerp in Belgium, earns his first cap after Robin Risser pulled out injured.
Butez now plays for Como in Italy, so he returns to the country where he built much of his career for this trip to Brussels.
France’s 2026 World Cup still stands up well, even with that fourth-place finish. Three straight group wins, 3-1 against Senegal, 3-0 against Iraq and 4-1 against Norway, set the tone.
That was followed by a 3-0 win over Sweden, a 1-0 victory against Paraguay and a 2-0 success over Morocco, before the semi-final loss to Spain and the third-place defeat to England.
The full record reads eight matches: six wins, two defeats, 20 goals scored and 10 conceded, a return still better than Belgium’s over the same summer.
On the numbers against Belgium, France have had the upper hand since 2018: five straight wins in competitive football, including two in the Nations League (2-0 and 2-1).
Zidane knows the scale of nights like this. A World Cup winner in 1998 and European champion in 2000 as a player, he takes charge of the Blues with a dressing room already used to winning together.
Probable Belgium line-up: Not available at time of publication.
Probable France line-up: Not available at time of publication.
Football prediction Belgium vs France
Our prediction: France to win
France’s five-match winning run against Belgium since 2018 is the biggest factor in this fixture.
Add in Belgium’s fresh headache in goal, with Courtois and Sels both absent and debutant Jari De Busser thrust into the squad, and the picture looks even bleaker for the hosts.
The summer form also points France’s way: a World Cup semi-final compared with a quarter-final exit, plus a far stronger attacking and defensive return over the same stretch.
Zidane has a side built around a captain chosen without hesitation, while van Bommel is still getting his feet under the table after only two games in charge.
The return leg on 5 October in Saint-Denis gives the Red Devils another shot, but this first meeting in Brussels tilts clearly towards the visitors. We are backing a France win in Brussels.
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