Though there is no unanimity about the origin of football, we can say that the football game as it is played today has been imported in our country by England. About 1865, pupils already played football in Brussels' English colleges. In Antwerp, the employees of the British companies of the harbour city started to play football. In Liège, it was played by the engineers of Cockerill. Around the same period, young Belgians also played this ball sport in the surroundings of Ghent, a.o. in the "College van de Jozefieten" at Melle.
On September 1st, 1895, thanks to Louis De Schrijver, who later became member of the direction of the FC Menin, The 'Union Belge des Sociétés de Sports Athlétiques' was founded by ten clubs practising football and athletics.
By the year 1922, the federation protected its members against accidents. In 1930, the Heysel stadium was built and in 1947, the RBFA celebrated its 50th anniversary. One year later, the medical commission and the Heysel school for Exercise Masters were founded. In 1967, the Federation provided insurance to its members: this was the beginning of the Federal Solidarity Fund. At about the same time, Professional Football became a reality. In 1987, Dr. Michel D'Hooghe and Alain Courtois reached the top of the Federation as respectively chairman and secretary general.
The Federation sold its buildings in the rue Guimard and in the rue de la Loi and, on June 4th, 1989, a completely new building of the federation was inaugurated, situated at 300 meters from the National King Baudouin Stadium.
Different new initiatives became famous worldwide: the humanitarian action 'Acción Diablos rojos Casa Hogar', for which the RBFA received the 'Fifa Fair Play Award' in 1992, as well as for the action 'Hou het tof' - 'Le foot en paix' (lit. Football in peace), a campaign against violence in football.
On sports' point of vue, the Red Devils obtained brilliant results. Among these: Olympic Champion in Antwerp in 1920, a third place in 1972, finalist in Italia in 1980 at the occasion of the European Football Championship and, finally, a fourth place during the World Cup '86 in Mexico.
On November 15th, 1997, the Red Devils reached for the fifth time in a row the final round of the World Cup. This has to be considered as an historical fact as only six of the 197 countries affiliated to the FIFA have this ranking.
For the first time in football history, two countries have organised together the final round of the European Football Championship. Euro 2000 took place in Belgium and the Netherlands from June 10th until July 2nd 2000. Both countries, being co-organisors, played automatically in the final round of the competition. This example was followed by the FIFA (World Football Association) that entrusted Japan and South-Corea with the organisation of the World Cup 2002.
WC2002 : Belgium had to play 2 test matches against the Czech Republic and won both with 1-0 ! Due to this, Belgium was qualified for the 11th time and for the 6th time in a row via qualification matches for the World Championship ! This is unique in the football world history !
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