Belgium unites to enjoy national team’s World Cup success over USA and Trump | World Cup 2026

Belgium fans reacted with joy after the national team’s win over the United States in a World Cup match was overshadowed by controversy over Donald Trump’s lobbying efforts to overturn striker Falorin Balogun’s suspension.

Belgian prime minister Bart De Wever has yet to comment on the national team’s victory, but his cat’s official Instagram account offered a sarcastic, if indirect, sign of delight. De Wever’s beloved cat, Maximus, was shown lying on the carpet with a soft toy in the image of the US president. “I slept really well last night. How about you?” reads Dutch speech bubble.

Maximus’s Instagram account, run by De Wever’s team, frequently ventures into political territory with ironic, albeit oblique, comments about other politicians or events.

Belgian fans, many clad in the national colors of red, yellow and black, gathered in large crowds across the country to watch the match, despite a local kick-off time of 2am on Tuesday. One fan, Jens Boden, 23, told De Standaard newspaper at a screening in Kalmthout, near the Dutch border: “The Belgian national team is our national pride, so we must support them even at night.” De Standaard, reporting from Kalmthout, said the crowd booed pictures of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who decided to overturn Balogun’s suspension after lobbying from the Americans and Trump. In Brussels, fans set the American flag on fire.

Retired Belgian defender Philippe Albert, who was a centre-back for Newcastle United in the 1990s, described the Red Devils’ victory as “a real slap in the face to Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino”.

“They tried to destabilize a small country, but Belgium showed that it has a big heart,” Albert, now a football commentator, told Francophone newspaper Le Soir. “Despite less than optimal preparation, the Demons all responded.”

Amid the celebrations, the national team’s post on social media saying “Turn this around” after the 4-1 win went viral. Clips of the team’s on-field celebrations mocking Donald Trump’s dancing also received a lot of likes and clicks. After Romelu Lukaku scored the last goal for Belgium, the team celebrated at the YMCA by imitating Trump’s stiff arm shuffling moves. Dutch public broadcaster VRT quoted midfielder Axel Witsel as saying it was a group idea.

Social media users also offered memes about Belgium’s victory; from fake photographs of a sullen Donald Trump with his face painted in the national colors of the victors, to Manneken Pis, Brussels’ iconic statue of a urinating child, urinating in the reflecting pool of the green Lincoln Memorial, a symbol of Washington that underwent a botched renovation under the US president.

Belgium’s victory came on the eve of the NATO summit in Ankara, which De Wever and Trump will attend. But the Belgian leader will be on less comfortable ground: Belgium has long had one of the lowest defense spending in the 32-nation alliance, despite pledging to meet NATO’s defense spending target of 5 percent of GDP. Belgium was expected to hit its 2% spending target in 2025, according to NATO’s latest figures, but Belga news agency reported on Monday, citing an official report, that Belgium will spend only 1.93% on defense in 2029.

While Belgium’s defense spending has been politically contentious, football has long remained a unifying force in the country of 11.9 million people with three official languages ​​and six parliaments.

Twenty years ago a former Belgian prime minister said his country was “an accident of history” and shared only “the king, the national football team and some beer”.

Belgian media reported on Tuesday that King Philippe will travel to Los Angeles to watch the quarter-final match against Spain on Friday. Before last night’s match, a photo of King Philippe talking to national coach Rudi Garcia was published on the Monarchy’s X account. The article was read: “Fair play and may the best team prevail tonight: Come on Belgium!”