Belgium, who knew?

A casual evening in Bruges (Flickr/Bob Hall Photos).

Something strange has happened in the last couple of years: people outside of Belgium have actually started talking about Belgium.

Type the country into Google and the first suggestion you receive is ‘Belgium euthanasia’, hardly the lightest topic of conversation to kick things off at the dinner table.

No, we are talking about their increasingly successful national football team, not anything else going on in the country, because, let’s face it, nothing particularly noteworthy goes on there unless it involves two Irishmen, a midget, and a bell tower. 

While I may be guilty of overlooking frozen fog, chocolate, and the EU, there was very little that stood out in the country during a brief visit there a few years ago. Belgian football certainly wasn’t on my radar then, but things are changing.

The nation are surging up the international rankings – and not just the ‘bloodiest colonial history’ rankings I eagerly keep an eye on – but FIFA’s actual one. They find themselves 12th in the world after an impressive World Cup qualifying campaign which saw them top their group ahead of Croatia, Serbia and Scotland.

Impressive qualification aside, perhaps the main reason why people are talking so much about Belgium is because of the premier league invasion of players from the country. Although it took a while for people to put two and two together and realise that all of the players were in fact not Dutch, or from a far flung African nation (you can thank King Leopold and his bloody colonial legacy for that one).

The Premier League hosts no fewer than 11 sure fire selections for the World Cup squad, and that’s not including the injured Christian Benteke, former Chelsea player Kevin de Bruyne, and their current Atletico Madrid loanee Thibaut Courtois.

These 11 players are not just journeymen footballers either – they are often integral to the fortunes of their respective sides. Think of the impact Eden Hazard, Kevin Mirallas and Romelu Lukaku have had for their respective sides since arriving on British shores.

Defensively, Belgium look solid given the presence of Vincent Kompany, Jan Vertonghen, Thomas Vermaelen and Daniel Van Buyten at the back. Behind them, they have arguably the choice of two of the best goalkeepers at the tournament: Courtois and another Premier League revelation, Simon Mignolet.

In midfield, Marouane Fellaini and Mousa Dembele will both be looking to justify the hefty price tags paid by their respective club sides after average showings in the Premier League this season. Perhaps the most difficult choice for Belgium coach Marc Wilmots  will be deciding on his strongest attacking four in his favoured 4-2-3-1 formation. Lukaku will almost certainly start in the strikers berth, and could well be supported by a trio of Nacer Chadli, Mirallas and Hazard.

There’s another reason why Belgium are fancied this summer. They find themselves in an eminently winnable group with Algeria Russia and South Korea. If they manage to come first will face the second placed team in Group G – most likely Portugal or Ghana.

History shows that they’ve always been there, lurking in the background with only flashes of excellence – appearing at 11 World Cup Finals. They got to the semi-finals in 1986 and the last 16 in 2002, and have been regular qualifiers between 1982 and 2002.

Could 2014 be the year Belgium shouts out from the top of the bell tower, so to speak, and announces it’s a true force in world football?