Sports in Belgium

As in the rest of Europe, football is the most popular sport in Belgium. Belgian football has a long history. The National Football Association was founded in 1895, and thereby the championship of Belgium is the oldest after the British championships. It is quite natural that Belgium was the driving force behind the creation of FIFA and one of the four European countries that sent the team to the first World Cup in Uruguay in 1930, but its progress was greatly disturbed by national amateur football. In 1972, the burden of amateurism was “demolished”. Belgium turned to professional football trainings, and the results of the national team immediately improved.

Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht is the greatest football team in Belgium. It was founded in 1908 and till nowadays it takes part in European football championships, thus it often cannot pass up to play-off matches. It is a professional club of the city of Brussels. The club was named in accordance with the eponymous district of Brussels, Anderlecht. The traditional colors of the club include white and purple.

Cycling is also among promoted sports in the country. In fact, there are several bicycling races arranged in different parts of Belgium. Liège-Bastogne-Liège is the first cycling race that was launched in 1892. Till nowadays it is a classic image of cycling race. It is included to the list of 24 most important related tournaments in the world. The distance is 95 km from Liege to Bastogne and 163 km back. However, the road back requires coping with mountainous areas, which significantly adds some intrigue to the race. Tour of Flanders is one more one-day race that is held on the distance Paris–Roubaix. The first race is recorded in 1913. It is usually scheduled in spring in contrast to Eneco Tour in August. Eneco Tour is race that is held on Belgian and Dutch roads since 2005. It is often referred to as the Tour of the Benelux, as it has replaced the alike races in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxemburg.

Since 1925 Belgium hosts the national Gran Prix that is the part of the global Formula I race. It is interesting to know that Belgian Grand Prix is one of the oldest and exciting in the world!