Belgian football: a uniting force in a two-track policy

For years football, along with cycling, has been the national sport of Belgium, and in the broadest sense of the word football is the most popular. It has the largest participation, the highest economic contribution, the highest media coverage and the widest social reach, but its organization is also significantly influenced by the Belgian federal structure. Today about 15 percent of all the sport associations in Belgium are football clubs with another 5 percent being futsal clubs. In the next sections we give a brief historical overview of Belgian football. We then describe the federalisation of Belgium, followed by the juridical and financial issues of the national Football Association (FA), the league associations, the football clubs and the statue of the professional football player. The chapter ends with a Belgian perspective on the European football market.