Desiree Doe completed a moment of magic when she fired a shot that rebounded off the crossbar in France and Belgium’s UEFA Nations League match at King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels on Monday.
Paris Saint-Germain winger Dou showed great control and quick feet to dance his way through the Belgium defense and fire a shot over Manchester United goalkeeper Sean Lamins and against the crossbar.
France The team are looking for back-to-back wins to start their campaign with a 1-0 win over Turkey on Friday, although the injury suffered by Kylian Mbappe while scoring in that match has ruled the captain out of the first four matches of the season.
Belgium national team against France
Belgium made two changes after their win in Rome, bringing on Joaquin Cies and Romeo Lavia – the latter to make his debut – in place of Maxime De Cuyper and Nicolas Raskin.
Belgium: Signe Lammens, Brandon Michel, Romeo Lavia, Kevin De Bruyne, Youri Tielemans, Mika Godts, Nathan Ngoy, Charles de Ketelier, Joaquin Sies, Diego Moreira, Timothy Castagne.
Alternatives: Martin Vandevoordt, Zeno Debast, Connie de Winter, Maxime De Cuyper, Romelu Lukaku, Luis Opinda, Jari de Bussiere, Dodi Lukebakio, Mandela Keita, Hans Vanaken, Matías Fernandez Pardo, Nicolas Raskin.
France vs Belgium in the Nations League
Goalkeeper Mike Maignan and defender Maxence Lacroix were the only French players to keep the starting lineup since the victory in Türkiye.
France: Mike Maignan, Pierre Calolo, Eduardo Camavinga, Bradley Barcola, Andy Diouf, Maxence Lacroix, Magnice Achilles, Esteban Lebault, Desiree Doux, Lucas da Cunha, Jérémy Jacquet
Alternatives: Guillaume Restes, Adrien Truvert, Dayot Upamecano, Jules Kounde, Ousmane Dembélé, Manu Kone, Ryan Cherke, Michael Olise, Adrien Rabiot, Lenny Euro, Jean Botez
Where to watch the Belgium-France match: TV channel, live broadcast online
Kick-off was on Monday at 19:45 GMT (14:45 ET/11:45 PT), with live coverage in the UK on Amazon Prime PPVwhich charges £2.49 per game.
For worldwide coverage, visit the UEFA website International broadcast list of the League of Nations.
Statistics of the match between Belgium and France in the European Nations League
- Belgium are seeking their first home win over France since a 2-0 win in World Cup qualifiers 45 years ago this month.
- The last time they beat France was in June 2015, winning a 4-3 friendly in Paris with current midfielder Youri Tielemans in the squad.
- Of the 78 meetings between the two teams, Belgium achieved 30 wins compared to 29 for France, with 19 draws and the Red Devils prevailing on aggregate 163-136.
- Robert De Vin, who played for Belgium between 1906 and 1913, is the top scorer with 13 goals in the history of the match, giving the Brugge striker four more goals than any other player who has ever taken part.
- In 38 visits from France, Belgium’s record is W20 D8 L10 with an aggregate points advantage of 91-51, with that defeat in 2024, their first competitive home defeat in the match (W3 D1).
- France have won the last five editions of the match by an aggregate score of 9-3, although only the most recent – a 2-1 win in Brussels in the Nations League in October 2024 – was in Belgium.
- This will be the 945th match for France since 1904, with 481 wins, 195 draws and 268 defeats, scoring 1,711 goals and conceding 1,272 goals.
- Mbappé is France’s all-time top scorer with 67 goals, and he became the eighth most capped player in international matches after his participation against Turkey, tied with Patrick Vieira and one goal behind Zidane.
- All of France’s last ten goals came after the 47th minute, five of which were scored by Mbappe and two by Ousmane Dembélé, who scored each goal after the 65th minute.
- France have scored at least two goals in five of their last seven Nations League matches outside France, failing to do so in Turkey and in a 2-0 defeat to Croatia in Split in March 2025, although they won the second leg 2-0 and qualified for the semi-finals on penalties.
